Congratulations to Lexi  

Lexi Pocknell won the Llanrumney by-election, 125 votes ahead of Reform. Lexi will be a great Labour champion for her community on Cardiff Council.  

However, across Britain, big challenges lie ahead for 2026 and 2027 to re-gain the trust of voters. See the latest from More in Common: Shattered Britain.

Fair Funding for Wales 

Transport   

The £445m allocation for upgrading the Wales rail network in Rachel Reeves’ Spending Review is very welcome but comes 5 years after the Burns Plan for the SE Wales Metro was agreed. I have raised with the First Minister and Ken Skates, Welsh Transport Secretary, the URGENT action needed by UK Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander to get Network Rail to procure the upgrade the east-west lines  running parallel to the main line train tracks NOW, as it forms the spine of the SE Wales Metro. We need spades in the ground on April 1st 2026 to demonstrate the effectiveness of the partnership between our two Labour Governments. 

The charade of HS2 and a new Oxford-Cambridge line being classified as “England and Wales” projects will only increase support for an independent Wales. Wales got £445m for Rail Transport from the Spending Review for both the North and South Wales main lines; at the same time another £920m was awarded to a Lower Thames crossing east of London, increasing the cost to £9.2bn for 14 miles of road.   

National Insurance Increases 

Wales was promised full reimbursement from the rise in National Insurance costs for public sector employees.  Instead, the Treasury used the discredited Barnett formula which meant the Welsh Government now must find an extra £600m this year from existing budgets. That will have to come out of the extra £5bn from the Spending Review allocated to Wales for the rest of the decade.  

Watch Mark Drakeford’s speech on June 25th for a master class in the battle for fair funding for Wales.  Constitutional Reform as proposed by Gordon Brown and others cannot be delayed further. See the IWA article for more information.

Iechyd Da 

Waiting lists down 

Long waits are already 86% lower than at their peak in April 2021. Cardiff still has the second largest number of patients waiting more than two years; most of those patients have complex conditions only Wales’ tertiary hospital is equipped to deal with.   

An additional £120 million will reduce diagnostic wait times to under 8 weeks by next March as well as an extra 20,000 cataract operations.  

Ambulance Response times 

There’s been a dramatic improvement in reducing delayed handover of patients to hospitals in Swansea Bay and Cwm Taf Morgannwg. This reflects the extra £19m Wales-wide to roll out the whole system approach to patient discharges long used at the Heath Hospital.    

The Welsh Ambulance Service has an extra £120 million for more defibrillators in community locations, and new ambulances with state-of-the-art assessment technology to prevent people being taken to hospital unnecessarily. 

Changes to Cardiff and Vale University Health Board 

I welcome the appointment of Kirsty Williams as the new Chair from 1st October. Her previous experience as Education Minister and as a Commissioner at the troubled South Wales Fire and Rescue Service will help improve the performance of the Health Board, which is currently getting targeted support from the Welsh Government to deliver a three-year balanced budget plan.  

Green Jobs and Growth 

The future of Steel  

On June 19th I visited Port Talbot with other members of the Economy, Trade and Rural Affairs Committee. The people working in the Community shop are pro-active in helping people made redundant by Tata find new jobs. But I worry about the ones who are not attending.  

Tata is making a start on constructing a new electric arc facility for recycling steel; this is welcome, but does not resolve where Wales will get the primary steel, we need to construct wind turbines, weapons and bridges.  

The visit helped inform the ETRA scrutiny sessions on July 17th with Deputy First Minister and Climate Change, Environment and Rural Affairs Cabinet Secretary, Huw Irranca Davies; and Economy Cabinet Secretary Rebecca Evans.  

Expanding Welsh Horticulture  

I took part in a roundtable discussion hosted by the NFU at the Royal Welsh Show about recruiting more farmers to grow veg and fruit in Wales.  

I also visited some new horticulture businesses in Powys, making better use of former County Farmland. Carmarthenshire Council has done something similar, and there is funding for expanding horticulture in the Optional and Collaborative funding streams of the Sustainable Farming Scheme launched this week.  

All good news for improving the quality of school meals and the health of our nation, in line with the motion passed at Welsh Labour Conference on June 28th on banning Ultra Processed Food from public procurement.  This is highly relevant to ETRA’s live inquiry into food processing. 

Wet wipes ban 

All parties backed the bill to ban single-use plastic wet wipes this month. Sadly, the ban only starts from December 2026. Cardiff University research reveals 100kg of single-use wet wipes pollute the lower reaches of the River Taff every year.  

