Jo Stevens MP: speeches

Speeches

• 22 Apr 2026 · Economic Growth · Hansard source

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  This Government are creating tens of thousands of high-quality jobs across Wales. From offshore wind in the Celtic sea and nuclear power at Wylfa, to AI growth zones, freeports, investment zones, rail enhancements, a defence growth deal and the steel strategy, our vision for economic growth in Wales is unashamedly ambitious and already delivering results.

• 22 Apr 2026 · Economic Growth · Hansard source

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  I have to apologise to the right hon. Member. I did not hear the first part of his question, but I am very happy to chat to him afterwards. If he writes to me, I will give him a full answer.

• 22 Apr 2026 · Cost of Living · Hansard source

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  I do not think the hon. Gentleman can have been listening when I mentioned, in answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr (Steve Witherden), that Plaid has admitted that it will cut the budget for child poverty. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has been clear that Plaid would have to make spending cuts or raise taxes to pay for its unfunded manifesto pledges, and at some point before 7 May its leader is going to have come clean on what Plaid is going to do.

• 22 Apr 2026 · Cost of Living · Hansard source

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  We promised that we would be a Government for working people, and that is exactly what we have done. Our industrial strategy is set to support tens of thousands of new jobs across Wales. We have provided more employment support to help people get into work, increased the national minimum wage and the living wage, and strengthened rights and protections at work, making work pay, and making it more secure and fairer through our Employment Rights Act. New jobs have been created, alongside better jobs and higher wages, all because of this Labour Government.

• 22 Apr 2026 · Cost of Living · Hansard source

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  Whether it is young people, families or pensioners, this Labour Government are determined to tackle the cost of living, both for my hon. Friend’s constituents and for all our constituents. We inherited a broken welfare system from the Conservatives that has failed people and trapped them in a cycle of poverty. We will not allow that to continue, which is why we are helping people into work through new employment programmes and increasing universal credit for those who need support. As my hon. Friend mentioned, 700,000 pensioners are being helped through the state pension rise. We are absolutely laser-focused on tackling the cost of living.

• 22 Apr 2026 · Cost of Living · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Gentleman for acknowledging the work that this Government have done on the cost of living. Red diesel continues to benefit from an 80% tax discount, which is saving farmers almost £300 million a year. We have already brought in a 5p fuel duty cut, which will last from this month until September. We have raised industry concerns about red diesel prices, and the Under-Secretary of State for Wales, my hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff North (Anna McMorrin), has also met farming unions to discuss red diesel. We have looked at price transparency with the Competition and Markets Authority, and we are keeping everything under careful review.

• 22 Apr 2026 · Cost of Living · Hansard source

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  We know that the conflict in the middle east is placing pressure on the cost of living and household bills, including for those in rural communities. That is why this Government are providing £3.8 million to the Welsh Government to support households in Wales that use heating oil.

• 22 Apr 2026 · Cost of Living · Hansard source

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  I am really surprised that the hon. Member has raised the expansion of the Senedd, because the accepted rationale of those who support the expansion is that it was necessary to improve scrutiny of the Welsh Government. What a terrible indictment that is of the inadequate performance of her party, whose job it has been, as the Opposition in the Senedd for the past 27 years, to carry out that scrutiny.

• 22 Apr 2026 · Cost of Living · Hansard source

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  Plaid’s manifesto, and specifically the childcare policy to which the right hon. Lady refers, exposes the fact that Plaid is not on the side of working people in Wales and is not serious about tackling the cost of living. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has been clear that Plaid would have to make spending cuts or raise taxes to pay for its unfunded manifesto pledges. When families are dealing with the cost of living, Plaid will be hiking taxes and slashing spending on child poverty, which will make families worse off. Families in Wales deserve better than a manifesto of economic fiction.

• 22 Apr 2026 · Cost of Living · Hansard source

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  The answer to that question is no.

