Becky Gittins MP: speeches

Speeches

• 2 Jul 2025 · EU Trade Agreement: Economic Impact · Hansard source

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  I am pleased to say that the proposed SPS agreement has been welcomed by the Welsh farming community, including those in my constituency of Clwyd East. That is alongside the Ulster Farmers Union, the Federation of Small Businesses, the CBI, the Horticultural Trades Association, supermarkets including Asda, M&S and Iceland, and many others. Does the Secretary of State agree with me and with them that an SPS agreement would bring huge benefits for Wales, Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK?

• 4 Jun 2025 · Town Centre Regeneration · Hansard source

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  A proud industrial heritage, a strong community spirit and an overwhelming feeling of being let down and under-invested in by the previous Conservative Government unite towns in my constituency with those across Scotland, including those in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse. In Wales, Labour’s transforming towns programme has invested in Holywell in my constituency. Will the Secretary of State join me in calling on the SNP to U-turn and finally back Labour’s plans to invest in Hamilton town centre?

• 20 May 2025 · Victims and Courts Bill · Hansard source

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  Antisocial behaviour is a huge issue in my constituency. I have seen its impact on many of my constituents; it blights the community and makes people fearful in their own home. I have felt my constituents’ real disappointment when it has been labelled low-level crime; that has affected how supported they feel. Does my right hon. Friend agree that we must absolutely ensure that antisocial behaviour is not dismissed as low-level crime, and that its victims are put at the forefront of our justice system?

• 26 Feb 2025 · Family Businesses · Hansard source

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  I will not. The UK Government have prioritised investment in Wales’s future. The result of last year’s Budget is the largest funding boost that Wales has received since devolution—£21 billion of new money—and people in Wales will see the benefits through the Barnett formula, but also through direct spending. The Budget provides a record £1.7 billion spending boost for the Welsh Government to support public services such as our NHS. The investment in our public services means more neighbourhood policing, which again is something our constituents and our local business communities desperately want. More funding will be available to support the delivery of 13,000 more police officers, police community support officers and special constables in our communities, keeping our streets safe and protecting small retail businesses from the shoplifting that was allowed to run rife under the previous Government’s £200 rule. This is what my constituents want, and they want a Government on their side. The Opposition are more than happy to take all the benefits that this additional investment will provide, but I politely suggest that, by not outlining how they will pay for it all, their position lacks real credibility. I note that the Shadow Cabinet has already racked up about £7 billion in unfunded spending commitments, which again is not serious enough. I am heartened that the Government are taking concrete steps to protect the smallest businesses and charities. The employment allowance will double to £10,500, meaning that some 250,000 employers will gain, and an additional 820,000 will see no change at all. I know that organisations such as the Federation of Small Businesses have welcomed these changes, as do the many small businesses in Clwyd East that gain from the uplift in the employment allowance. In north Wales, we have already seen the benefits of two Governments working together, in Wales and at Westminster, with both being utterly focused on investment and growth. We have already seen investments in Airbus, Kellogg’s, Shotton Mill and more in our little corner of north Wales, with the same business confidence as was exemplified by the £63 billion raised at this Government’s investment summit. Green jobs will be critical in north Wales’s future. Last week, the port of Mostyn in my constituency paved the way for some 300 new jobs helping support the offshore wind industry. When I go out to speak to businesses in my constituency—family businesses such as Jones Brothers and Clawdd Offa Farm—they simply do not make representations like those we have heard from the Opposition. They share the Government’s passion on the skills agenda and apprenticeships, reforming our restrictive planning regime and the need for investment in our NHS, which this Government are already prioritising. This Government are continuing to promote entrepreneurship, attracting billions of pounds of investment and providing the certainty that our businesses need, not least as part of the Flintshire and Wrexham investment zone. Businesses in Clwyd East deserve better than the faux outrage from the Conservatives, and this Government will not allow them to pretend to be the champions of British business, rather than the Conservative Government who sold our farmers down the river through detrimental trade deals, and the Conservative Government who ran down our economy with Liz Truss’s mini-Budget, short-term thinking and decimated business confidence. It is the Labour Government who are committed to providing our economy with the stability and investment it needs to grow, laying the foundations for thriving businesses at the heart of prosperous communities.

• 25 Nov 2024 · Antisocial Behaviour: Town Centres · Hansard source

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  Too often in recent years, antisocial behaviour has blighted our high streets, with people in Clwyd East feeling unsafe when they are out in their local community. We know that neighbourhood policing works. In Prestatyn, the recent work of North Wales police to combat antisocial behaviour at the retail centre has led to positive youth engagement and criminal charges. Does the Home Secretary agree that rather than writing off such offences as low-level and leaving communities to deal with them alone, as the previous Government did, we must prioritise neighbourhood policing and give officers the powers they need to tackle antisocial behaviour head-on?

