A view from Wrexham’s Member of Parliament

Wrexham.com has invited Wrexham & Clwyd South Members of Parliament and Members of the Senedd to write a monthly article with updates on their work in their respective Parliaments and closer to home – you can find them all here.

In this month’s column Wrexham’s MP, Sarah Atherton writes: ‌

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I am well aware of how important the issue of stopping the boats and controlling our borders is to the people of Wrexham.

This UK Conservative Government has made significant headway in tackling illegal migration and I am pleased that the Prime Minister has acknowledged that the current situation at our borders is unsustainable.

As such, the UK Government has introduced several measures to tackle illegal migration:

• Since December 2022, the Government has returned more than 4,100 Albanians who came here illegally.
• Changing the law so that if people come here illegally, they will not be able to claim asylum in the UK.
• Bringing down small boat arrivals by 36% in 2023.

Whilst the Rwanda Bill is not perfect, it represents a clear deterrent and contains some of the toughest illegal migration laws to date.

That being said, I feel that the Rwanda Bill could be strengthened to avoid the potential for yet more challenges by European Courts

. As such, I voted on amendments to do exactly that. This is not because I am against the legislation, but because like everybody else I want it to have the best chance of working.

Whilst the amendments did not pass, I gave the Bill my overall support despite what I see as its weaknesses because it does take us in the right direction. To read my full statement, click on ‘Rwanda Statement’ on my website.

Whilst we must adhere to the court’s ruling on Wrexham’s Local Development Plan (LDP), residents will inevitably now feel the impact of 8,000 houses being built on land in Wrexham.

Wrexham’s LDP is based on Welsh Labour Government ‘National Wales Plan’ housing figures which have wrongly forecasted significant population growth in Wrexham.

Even though this proposed population rise has been proven incorrect, the Welsh Labour Government is refusing to revisit these inflated housing numbers and is pushing through large-scale unnecessary housing developments via Wrexham’s LDP.

Whilst I am not opposed to more housing, future property developments require improvements to existing infrastructure such as hospitals, schools, drainage systems, GP surgeries and emergency services first.

In addition, the Welsh Labour Government is underfunding our statutory services, meaning cuts to this year’s education budget despite having the lowest Pisa test results in the UK, stopping all new road building, and has imposed a default 20mph speed limit which is causing further congestion on our roads.

Wrexham’s LDP, a plan imposed on us by the Welsh Government and Labour Councillors and Senedd Members, will only serve to exacerbate the existing challenges that my constituents face daily with public services and infrastructure, which the Welsh Labour Government simply refuse to acknowledge.

Sadly, the story of the Welsh Labour Government’s high-handed approach continues.

An example of this is that they are reducing business rate relief for Welsh retail and hospitality from 75% to 40%, whilst the UK Government continues to back businesses in England with the 75% rate relief.

The First Minister has stated that this money is needed to ‘prop’ up public services, such as the NHS. The Welsh Labour Government receives a significant funding settlement from the UK Government, where Wales receives £1.20 to spend on public services for every £1 spent in England.

The Welsh Labour Government has ample resources to fund public services, but they continue to fail to spend this money where it matters.

Instead, they waste money on unnecessary projects like increasing the number of politicians in the Senedd and the 20mph blanket policy, which together cost well over £140 million.

The Welsh Government should support our local businesses by keeping rate relief at 75% and adequately fund health care services.

Worryingly, I am hearing from smaller businesses in Wrexham, who have kept going during COVID-19 but are now thinking about closure or considering moving across the border.

Recently, I undertook a survey to understand residents’ experiences with mobile connectivity in the ‘not-spot’ area of Rossett.

An unacceptable number of respondents stated that poor mobile signal is a barrier to accessing health, education, and financial services, despite OfCom’s coverage checker stating that Rossett is, “likely to receive good coverage”.

Having already discussed these issues with Wrexham Council, OfCom, UK Government Ministers, and Building Digital UK, I met with representatives from FreshWave to receive an update on what they are doing to improve services in Wrexham.

FreshWave recently signed an open-access agreement with Wrexham Council, which allows mobile network operators to use lampposts to boost mobile coverage. However, FreshWave’s work is only looking to boost mobile phone signal within the city centre.

Given OfCom’s skewed predictions, Rossett is not covered by the Shared Rural Network which is a £1 billion UK Government initiative to ensure UK mobile phone operators deliver strong 4G coverage for those in rural areas.

I am lobbying Ministers to ensure that OfCom’s Checker discrepancy is resolved.

If you are a resident in the current Wrexham constituency boundary and need my assistance with any local or national issues, please contact me on: [email protected].