A view from Clwyd South’s Member of the Senedd

Wrexham.com has invited Wrexham & Clwyd South constituency Members of Parliament and Members of the Senedd to write a monthly article with updates on their work in Parliament and the Senedd, and closer to home. (You can view an archive here).

Clwyd South MS Ken Skates writes…

I was proud to show my support for Pride Month with Welsh Labour colleagues and the FIrst Minister at the Senedd recently.
It’s 50 years since July 1, 1972, when people came together to take Pride to the streets of London. Five decades on, we have certainly come a long way on LGBTQ+ rights, and our record of support for the LGBTQ+ community here in Wales is one to be proud of.
The Welsh Government has ambitious plans to make Wales the most LGBTQ+ friendly nation in Europe, and that’s something I wholeheartedly support.

I enjoyed visiting two brilliant local schools recently.

First was an afternoon at Rhosymedre Community Primary School as part of my role on the Senedd’s Children, Young People and Education Committee, which is monitoring the implementation of two key education reforms throughout the current Senedd term. It was a really productive afternoon, and I’m grateful to the staff for their time and their feedback.
The new curriculum, which is being introduced in primary schools in September, is a shift away from what has gone before which will give schools the flexibility to design their own teaching programme within a broad national framework. The aim is to empower teachers, who know their pupils best.
I believe it’s an innovative approach, and it’s something that was also welcomed by staff on my recent visit to Ysgol y Waun in Chirk, where I visited with chair of governors Cllr Frank Hemmings and had a fun Q&A session with members of the school council (below).

Huge thanks to both schools for their warm welcomes!

I am being still receiving regular requests from constituents for updates on the work to repair and reopen the B5605 at Newbridge.
The matter is now in the hands of Wrexham Council following the confirmation of £2.8m of grant funding from the Welsh Government three months ago on April 4.
I wrote to the council on May 11 asking for an update to share with constituents, including a timescale for the work, and am awaiting a response.
I was assured last week that a progress report was imminent. As soon as I receive it, I will share it with Wrexham.com and on my social media pages.

I was recently notified that Network Rail will nominate Ruabon Station for the next round of the UK Government’s Access for All programme, and I have submitted a letter of support.
The Welsh Labour Government wants lifts installed at Ruabon Station, and has twice offered to pay 50% of the funding to help deliver these long-awaited improvements.
This is despite the fact that the UK Government is responsible for station infrastructure – so should be paying for the work in full.
The Friends of Ruabon and local campaigners can’t do any more, and the Welsh Government can’t do any more. Now it’s over the UK Government.
You can read Wrexham.com’s full report here.

On Friday I attended the launch of new Welsh-made trains which will serve North Wales and the border areas at Chester Station.

Transport for Wales is spending £800m on new trains throughout its network and the Class 197 will be the first of the brand new stock to enter service in North Wales this year.
This project was launched during my time as Transport Minister, so I was delighted to be there to see the new train – built by CAF in Newport – unveiled. As well as increased capacity, the trains will allow TfW to run faster and more frequent services on key routes – including operating on the Wrexham to Bidston line.

In the Senedd, I raised my concerns about the UK Government support measures for people at the sharp end of the Conservative cost-of-living crisis.
For those on Universal Credit, what has been announced so far barely makes up for the cut of over £1,000 a year pushed through last autumn.
So much more could have been offered to hard-pressed households had the Tories not lost £11bn of public money by failing to insure against interest rate rises – and billions more in fraudulent loans. Watch here

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Wrexham.com has invited Wrexham & Clwyd South constituency Members of Parliament and Members of the Senedd to write a monthly article with updates on their work in Parliament and the Senedd, and closer to home. (You can view an archive here).