EU Settlement Scheme

29 Jun 2021

Thousands of EU citizens currently living in Britain are facing the prospect of proving their right to remain in this country after the UK Government instructed them to achieve EU Settled Status by tomorrow (June 30). Fortunately for people like Andres Garcia who came to Wales from Spain in 1991…

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Why steel safeguards are vital for the industry

20 Jun 2021

I was quoted in an article in The Observer today (Sunday June 20) on the importance of crucial steel safeguards being maintained to protect the industry which employs thousands of people in the Aberavon constituency. If the Conservative government fails to vote with Labour on steel safeguards tomorrow (Monday June…

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Victory For Post Talbot Mum After Two Year Benefits Appeal

16 May 2021

Great to see this appalling story getting the front page coverage it deserves. Port Talbot supermarket worker Wendy Dykes suffered life changing injuries after a chemical accident at work but was then forced to endure a two year legal battle to secure disability benefits which were rightfully hers. Thankfully, with…

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Local MPs Support DVLA Ballot For Strike Action

22 Feb 2021

The South Wales Evening Post has today published a joint letter from myself and fellow Welsh Labour MPs Geraint Davies MP, Nia Griffith MP, Tonia Antoniazzi MP, Carolyn Harris MP, and Christina Rees MP supporting a ballot for strike action by the PCS Union of staff at the DVLA in…

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Call For Westminster To Secure Steel Future

16 Jan 2021

UK steel forms the backbone of manufacturing; there can be no post-Covid recovery without steel. Across Wales we make the best steel money can buy and in Saturday’s South Wales Evening Post, Robert Lloyd covered a letter from Jessica Morden MP, Mark Tami MP, Nia Griffith MP & I urging…

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The Chancellor’s Choice Will Cost Our Communities Dearly

02 Dec 2020

South Wales Evening Post When Rishi Sunak stood up in the Commons to deliver his Spending Review, he had two options: he could have announced spending plans to stimulate the economy, or he could have reverted to cuts and pay freezes that make any recovery longer and harder. He chose…

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Statement on Tata Steel Group Announcement

13 Nov 2020

Today (13 November) the board of Tata Steel Group announced that it has decided to work towards the sale of Tata Steel Netherlands to the Swedish steel company, SSAB. Responding to the announcement Stephen Kinnock, the Member of Parliament for Aberavon, home of the Port Talbot steel works, said: “Steel…

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Britain, We Need Our Steel

09 Oct 2020

South Wales Evening Post Steel is synonymous with Port Talbot. The works have been the beating heart of our community for generations. The town grew around the steelworks, at its height nearly 20,000 people worked there, and the Sandfields estate was built to house the workforce. It’s a massive part…

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Google Digital Garage returns to Aberavon

07 Oct 2020

I am teaming up with technology giant Google to give local businesses the tools they need to stand out in an increasingly competitive online market. We joined forces with Google to bring the first ever Google Digital Garage event to Port Talbot in November 2016. The event was designed to…

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Resilient towns must be at the heart of our post-pandemic recovery

10 Sep 2020

House Magazine Now is the time for the Government to recognise the UK’s city-centric economic model is broken. We need to build more resilient towns and commit to re-building our manufacturing sector. At the heart of my Aberavon constituency sits Port Talbot – a proud, industrial, seaside town with a…

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Resilient towns must be at the heart of our post-pandemic recovery

26 Aug 2020

LabourList At the heart of my Aberavon constituency sits Port Talbot, a genuinely welcoming seaside town in South Wales with a proud industrial, steelmaking history, surrounded by villages and valleys that add so much character to our local area. Our steelworks remain front-and-centre to the town’s economy and identity –…

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This Isolationist UK Government Must Do More To Stand Up For The Rohingya

14 Aug 2020

Burma Campaign As the recently appointed Shadow Minister for Asia and the Pacific I have come to understand just how isolated and absent from the global stage consecutive Conservative governments have left the UK. Many on the government benches celebrated Brexit as a chance to reshape our global alliances and…

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Joint Statement On Tata Steel

24 Jul 2020

Joint Statement From Stephen Kinnock MP and David Rees MS: “Yesterday we met on-line with senior management of Tata Steel UK in order to discuss reports that appeared in the Sunday Times regarding Tata Steel’s proposal to transition the Port Talbot steel works from its current blast furnace to an…

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What we needed was an urgent package of economic measure with a clear focus: jobs, jobs, jobs

17 Jul 2020

South Wales Evening Post When Rishi Sunak stood at the Dispatch box to deliver his summer statement what my Aberavon constituents needed to hear was a back to work budget, focused on the retention and creation of jobs. Instead we got a grab-bag of gimmicks. Less than twenty-four hours after…

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Britain must reassert its values and interests on the global stage – starting with a new China strategy

23 Jun 2020

Politics Home The UK has been sleepwalking in our relationship with China. Now the international community’s faces a serious geo-political problem When China began its long journey towards reform under Deng Xiaoping, his mantra was: ‘Hide your strength, bide your time, never take the lead’. And for 30 years the…

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Viva Port Talbot is uniquely placed to help local businesses – now we all need to do our bit by shopping local

20 Jun 2020

South Wales Evening Post As restrictions lift and we try to get back to a new normal, it’s a very different world to the one before lockdown. For the high street shop the coronavirus and the post-lockdown world is presenting an unprecedented challenge. A trip to the town centre or…

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It’s vital we permanently remove the threat of any escalation into a future nuclear conflict

01 May 2020

House Magazine After reports that China conducted a low-yield underground nuclear test, it’s critical the international community works to universally ratifying the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. The world’s greatest powers have both a legal and moral obligation to pursue multilateral nuclear disarmament. Decades of summit diplomacy between the United States…

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Urging The Government To Back British Steel

30 Apr 2020

After urging the Government to back British Steel in Prime Minister’s Questions and writing to the Chancellor to emphasis the importance of a strong and healthy steel industry to a post-pandemic recovery, I spoke with the South Wales Evening Post and BBC Radio Wales about how the steelworks is the…

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Leave voters are a vital part of Labour’s past, present and future

05 Apr 2020

Express on Sunday Labour finally has a new leader, and we can at last move on from the darkest five year period in our 120-year history. Yesterday the unelectable Jeremy Corbyn was replaced by a highly competent, experienced and grounded Prime Minister-in-waiting – precisely the sort of leadership our country…

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This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to re-build trust in our heartlands, that’s why I’m backing Lisa Nandy

13 Jan 2020

Politics Home The nightmare of Friday 13th December is something that Labour Party members and supporters should never forget. I watched in despair as brilliant colleague after brilliant colleague was defeated by Conservative MPs who will do so little for the four million British children in poverty, or for those…

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TATA’s Warning Has To Be A Wake-Up Call For This Tory Government

09 Jan 2020

South Wales Evening Post In 2016 I went to India as part of a Community Union-led delegation to meet Tata Steel’s management in the midst of a crisis that nearly led to the loss of 4,000 jobs in Port Talbot. Our community fought tooth and nail to make Tata recognise…

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