GERAINT DAVIES MP
WELSH LABOUR & CO-OPERATIVE MP MAKING A DIFFERENCE FOR SWANSEA WEST O Abertawe ac yn gweithio dros Abertawe
FEB 2022 REPORT Report Inside
SWANSEA WEST MP SHOWS HIS SUPPORT FOR UCU MEMBERS This month’s picket and campaigning on UCU pensions was given a boost when Geraint Davies, MP for Swansea West came to visit the Singleton campus picket line. In an impromptu speech to over 110 picketers he expressed his strong support for UCU’s fight to protect the pensions of our members. Speaking to UCU members, Geraint Davies MP said “I join you in solidarity at todays Swansea University picket with workers protesting for sustainable pensions. Our lecturers must achieve the highest standards, and invest in their own further degrees, to teach our students which strengthens our economy. However, you now face job, pay and pension insecurity I support the union UCU in wanting a reevaluation of the pension fund - up since it’s 2020 pandemic valuation - and a settlement in which workers, universities and UK Government contribute to safeguard pensions. I’ll be raising this in parliament next week.”
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GERAINT PRESSED NEED FOR RIGHT TO FOOD Speaking in the House of Commons this month, Geraint Davies MP call on the Secretary of State to meet with him and the co-operative movement over the right to food, stating “The Secretary of State knows from the Select Committee on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs that there are some 6.6 million people in food insecurity, with insufficient daily food of a nutritious standard. He also knows that food prices, energy prices and national insurance are going up, and universal credit is going down. Does he agree, therefore, that that figure will reach 10 million unless something is done, and will he meet me and the co-operative movement to discuss a plan, including to put the right to food into law?”
“Let us never forget those killed on an industrial scale in the Holocaust and stand firm against those who kindle the fires of hatred and division. Rest In Peace.” Geraint Davies MP signing the Holocaust Memorial Book in Parliament this month.
GOOD PRACTICE ON RECYCLING SHOWN IN LABOUR-LED SWANSEA This month, Geraint Davies MP highlighted the fantastic recycling achievements by the Labour-led Swansea Council and calling for a debate on incinerations in England. As covered in the story by ITV News, Geraint Davies and a group of MPs are calling for a halt to the building of any new incinerators, saying their emmissions have the potential to cause serious health issues on neighbouring communities. The UK’s capacity to burn waste is set to double over the next decade. Campaigners against the proposals for the incinerator in Wisbech, which would be one of the largest in Europe, say it would bring hundreds of lorries to the town every day and the area does not have the infrastructure to cope with that level of traffic. Just last month, a report from the All Party Parliamentary Group on Air Pollution says construction of new incinerators should be halted due to concerns over public health and environmental impacts. Geraint Davies MP, Chair of the APPG on Air Pollution, told ITV News “Well, the incineration has caused much, much more carbon than other forms of energy production. Incineration causes air pollution in particulates, ultra-fine particulates to do the most damage our report showed and these incinerators being placed in the poorest urban communities where potentially they could do the most harm.” Geraint spoke in the House of Commons highlighting that Labour-led Swansea Council has illustrated the best practices on recyling and English regions could adopt these practices to avoid incineration. Geraint Davies MP said “In Swansea, 62% of waste is recycled compared with about 30% in north London. In Wales, we have a moratorium on incineration, but the Government’s plan in England is to double incineration by 2030. Indeed, the latest incinerator in north London will generate 700,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide.
Can we have an urgent debate on incineration and fiscal measures to reduce it so that we can have cleaner air locally, protected from the ultra-fine particulates that incinerators emit, and contain our climate change discharges in a sensible way?”
Geraint, along with Beth Winter MP and Ian Byrne MP, met with with Jane Hutt MS to discuss the right to food the day and the universal basic income pilot ahead of the announcement on £1,600 monthly UBI for care leavers.
“Basic income to free 18 year olds leaving care in Wales from the shackles of poverty & fear, with £1,600 a month, so they can train, start a business & build a future” @GeraintDaviesMP
Delay in toughening up air pollution laws ‘costing lives’, says Ella Kissi-Debrah’s mother It is nine months and counting since a coroner said the UK needed to toughen up limits on air pollution to prevent deaths such as nine-year-old Ella Kissi-Debrah’s in the future. The government is yet to do this – and this delay “will cost lives”, her mother told The Independent. Geraint Davies MP, who chairs a cross-party group on air pollution, told The Independent: “Had the government imposed WHO air quality limits of 10mg per cubic metre at the time of the coroner’s report, then thousands upon thousands of lives would have been saved.” This includes some deaths that will have been brought on by Covid, he added. UK researchers have linked previous exposure to air pollution with an increased chance of hospitalisation from Covid. Another study in late 2020 suggested around 15 per cent of global Covid deaths could be attributed to long-term exposure to polluted air. Mr Davies told The Independent this month there was a reluctance to toughen up legal pollution limits because it would mean “suddenly” having to take significant action, such as by banning wood-burning stoves and restricting the number of cars. “But the truth is, we should ban wood-burning stoves and we should limit the number of diesel-belching cars,” the Labour MP for Swansea West said. Last month, a vigil was held for Ella on the eve of what would have been her 18th birthday, where Ms Kissi-Debrah called on the government to tighten up air pollution limits.
‘Kill the bill’: surge in Bristol riot charges prompts alarm over civil liberties Dozens of mainly young “kill the bill” protesters have been charged with riot – the most serious public order offence – following clashes in Bristol last year. The decision by Avon and Somerset police and the Crown Prosecution Service appears to be the biggest use of riot charges against demonstrators since the 1980s. Geraint Davies MP, the chair of the APPG on democracy and the constitution, which investigated the disturbances in Bristol, criticised the police. “They massively overreacted at the time and were found out after they misled the press and tried to mislead our inquiry,” he said. He questioned whether the riot charges appeared to be “seeking to punish peoplein an excessive and disproportionate way, not just for protesting but for challenging the police”. Davies added that the police should not be handed even more powers in the police and crime bill. “The police abuse the power they have but the government still want to give them all sorts of new powers to restrict protests. They need more accountability not less.”
Join Me At Stand Up To Racism Rally I’ll be speaking at the Stand Up to Racism Wales Rally on March 20 at 12 at the Civic centre Cardiff. Please do attend. Black Lives Matter Swansea has been disbanded following South Wales police trying to recruit informants and targeted hostility from Voice of Wales fascists. Julie and I will meet Alun Michael in this. Solidarity.
GERAINT SUPPORTING OUR FANTASTIC CANDIDATES AHEAD OF COUNCIL ELECTIONS
CONTACT ME / CYSYLLTU A MI 32 Walter Road, Swansea, SA1 5NW (01792) 4759432
info@geraintdavies.org.uk @GeraintDaviesMP