• 22 Apr 2026 · Cost of Living · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is proud, as am I, of the steps that both our UK and Welsh Labour Governments have taken and are taking to support children and families with the cost of living. We have scrapped the two-child limit, provided 50 million free school meals since 2022, created 100,000 apprenticeships, and devolved £20 million to the Welsh Government to help more young people into work. Contrast Labour’s record with Plaid’s admission that it will cut child poverty budgets and plans to hike taxes on working families. Labour is the only party that is on the side of Welsh families.

• 4 Mar 2026 · Economic Growth · Hansard source

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  I do not recognise what the hon. Lady sets out, and refer her to my previous answer. We believe that the UKIM Act exclusion, which we have agreed in response to the Welsh Government, is the most pragmatic way for us to protect trade and support growth in the UK.

• 4 Mar 2026 · Economic Growth · Hansard source

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  I think we have this discussion at every single Wales oral questions. We need to bring energy bills down, and we do that by investing in renewable infrastructure. In the process, we create jobs and secure Wales and the UK’s energy independence. Bearing in mind the situation across the world at the moment, that is absolutely the right plan.

• 4 Mar 2026 · Economic Growth · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend makes an important point. When we made the £2.5 billion nuclear investment announcement at Coleg Menai, I saw the difference it will make to people in the area. I met students who will be able to learn and earn, and will not have to leave their family and community to get on in life, because, with one of the biggest public investments in Welsh history, we are creating 3,000 good, direct jobs, and many thousands more in the supply chain. It is for SNP Members to explain to their constituents exactly why the SNP stands in the way of game-changing investments like that for Scotland.

• 4 Mar 2026 · Economic Growth · Hansard source

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  The hon. Member has united a lot of us across the House. His Plaid friends sitting in front of him want separatism. They want to inflict an independence that will cost every single person in Wales—adults and children—£7,000 every single year. They want to build walls between us at a time when we should be standing together.

• 4 Mar 2026 · Economic Growth · Hansard source

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  I was pleased to announce last month that this Government plan to devolve powers to the Welsh Government to introduce a vacant land tax, subject to consultation. This will help the Welsh Government to encourage even more house building, fuelling construction jobs and economic growth, and it is a perfect example of how this Labour Government approach enhancing devolution. We will never miss an opportunity to enhance devolution in ways that make a practical and positive difference to the people and economy of Wales.

• 4 Mar 2026 · Economic Growth · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for recognising the scale of our Welsh rail announcement, and its benefits for cross-border travel. Our two Labour Governments have agreed a long-term plan for Welsh rail that we are committed to delivering as quickly as possible. It will unlock 12,000 jobs and connect people to the tens of thousands of jobs that we are creating across Wales. The pipeline of 43 projects, worth up to £14 billion, in north, south, mid and west Wales will deliver the rail network that Wales deserves, and right years of underfunding at the hands of the Conservatives. That shows the impact of two Labour Governments working together, and our sheer determination to deliver for the people of Wales.

• 4 Mar 2026 · Economic Growth · Hansard source

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  I have regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues on a wide range of issues, including economic growth and increasing economic growth in Wales. We are creating thousands of jobs across Wales, supported by our investment in nuclear power in Wylfa, two artificial intelligence growth zones, two freeports, two investment zones, rail enhancements across the country and a defence growth deal, to name a few.

• 4 Mar 2026 · Economic Growth · Hansard source

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  We have worked closely with the devolved Governments on a UK-wide DRS, and now have alignment across the UK on including polyethylene terephthalate plastics and metals in a DRS with the launch date of October 2027, which is good news for business. We considered the Welsh Government’s exclusion proposal, in line with our commitments under the 2025 review of the UK Internal Market Act, and in doing so engaged with businesses and environmental stakeholders across the UK. We believe that the Act exclusion that we have agreed, in response to the Welsh Government, is the most pragmatic way that we can protect trade and support growth in the UK.

• 4 Mar 2026 · Economic Growth · Hansard source

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  Our £50 million defence growth deal will harness Wales’s unique strengths in autonomy. It is focused on supporting the growth of dual-use industry right across Wales, so that the benefits will be felt beyond the defence sector. This deal is another example of the choice facing Wales at the Senedd election in May. We have Plaid Cymru, who would rather reject defence investment and pull us out of NATO at this critical moment of global instability, and we have Reform, whose foreign policy will probably be determined by its friend, President Putin. Only Labour can be trusted to invest in our national security and our economy.

