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Thanks for reading my November 2022 newsletter. It’s a bit later than usual as this weekend was Small Business Saturday so I wanted to wait to send it out until today so I could include information about
that.
As the Conservative cost-of-living crisis continues, I know that many households across Cardiff Central are finding coping with utility bills, food shopping and debt management more and more difficult.
I want to make it as easy as possible for residents to access any help you may be entitled to, so I’ve put together a cost-of-living advice hub. This includes links to support for gas, electricity and
water bills, and any benefits or discounts you may be entitled to – and some links to support agencies who will be able to provide tailored advice and assist you if needed.
Cost-of-Living Advice Hub
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A Living Wage City
It was great to see the Living Wage flag flying above Cardiff Castle earlier this month to celebrate the news that Cardiff has retained its status as a Living Wage city. This is thanks in part to Cardiff Labour
Council’s successful Living Wage accreditation scheme which pays small local businesses accreditation fees for the first three years.
Around 67,500 people work for an accredited Living Wage employer and over 11,000 of those have had a pay rise to the real Living Wage, the second highest number of uplifts of any UK city just behind Edinburgh.
Cardiff University has calculated that since 2012 almost £50 million more has gone into the Cardiff economy as a result of these uplifts.
Cardiff Labour Council has set an ambitious new 3 year target for 300 accredited Living Wage employers in Cardiff, employing over 95,000 staff.
You can find out more about the scheme here.
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Bus Station Update
It's great news that Cardiff Bus Interchange will be open to the public in Summer 2023.
The Interchange will include 14 bus bays, a number of retail units, public toilets and refreshment points for passengers.
The new centralised facility will promote the use of public transport and enable seamless connections to and between different transport modes, including rail, walking and cycling, within the city and across
the wider South Wales region.
Find out more here.
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Small Business Saturday
This weekend saw the 10th annual Small Business Saturday. Throughout the year, I visit and meet with small business owners across Cardiff Central but in my role as Shadow Secretary of State for Wales, I also
do the same throughout Wales.
Small businesses are a critical part of our economy and our communities; they are the heart of our high streets and our local employers. They create 16 million jobs across the UK and represent 99% of the business
population.
If you own or run a business in Cardiff Central, I’d love to visit you and hear your views about what you would like to see from a UK Labour government. Email me at [email protected].
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It was a really proud moment to attend the first night of the National Theatre production of The Boy With Two Hearts at London’s Southbank and meet Hamed Amiri, whose story the play tells, based on his
book about his incredible journey, with his mum, dad and two brothers, from Afghanistan to Cardiff. The story is a race against time to save his brother, Hussein, who has a serious heart condition.
It was a real privilege to meet and get to know Hamed, a past pupil of Cathays High School. Cardiff Central features heavily in the play, which premiered at the Wales Millennium Centre. Hamed regularly goes
back to Cathays High School and inspires the students there. He certainly inspired me.
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Earlier this month, volunteers came together to plant the first of many trees which will make up Bute Park's Community Orchard.
Following the devastating vandalism of Bute Park's trees in 2021, I am proud to have given my support to community campaigners to make this project possible.
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I have now confirmed my surgery dates for December. These are an opportunity for any resident living in Cardiff Central to come and chat to me about any issue you might need assistance with or, to ask any
question you have about my work in Parliament and here, on your behalf.
You can see my full plan of surgeries dates online using the link below – please call my office on 029 2132 9736 – or email me at [email protected] to make an appointment.
• Friday 9th December - Adamsdown
• Friday 16th December - Plasnewydd
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The main event this month was the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement. We haven’t just had Boris Johnson’s 2 years of sleaze, corruption and lies and Liz Truss’s 12 weeks of chaos, the current
economic situation is a result of 12 years of Conservative government decisions.
Labour set out two tests for the government – will they make fairer choices, and will they grow the economy? They have failed on both and households and businesses across the country are paying the price.
After Rishi Sunak boasted over the summer that he had moved money from deprived areas to wealthy ones and we know that his own family avoided paying tax in the UK, he then instructed he Chancellor to increase
taxes for every other family.
It’s astonishing that after 24 different tax rises this parliament, the Tories continue to protect their vested interests by shielding from a proper windfall tax, the excessive profits of fossil fuel
giants, cutting taxes for banks and cancelling the cap on investment banker bonuses.
The Tories have no plan to tackle inflation and the cost of living. As well as the record tax burden, living standards will be worse at the end of this parliament than at the start.
Labour knows that there are fairer choices to make, and that what our country needs is a serious long-term plan to get our economy growing again – powered by the talent and effort of millions of working
people and thousands of businesses.
We’ll invest for the country’s long-term needs, through our Green Prosperity Plan and National Wealth Fund. As well as creating new jobs and driving up skills, we will build energy security and
resilience at the same time as tackling the climate emergency and aiming for completely clean electricity by 2030.
We will abolish non-dom tax status, using the proceeds to train more healthcare professionals for the NHS and by abolishing the charitable status of private schools and closing their tax loopholes, there will
be more money to give every child the brilliant state education they deserve.
You can read more about Labour's Industrial Stragegy here
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Rishi Sunak’s decision to reappoint Suella Braverman as Home Secretary, just six days after she admitted to breaching the Ministerial Code and undermining security procedures was totally irresponsible and reckless.
Security is too important for a grubby political deal which puts personal ambition before the country. Labour challenged the Prime Minister with a binding vote in the Commons to reveal whether he was warned about these breaches of security and why he disregarded security advice when re-appointing her.
Conservative MPs voted it down.
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As the Tories continue to stuff the House of Lords full of their donors and cronies, Labour has published its plans to reform the House of Lords. Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown chaired a Commission on the future of the UK and his report, includes proposals for giving powers to towns, cities, regions and nations as well as setting out the reform of the House of Lords. Mark Drakeford, Carwyn Jones and former Secretary of Stare for Wales, Baron Murphy of Torfaen were involved in producing the Commission report and I was pleased to work with them and Gordon Brown on the final recommendations for Wales.
Keir Starmer commissioned this report because we want to see power pushed closer to people and standards in politics driven up – the start of showing how politics can once again be a force for good and the whole of the UK can become a fairer, greener, more dynamic country.
Find out more here
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South African President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed members of the House of Commons and House of Lords in the Royal Gallery in Parliament. It was a very grand occasion and happened before news of the allegations of corruption broke this week.
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Regular newsletter readers will know of my longstanding interest in Colombia and I was lucky enough this month to meet a delegation of Colombian Senators who were visiting Parliament before heading to Belfast to learn more about the success of the Good Friday Agreement implementation.
We discussed the programme of President Petro’s new government, the Colombian Peace Agreement implementation, human rights, tackling the climate crisis and strengthening UK and Colombian ties.
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This month’s Welsh Questions were the first for my new government opponent.
Serving in government under his third Prime Minister since September, the Conservative Welsh Secretary has the dubious honour of collective responsibility for all the dreadful decisions made.
With families across Wales facing a 7% fall in living standards, I asked the Secretary of State which of the 24 tax rises he had opposed. The truth is, he supported every single one of them.
Wales and the UK cannot afford the Tories. It is time for a UK Labour Government which will spend wisely and tax fairly.
You can watch my contributions here.
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I was honoured to lay a wreath at the Remembrance and Peace Garden at Airbus, Broughton during a Remembrance Day service with representatives of our armed forces and Airbus staff.
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