Opportunities for Every Family  

Improving School Meals 

I have recently visited Cardiff High, Cathays High, St Teilo’s, Bryn Celyn, Glyncoed and Springwood schools and conversations with pupils have helped inform my contribution to the WG Consultation. Please submit your views. Consultation closes on July 29th.  

The 3-week Food and Fun holiday scheme continue to give huge pleasure to pupils in some schools with lots of fun learning. For many, it is their only holiday.  

Many people in Adamsdown live on as little as £45 a week after housing costs. I continue delivering soil to any Adamsdown resident to grow veg, fruit and herbs in whatever yard or garden they have. 

The Al-Ikhlas Centre is an important source of help and friendship. They run the foodbank in  Adamsdown, supported by members of the mosque who are themselves mainly in low paid work. If you can support, please donate here. 

On June 18th I heard Archbishop Rowan Williams talk about the importance of neighbours, after which the congregation took a stroll around local streets, to the astonishment (and welcome) of people standing on Clifton St.  

On June 16th I attended the Welsh Refugee Council’s Nation of Sanctuary Awards in the Coal Exchange in June; an important statement of the Wales We Want.  Business of the Year award went to Baris Aksoy, owner of Saray restaurant on City Road. The Arts Award went to the Aurora Trinity collective, based in Trinity Church, which uses arts to support asylum seekers and refugees.  

The Windrush event in the Senedd on June 26th was attended by the Windrush generation and their descendants, some of whom are still waiting for compensation.  

PRIDE Cardiff on June 21st was heart-warming with almost universal support from shoppers and others in the city centre. 

Justice for the Welsh Guards 

The 43rd anniversary of the Sir Galahad disaster on 8th June came and went without survivors and relatives knowing the truth of why they were abandoned to their fate in full view of the Argentinians. See my article on the cover up Western Mail. Read the article here.  

The Jagged Edge of Criminal Justice  

The Women’s Justice blueprint focus on early intervention and diversion away from prison is frustrated by the UK Government delay in opening a pilot Women’s Residential Centre in Swansea. See scrutiny of Prisons Minister Lord Timpson.

The Youth Justice Blueprint has been sector-leading at diverting nearly all young offenders away from prison. We need to see progress on full devolution of Youth Justice and Probation to the Welsh Government. 

Improving the Rehabilitation of Offenders 

I visited Parc Prison in Bridgend with other members of the Senedd on June 16th. The spate of drug related deaths has been halted. But with 80% of prisoners re-offending on release, building 14,000 more prison places does not look like an effective solution. All the levers of successful rehabilitation lie with the Welsh Government: housing, health, education and training; which is why Criminal Justice need to be devolved as in Scotland and Northern Ireland.  

Housing 

The recently introduced Homelessness Bill is informed by the lived experience of homeless people. It amends the definition of ‘threatened with homelessness’ and extends the prevention period from 8 weeks to six months. Other local authorities will have to follow Cardiff’s exemplar to secure suitable accommodation for young people leaving care. 

Ending Rent Deposits Rip-Off 

Cardiff East’s motion on protecting rental deposits was debated at Labour Party conference but not voted on as it straddles the powers of the Welsh and UK governments. Hopefully our Partnership in Power will enable the rights of private sector tenants to be strengthened rather than abused by irresponsible landlords. 

Building More Social Homes  

The Welsh Government has accepted all the recommendations of the Affordable Housing Taskforce, chaired by Lee Waters. Local planning authorities will need to fast forward planning applications for new social homes, and have a dedicated empty homes officer. 

Disabled People’s Rights Plan 

The Welsh Government is working with local authorities and transport operators to update data on blue badges and parking availability.  

There will be greater focus on whole of life housing, so people do not have to move because they become disabled; as well as more accessible accommodation for people fleeing violence. 

Connecting Communities 

£1 Bus Fares 

The Welsh Government is investing £15m to reduce bus fares to £1 for 16–21-year-olds from 1st September. You can apply here for mytravelpass.  

A further £7m will extend the scheme for 5-15 years from November – though it remains voluntary for bus companies until the Bus Bill becomes law!  

Rhydypenau School Bike Bus  

I joined the last Bike Bus of the Summer Term to Rhydypenau School. Organised by parents and governors, these pupils love biking to school. Sadly, it is the only one bike bus to Cardiff Central schools at the moment. Please get in touch if you are interested in setting one up at your child’s school. Free training and insurance available.

South East Wales Metro 

Now the money for upgrading the east-west rail lines is finally secured, spades in the ground on April 1st will enable us to start the planning process for 5 new metro stops, including a Cardiff East station on Newport Road.   

Thank you for reading my report. I hope you all have a restful Summer.