• 5 Nov 2024 · Income Tax (Charge) · Hansard source

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  I begin by welcoming the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, particularly the part about smoke-free spaces. For those of us with anaphylactic allergies, vapes represent a higher risk, because clouds of vape smoke contain allergens. We have seen the first report of anaphylactic reactions to second-hand vape smoke, so I very much welcome the prevention included in the Bill. I will move on to the Budget. There is a reason why people across Wales overwhelmingly rejected the Conservatism that crashed our economy, failed to fund our public services and oversaw economic decline. Furthermore, the Conservative Government were not honest about the challenges that we faced. They were not honest with farmers in Clwyd East, small business owners, public servants or potential investors. They spent money that was not budgeted for—the height of irresponsibility. To say that they overpromised and underdelivered would be a colossal understatement. Last week, however, this Labour Government delivered an honest Budget that gave hope to the people of Wales, with the largest funding boost that Wales has received since devolution: £21 billion, with a £1.7 billion Barnett formula uplift for the Welsh Government to support the vital public services on which my constituents rely. That includes £250 million for capital investment. It is the biggest Budget settlement for Wales since devolution. We are working with the Welsh Government to invest in our NHS and increasing the national minimum wage, benefiting more than 70,000 workers across Wales. Some £2.3 billion has been provided for prison expansion, to sort out the mess that the previous Government made of our criminal justice system. We have provided £5 billion for the farming budget, to accompany a new veterinary agreement that this Government are seeking in order to cut the red tape and get Welsh food exports moving. We have provided £100 million to support steel communities, and £25 million to make coal tips safe. Importantly, we are ending the injustice of the mineworkers’ pension scheme. As someone who grew up in a coalfield community and whose family worked at the Point of Ayr colliery, I was proud to stand on a manifesto pledge to return the investment reserve—over £1 billion—to those who need and deserve it: the former miners themselves. That means a huge amount to the nearly 300 former mineworkers in Clwyd East. We owe them this, and we delivered it. While the Budget makes difficult choices, it sets us on a path to growth and provides vital investment for Wales. It has my full support.

• 9 Oct 2024 · Government Support for the RSPCA · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship during my very first contribution to a Westminster Hall debate, Mr Twigg. I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Newport West and Islwyn (Ruth Jones) for securing such a timely debate, speaking so well about the achievements of the RSPCA over its 200 years and setting out some of the challenges that it faces. I will focus my comments on the issues currently surrounding the microchipping of dogs and what more can be done to ensure the system is fit for purpose and properly enforced. I should declare an interest from the start: as a proud owner of a rescue Staffordshire bull terrier, animal and dog welfare is close to my heart. Last week, in preparation for today’s debate, I visited Almost Home Dog Rescue, near Mold in my constituency of Clwyd East. The team at Almost Home do a fantastic job and are a credit to our community, but they were clear that there is a huge, UK-wide problem. In their words, “the pounds are FULL, the rescue centres are FULL and hundreds of puppies and healthy young dogs are being put to sleep on a weekly basis.” Their frontline experience is that the situation is becoming a crisis, and that Lucy’s law, which effectively makes it illegal for third-party and commercial traders to sell puppies and kittens, is not working as it should. After 40 years in rescue, they have never known pressure like this before. I welcome the fact that I stood on a manifesto that committed to ending puppy smuggling and farming, and I welcome any update from the Minister on that issue. I also welcome the fact that the Welsh Labour manifesto committed to the UK and Welsh Governments working together on animal welfare issues, including microchipping. I also thank Dogs Trust for meeting with me and providing a briefing on the importance of microchipping. I think everyone here will recognise the benefits of microchipping pets, and dogs in particular. When it works effectively, microchipping allows people to rapidly identify a stray or lost dog and return it to its owner, reducing kennel time and the cost for local authorities. A rapid return also allows local authority officers to re-emphasise the importance of responsible dog ownership, which deters people from abandoning these pets irresponsibly. In addition, microchips being traceable reduces the problem of puppy farming, as well as the incidence of infectious diseases and inherited defects. Importantly, it also provides a strong deterrent to dog theft. The effective operation of the microchipping system depends on accurate records. Stray dogs that are microchipped and have up-to-date microchip records are more than twice as likely to be reunited with their keepers as dogs without a microchip. However, without properly maintained databases and proper enforcement, microchipping can never deliver everything that it set out to do. In March this year, the previous Government published their response to the consultation carried out on the operation of cat and dog microchipping systems. The consultation ran from March to May 2022 and garnered more than 1,500 responses. The headline findings were that the overwhelming majority of respondents agreed that we should introduce a single point of search portal to improve access to microchip records for approved users; that we should stop pets being registered on more than one database at a time; that the existing keeper should have an opportunity to object before the microchip record is transferred to a new keeper; and that the database operators must record whether a pet is missing or stolen. On making it easier for approved users to access the database records, the Government agreed to “support the development of a single point of search portal, working further with database operators and key user groups.” When it came to the requirements of databases and maintaining the accuracy of records, the Government agreed that they would “require database operators to send reminders to their customers at least once a year to ensure their information is up to date.” On the transfer of keepers’ records, the Government said that they would “require database operators to have robust transfer of keepership processes in place and allow, where appropriate, the current registered keeper up to 28 days to object to the transfer.” Crucially, on enforcement, the Government said that they would “require dog breeder information to remain as a permanently accessible part of the microchip record for enforcement purposes.” Those commitments were clearly made under the previous Government, so I would welcome the Minister’s comments on these issues and an update on whether actions, such as those I set out, will be taken forward. I would also be more than happy, as I am sure others would be, to work with the Minister on ensuring that we get this system right and build on some of the important progress that has been made. The UK and Welsh Governments are working together closely on this issue, particularly when considering future changes in relation to microchipping databases for both dogs and cats, including accessibility and a single point of entry, and I welcome any update that the Minister can give on those discussions and the way forward. Finally, as other hon. Members have done, I pay tribute to the work of the RSPCA, the world’s first and oldest animal welfare charity. I look forward to working alongside it and other animal welfare groups to raise the standards of dog welfare during the course of this Parliament and beyond.

• 5 Sept 2024 · UK-EU Trade · Hansard source

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  Farmers in Clwyd East continue to raise concerns with me about trading barriers with the EU. They feel that the current arrangements disadvantage them, and that not enough has been done since we left the EU to facilitate trade between British farmers and EU countries. Will the Minister outline what steps his Department is taking to remove those barriers and get a better deal for the farming community of Clwyd East?