Commons
Oral Questions
Wales
29 October 2025
Energy Infrastructure: Pylons
During the second world war, over 200 people were forced to leave their homes and give up their land in the Epynt when more than half of the community was taken for use by the Ministry of Defence. The people of the Epynt understood why that sacrifice had to be made, but now, Bute Energy and its weal…
Commons
Debate
28 October 2025
Stamp Duty Land Tax
I am glad that my hon. Friend is calling out the consequence of Thatcherite policies. Does he agree that no country has suffered more from Thatcherite policies than Wales?
Commons
Westminster Hall
22 October 2025
Coal Tip Safety and New Extraction Licences
It is an honour to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Twigg. I thank the hon. Member for Caerfyrddin (Ann Davies) for securing this important debate. Our constituencies meet around a former coalmine, so it is fitting that we are working on this issue together.
The legacy of the coal industry is stil…
Commons
Westminster Hall
21 October 2025
Mandatory Digital ID
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Turner.
At a time when public trust in politics is low and confidence in Government competence is falling, I cannot think of a worse idea than a mandatory and highly expensive digital ID scheme, which inevitably will have to be delivered by priv…
Commons
Westminster Hall
21 October 2025
2 contributions
Electricity Infrastructure: Rural Communities
Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
In Wales, companies such as Bute Energy and Green GEN Cymru, which are both owned by Windward Energy Ltd, are prompting local concerns that the rules separating electricity generation and distribution are being undermined by corporate restructuring tricks. Is the Minister confident that Ofgem’s rule…
Commons
Proceedings
9 September 2025
Jaguar Land Rover Cyber-attack
Fundamentally, this is a question about resilience across British industry. These attacks are costing British industries millions of pounds a day. What are the Government doing to facilitate knowledge-sharing within industry to boost resilience and guard against operational technology attacks? I kno…
Commons
Oral Questions
Treasury
9 September 2025
2 contributions
Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief: Impact on Farming
4. If she will meet farming representatives to discuss the potential impact of changes to agricultural property relief and business property relief on farmers.
Last weekend I attended the Sennybridge show, where I met young farmers from Brecknockshire who were recruiting new members and fundraising for good causes. There is one question to which they would like to hear an answer from the Chancellor: why are the Government targeting family farms for tax ris…
Commons
Oral Questions
Defence
8 September 2025
2 contributions
Veterans: Support
2. What steps he is taking to ensure that veterans receive adequate support after leaving the armed forces.
For more than two centuries, Gurkha veterans have served our country with extraordinary loyalty and bravery. Many of them and their families have strong ties to my constituency in Brecon. Yet to the shock of many, thousands who retired before 1997, despite fighting shoulder to shoulder with their Br…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
4 September 2025
Early Education and Childcare
I wish to declare that I have two young children under the age of four. While the expansion of free childcare is welcome news for parents in England, does the Minister recognise that families in Wales are being left at a serious disadvantage because his colleagues in Cardiff Bay have refused to matc…
Commons
Oral Questions
16 July 2025
Spending Review 2025
The UK Government say that Wales is getting record-breaking funding to tackle NHS waiting lists, but for my constituent Melanie Walker, the reality is the opposite. After waiting 59 weeks for a hip operation, she has now been told she must wait another 45, because Powys Teaching Health Board is arti…
Commons
Debate
15 July 2025
Welfare Spending
In Wales, sadly, we have some of the highest rates of child poverty in the United Kingdom, and some of the highest across Europe. Why is that? Why is poverty so stubbornly high in Wales, and would lifting the cap not improve things for Welsh children?
Commons
Ministerial Statement
8 July 2025
Road and Rail Projects
The Secretary of State said that she was reconnecting Britain, and then proceeded to mention Wales only once. These plans will not give us the boost that we need in Wales. We are the poorest nation in the UK. Investing in infrastructure delivers economic growth and boosts productivity—that is true—s…
Commons
Debate
1 July 2025
Infant Feeding
I commend my hon. Friend for the great work she is doing to improve the relationship between a mother and her infant—the most important relationship in the world. Will she join me in paying tribute to the midwives of Powys teaching health board, who have the largest county in Wales to cover? Will sh…
Commons
Debate
1 July 2025
2 contributions
Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill
What an excellent and powerful speech to follow. We should all be here to stand up for the dignity of people who need us to stand up for them.
