A view from Carolyn Thomas – Welsh Labour’s North Wales Member of the Senedd
Wrexham.com has invited the four North Wales Members of the Senedd to write a monthly column with updates on their work. You can find their updates – along with contributions from the Wrexham and Clwyd South MPs and MSs – here.
In this month’s column for Wrexham.com, Welsh Labour MS Carolyn Thomas writes:
July 2023 marks the 75th anniversary of the foundation of the National Health Service by Nye Bevan from Wales.
It was built off the back of a successful local version which provided free medical care in Bevan’s town of Tredegar, which reflects the ability that local communities have to lead progressive change.
I am reminded that the prospect of free and universal healthcare was once unthinkable.
If today, there was no such thing as the NHS, it would probably be far easier to imagine a society without it, or one in which it never became a reality.
So on the anniversary, it gives me, as a politician, the opportunity to recommit to the sort of progressive thinking that inspired the creation of the NHS; a publicly-funded, universal and free nationwide healthcare system.
Indeed, the challenges of our time call for such ideas more than ever.
There were also celebrations this month both at the Senedd in Cardiff and amongst animal welfare groups and charities, after Wales became the first country in the United Kingdom to ban glues traps and snares. Both are cruel and brutal devices which are used to trap animals, often indiscriminately maiming or killing a wide range of animals, including household pets.
The campaign to ban snares and glue traps was one of the first campaigns I got involved when I was elected to the Senedd in May 2021, so I am delighted that legislation has now been passed which outlaws their use in Wales. This makes Wales a safer place for animals and wildlife
Celebrations outside the Senedd as Wales becomes the first part of the UK to ban brutal wildlife traps.
Delighted that this legislation has come about as a result of excellent campaigning from the likes of @LeagueWales and @RSPCAcymru https://t.co/8pLf0tZwJ1
— Carolyn Thomas MS / AS (@CThomasMS) June 28, 2023
In my last couple of monthly columns, I have written about the emergency situation which was developing in relation to the funding of bus services in Wales, caused by the ending of the bus emergency Covid-19 funding package. Unite Wales led a brilliant #BackYourBusRoute campaign to lobby the Welsh Government into providing ongoing funding to protect bus routes.
As a result of the campaign, the government announced a new Bus Transition Fund, which provides funding for bus operators to ensure less profitable routes aren’t cut.
This does however represent a further taxpayers subsidy to private, profit-making companies which reiterates the importance of bringing buses under public ownership, which I continue to support and call for across the United Kingdom.
🚨 UNITE WIN 🚨
Following our #BackYourBusRoute campaign, the Welsh Government announced a new Bus Transition Fund, providing funding to Bus Operators to ensure less profitable routes continue.
A huge win for every bus passenger and worker in Wales!https://t.co/a00JIMdD6p pic.twitter.com/zuNFktYPVh
— UniteWales (@UniteWales) June 26, 2023
Keeping on the theme of public transport, I am cautiously optimistic to see that Transport for Wales have announced a five-step improvement plan for the Wrexham to Bidston line, which has been plagued with reliability issues.
There were a number of teething problems with the new Class 230 trains which run on the line, which are now looking to be addressed through regular maintenance at the new depot in Birkenhead.
As a Member of the Senedd for North Wales, I’m here to help you with any issues that you might have. Please email me on [email protected], call my office on 0300 110 0176, or visit my website: www.carolynthomas.wales
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