The strong leadership Labour offers in Wales is being undermined by a Tory government in Westminster, writes Nick Thomas-Symonds

I was elected to parliament in May 2015 as one of 25 Welsh Labour members of parliament. Over the course of the last two years I have seen at first-hand the work Welsh Labour MPs have done to ensure that the needs of Wales are heard loud and clear in the British parliament.

Wales has never been a priority for the Tories. No Tory government has ever put the people of Wales first, and this one is no different. The number of food banks in Wales should be a badge of shame for the Tories. That they – first David Cameron, now Theresa May – have allowed once of the richest nations in the world to have such gross inequalities of wealth says everything anyone needs to know about Tory priorities.

Standing up to the Tories in this parliament has been vital. It was pressure from Welsh Labour MPs that led the then Welsh secretary, Stephen Crabb to abandon the first, confused, draft Wales bill that he proposed, and come back later with something that could actually give the tools to the Welsh Government to build Wales for the future, rather than go backwards on the devolution journey.

On other issues, Welsh Labour MPs have led the way in making sure that the voice of Wales is heard on United Kingdom-wide issues. The Tory-Liberal Democrat coalition accelerated the rise in the state pension rate which has had such a devastating impact on many women born in the 1950s. That decision meant that so many women did not have sufficient notice of changes and could not plan for the future. Indeed, the coalition government’s failure to communicate the changes has led to a great injustice. When I was shadow pensions minister, I urged the government not to ‘slam the door in the face of the 1950s women’. Yet the Tory government has done just that.

Under the leadership of Carwyn Jones, Welsh Labour is showing the difference Labour makes in government. In England, the NHS is in crisis, having been fragmented by the Tory-Liberal Democrat Health and Social Care Act of 2012 and starved of vital funds. That crisis extends to social care in many areas, as English councils have the rug pulled from under them by savage cuts from the Government. The Tories could learn a great deal from the Welsh Government in pursuing a proper, joined-up approach between health and social care and working with local councils instead of against them. The Welsh government will also ensure that Wales is not subjected to new grammar schools that would divide children at the age of 11, or Tory ideological experiments like free schools.

The need for a strong voice for Wales has never been greater with the coming negotiations to leave the European Union. Wales voted t leave the EU on 23 June 2016, but did not vote to become poorer. Yet despite the pre-referendum promises, the Tories have failed to guarantee the continuation of structural funding beyond 2020. With May in hock to those on the right of her party who would see the UK turn its back on the European continent completely, vital jobs are at risk. With 68 per cent of Welsh exports going to the European single market, it is of the utmost importance to constituencies like mine that the UK Government secures tariff-free access to the single market, to preserve these jobs.

The Tories can never be trusted to stand up for Wales. May called a general election after definitively ruling one out. She tried to impose a punitive national insurance rise on the self-employed before executing a u-turn. In these turbulent political times, electing Welsh Labour MPs is the only way to guarantee that the needs of Wales will be voiced in parliament.

––––––––––––

Nick Thomas-Symonds is member of parliament for Torfaen. He tweets at @NickTorfaenMP