I know what it means to become disabled, because 11 years ago, I developed Guillain-Barré syndrome. It happens to one in 100,000 people. Unfortunately, I en…
I think we all know that a great deal of this is political posturing, and that the Bill will not fix the underlying problems we have in Wales. Many of those problems have been caused by the Conservatives’ closing down of our industries 40 years ago. Wales has been waiting for a response since then, …
Commons
Debate
25 June 2025
Department for Transport
Does my hon. Friend agree that the electrification of railway lines boosts capacity and enables them to ship more freight across our great nation?
Commons
Ministerial Statement
23 June 2025
UK Modern Industrial Strategy
I commend the Government on reintroducing an industrial strategy, which is crucial for spreading out good jobs across the United Kingdom. In my constituency, the hospitality industry is crucial to our local economy as it boosts tourism, creates jobs and helps with rural regeneration, but it is strug…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
19 June 2025
UK Infrastructure: 10-year Strategy
I hope the Minister appreciates just how insulting it is to Welsh ears for us to be told that we are getting a fair deal on railway funding, when we know that we have been cheated out of billions of pounds due to the classification of several projects as England and Wales projects. Wales is getting …
Commons
Oral Questions
19 June 2025
Animal Disease Outbreaks
Many Welsh farmers in mid-Wales depend on being able to move their livestock back and forth over the border with England. Indeed, 550 farms straddle the border. The imposition of a veterinary hard border between England and Wales will be damaging for the farming community in my constituency and the …
Commons
Oral Questions
Wales
11 June 2025
Union of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: Wales
The border we share with England is porous, and that is of critical importance to our agricultural community in mid-Wales, and particularly to livestock farmers, whose supply chain reaches from one side of the border to the other. The Secretary of State will be aware that the farming community is co…
Commons
Debate
5 June 2025
Bank Closures and Banking Hubs
I thank the hon. Member for Blyth and Ashington (Ian Lavery) for securing this debate.
One of the most meaningful moments I have had so far as a Member of Parliament was hearing the elderly residents of a nearby care home thank me for securing a banking hub in Ystradgynlais. That hub is now open an…
Commons
Oral Questions
Cabinet Office
5 June 2025
2 contributions
Topical Questions
T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.
This week, I uncovered the Government’s shocking decision to designate the Oxford to Cambridge railway line as an England and Wales project. It is clearly nothing of the sort, and the decision will cost Wales £360 million-worth of funding for our own network. Will the Minister commit to devolving fu…
Commons
Westminster Hall
4 June 2025
Disadvantaged Communities
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Roger. I sincerely thank and congratulate the hon. Member for Wolverhampton North East (Mrs Brackenridge) on securing this debate on behalf of communities that have been left behind across Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Too often, rural di…
Commons
Westminster Hall
3 June 2025
Groceries Code Adjudicator
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Allin-Khan. I thank the right hon. Member for South Holland and The Deepings (Sir John Hayes) for securing this debate—he is right to describe the supermarkets as an “economic tyranny.” We Liberal Democrats are also concerned about concentrations of…
Commons
Westminster Hall
3 June 2025
Animal Welfare in Farming
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Vickers. I am grateful to the hon. Member for Waveney Valley (Adrian Ramsay) for securing this important debate. The Welsh Liberal Democrats have always championed the highest standards in animal welfare, not just because it is the right thing to do…
Commons
Westminster Hall
20 May 2025
2 contributions
Pensions: Expatriates
I am grateful for the opportunity to speak in this debate, Mr Dowd. I refer hon. Members to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. I thank the hon. Member for Farnham and Bordon (Gregory Stafford) for securing this important debate.
Nearly half a million UK pensioners living over…
David Lloyd George created the social contract on which our pension scheme still runs, and I am sure he would be proud to hear my hon. Friend calling for that social contract to be adhered to.
Several hon. Members have drawn attention to the fact that we now have many constituents living abroad who…