Gerald Jones: I, too, refer the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. I am a lifelong trade unionist and a proud member of the GMB and USDAW. This is truly a winter of discontent visited on the country by the Conservative Government. Railway staff, posties, ambulance staff, bus drivers, border staff, highway workers and driving examiners are on strike, and, for the first time...
Gerald Jones: It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent Central (Jo Gideon), who I wish well in her campaign. I will take this opportunity to focus on three issues. First, I will raise the story of a young child, Pearl Melody Black. In August 2017, 22-month-old Pearl from my Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney constituency was tragically killed while walking with her father and brother. Pearl...
Gerald Jones: What fiscal steps he is taking to support people with their energy costs.
Gerald Jones: The End Fuel Poverty Coalition has called for an immediate ban on the installation of prepayment meters made under court warrants, because of fears that energy suppliers are using them to disconnect the poorest and most indebted customers by the back door, and it claims that transferring households to prepayment meters often prompts people in debt to self-disconnect. Citizens Advice said that...
Gerald Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, when he plans to issue a substantive written response to the correspondence of 9 November 2022 from the hon. Member for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney, reference MC2022/29111.
Gerald Jones: A constituent of mine applied for a visa for his mother-in-law to come to the UK from Ukraine. The application was made in August, and the family has received no further updates. I have contacted the Home Office myself, only to be kept waiting for weeks and told that it cannot help without the applicant’s permission, failing to recognise that she is stuck in a war-torn country. Can we have...
Gerald Jones: What progress she has made on the commencement of the UK-Australia free trade agreement.
Gerald Jones: The UK-Australia trade deal has been beset by difficulties and major delays to its passage through this House, and even the previous Secretary of State, the right hon. Member for Camborne and Redruth (George Eustice), no longer has to put a “positive gloss” on what was agreed. I, too, have serious concerns about the impact of the deal on Welsh and UK farmers. Will the Minister explain...
Gerald Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when the technical issues that have been outstanding since 2018 to award National Insurance credits to Universal Credit claims will be resolved.
Gerald Jones: Postal workers in my constituency and across the country do an essential job at the heart of our communities—they even worked through the pandemic to keep people connected—but they are threatened with worsening pay and conditions, and now their jobs are threatened by Royal Mail, which wants to cut 10,000 positions. May we have a debate on why and how the Government can allow Royal Mail to...
Gerald Jones: What assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of real-term reductions in local housing allowance rates on levels of poverty.
Gerald Jones: I welcome the Secretary of State’s comments about my new colleague, my hon. Friend the Member for City of Chester (Samantha Dixon), but that is as far as I can go. The local housing allowance is a lifeline for tenants to access the private rented sector. The Government have accepted the need to uprate most benefits in line with inflation, so why have they chosen to freeze the local housing...
Gerald Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has had recent discussions with representatives of FIFA on the process for awarding world cup tournaments.
Gerald Jones: I too welcome the Minister to his new role. He will know how important lamb exports are to Welsh farmers and the Welsh economy. Exports to the US are a drop in the ocean compared to the damage his Government have done with the Australian and New Zealand trade deals. We know his colleague the right hon. Member for Camborne and Redruth (George Eustice) said: “I no longer have to put such a...
Gerald Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when his Department will respond substantively to the correspondence of 4 October 2022 from the hon. Member for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney, reference MCB2022/23191.
Gerald Jones: I rise to speak in support of the motion in the name of my right hon. and hon. Friends. I will take the opportunity to raise some concerns on behalf of my constituents. It is clear that the events of 23 September have had a far-reaching impact and that the damage done by the former Chancellor and Prime Minister will continue to cause hardship for some time to come. We know that the...
Gerald Jones: I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend; we saw many dreams shattered across the country. That crisis was made in Downing Street and paid for by families in her constituency, my constituency and many others across the country. We now need calm and market certainty. Labour would put a windfall tax on energy companies’ excess profits, so that we do not have to borrow more than we need, and...
Gerald Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many Energy Bills Support Scheme vouchers issued to traditional prepayment meter customers; and how many have so far been redeemed in Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney constituency.
Gerald Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her policies on countering foreign malign information, influence, disinformation and other misleading information of the establishment of the Swedish Psychological Defence Agency.
Gerald Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he plans to bring forward legislative proposals on holding online marketplaces responsible for the safety of products sold on their platforms.