• 4 Mar 2026 · Economic Growth · Hansard source

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  The UK Government are investing more than half a billion pounds in Wales, through the new local growth fund, to help create jobs, growth and opportunity in communities right across Wales. That targeted long-term investment will drive economic growth, create jobs and put more money in people’s pockets. I am proud that we have delivered our manifesto commitment to restore the Welsh Government’s decision-making role over those funds.

• 4 Mar 2026 · Economic Growth · Hansard source

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  I did indeed have the privilege of opening the London stock exchange this morning to mark St David’s day and Wales Week. It gave me the opportunity to recognise Wales’s thriving financial services and fintech sectors, which are benefiting from this Government’s modern industrial strategy. We are also building small modular reactors in Wylfa, wind farms in the Celtic sea, new train stations in north and south Wales, and a stronger Welsh economy through our AI growth zones, investment zones and freeports—but most of all, we are building Wales’s future by investing in our economy, creating jobs and tackling the cost of living.

• 4 Mar 2026 · Economic Growth · Hansard source

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  The Conservatives strangled the Welsh economy with over a decade of austerity and neglect. Labour’s economic plan is working: wages are rising, inflation is falling and the economy is growing. The Conservatives presided over stagnant wages, insecure employment and a broken welfare system. We are investing in our infrastructure, creating jobs, growing wages and building an economy that works for the people of Wales.

• 4 Mar 2026 · Economic Growth · Hansard source

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  Wales certainly cannot afford the cost of Reform; nor can it afford the cost of Plaid Cymru.

• 26 Feb 2026 · St David’s Day and Welsh Affairs · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Newport West and Islwyn (Ruth Jones) and the hon. Member for Ceredigion Preseli (Ben Lake) for proposing today’s debate, the Backbench Business Committee for granting it, and everyone who has taken part in it. In preparation for closing the debate today, I reflected on last year’s Welsh affairs debate. Still then less than a year into the new Labour Government, I updated the House on some of my priorities for Wales, but also those across the Government. I spoke of our plans to end Tory austerity, with investment in Welsh public services and infrastructure; to seize the golden opportunity of Wales’s new green industrial revolution in floating offshore wind and new nuclear; to rectify historic under-investment in Welsh rail; to deliver an industrial strategy with key Welsh sectors at its core; and to do whatever it takes to protect Welsh steelworkers and build a strong future for Welsh steel. It is fair to say it has been a very busy year. The UK Government and the Welsh Labour Government have worked together to deliver huge change on every one of those priorities and more. Take, for example, this Government’s announcements in the past week alone. On Tuesday, we launched a new £11 million fund to help businesses affected by the steel transition at Port Talbot, to create new jobs and attract investment. Some £122 million has now been allocated by the transition board. I promised that the Government would do whatever it took to protect Welsh steelworkers and we will always keep that promise. On Wednesday, the Prime Minister, the Transport Secretary and I were at Transport for Wales’s headquarters, with the First Minister and the Welsh Transport Minister, Ken Skates, to announce a generational commitment by the UK Government to deliver our long-term plan for Welsh rail as quickly as possible, building on the nearly £445 million announced last year. After years of under-investment by previous Conservative Governments, this is a plan to deliver the rail network Wales deserves, with up to £14 billion of projects in every corner of our country: seven new stations, including the first new station in north Wales for many decades; extra capacity; and more and faster trains, transforming the experience of passengers. That commitment will unlock 12,000 jobs in rail and our industrial parks, better connecting people with the tens of thousands of well-paid jobs we are creating across Wales. On Thursday I was at Cardiff castle with the Defence Secretary to sign the new £50 million defence growth deal for Wales, with the Welsh Government. That will back our growing Welsh defence sector, drive innovation and create even more high-skilled jobs, using our increased defence spending as an engine for economic growth.