Dame Nia Griffith
MP for Llanelli · Labour · United Kingdom
“My dedicated volunteer coastguard rescue officers are absolutely vital to the safety of the public along the very long coastline all around my constituency.”
“I will try to keep to your limit, Sir Alec. The work of the Burry Port coastguards is absolutely vital to my constituency, which is surrounded on three sides by water.”
“Stopping the payments in September looks exceedingly cynical: as if to say, “We will make the most of your skills and dedication over the summer, when we are expecting loads of visitors”—perhaps more than ever, because of the jet-fuel fears—“but come September, we will make the cut that we know might make some of you resign.” I can tell t…”
“Friend the Minister, first, pause the current cuts plan for September to give time for a rethink and then, importantly, find a way for volunteer coastguards to be at least as well rewarded financially as they are now? I do not want any hiding behind legal issues. There must be ways of doing that.”
“Indeed I do. Sir Alec, just think how much time and effort our volunteer coastguard rescue officers put into ensuring that they can provide the very best service and dovetail with the other emergency services. They are real multitaskers and trained to a very high standard. They have to be multiskilled.”
“CROs give up their own time to do the training, but it is no good just doing the training. They have to maintain the skills through practice sessions, because lives depend on it. They get £11 an hour for some training sessions, but they have to do the practice sessions every week just as volunteers.”
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“We looked at the full range of possible ways of taking children out of poverty, and this is the most effective change we can make. The imposition of the two-child limit by the Conservatives when they were in power has pushed hundreds of thousands of children into poverty, damaging their health, education and life chances. In Llanelli alone, an estimated 2,200 children will benefit from the change, giving them the foundation they need to succeed in school and go on to get secure, well-paid jobs. We are also uprating the universal credit standard allowance by 6%, the first ever permanent real-terms increase, benefiting some 320,000 households in Wales. We are keeping the triple lock on the state pension, meaning that it will increase by 4.8% this April, raising incomes for 700,000 pensioners in Wales.”
“Time and again, I hear from people across my constituency that the cost of living crisis is their biggest concern, as they work every hour they can and still struggle to make ends meet. Tackling that cost of living crisis is an absolute priority for both the UK and Welsh Labour Governments. That is why it is so important that we have put up the national minimum wage and the national living wage. It is important to ensure that work pays, and workers need and deserve those increases. Moreover, we have made a particular increase to the 18 to 20-year-old rate as a step towards bringing it up to the rate for 21-year-olds. I am delighted that we are now removing the two-child benefit cap. I had the privilege of working on the child poverty taskforce.”
“I know my hon. Friend knows it well. Beer Park was named last year as the best independent beer and cider retailer in the UK, and it was shortlisted again this year for the prestigious drinks retailing awards. Then we have DesignYO!, a design company that has gone from being a work-from-home start-up to taking on another full-time employee and opening premises in Llanelli town centre. Those are three very different businesses, but each provides quality goods and contributes to our local economy. We must be under no illusion that the task we faced after 14 years of Tory austerity, which saw not only swingeing cuts to our public services but wage freezes and benefit freezes, coupled with the Tory cost of living crisis, has made life very, very difficult for my constituents in Llanelli.”
“Does the hon. Member not recognise that there have been two very successful auctions for offshore floating wind, and the electric arc furnace has already started to be built in Port Talbot? We have the development of the ports in Milford and Port Talbot, plus the defence college and the associated factories that will go with that industry, plus the amazing semi- conductor industry, which I do not pretend to understand. Yes, of course we want welders, but we also want people highly skilled in the many new technologies that we are already bringing to Wales. He just does not seem to be living in the same country as the rest of us.”
“As my hon. Friend will know, our hon. Friend the Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire South (Johanna Baxter) has done a lot of work on the stolen children. She said that the Minister had mentioned the issue in New York, and she was very touched by that. Does he agree that the work she has been doing, in the face of a horrendous situation, is fantastic?”
“Conversely, the cutting of UK aid for LGBT rights programmes may influence other donors negatively. Thirdly, any retreat from supporting LGBT rights is likely to embolden those who weaponise them and to exacerbate existing difficulties. I am pleased to hear that the UK will host the IDAHOT—International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia—meeting in 2027. I ask the Minister if we could use that meeting both to improve our position in the rankings and to support LGBT rights internationally.”
“I will not repeat all the comments I made in Monday’s debate about the interference of Russia in our democracy and politics, but research by the Kaleidoscope Trust and its international partners, alongside UK Government and Equal Rights Coalition statements, has shown that hostile states, such as Russia, systematically promote anti-gender and anti-LGBTI+ narratives, which are used to polarise electorates, mobilise nationalist and populist movements, and even undermine trust in institutions, such as NATO, the EU and the UN. That is a threat to us, but it is an even greater threat in countries where democracy is more fragile. Secondly, the UK still commands respect abroad, and strong support from the UK for programmes supporting LGBT rights sends a clear signal to other donor countries of the importance of this aid.”
“In the great scheme of things, it is not a huge amount of money, but it is nevertheless extremely important for several reasons—first and foremost, because it is not just a minority rights issue. Sadly, we see attacks on LGBT+ rights around the world used as a weapon to undermine our democracies, sowing division and dividing societies, and such attacks are often as a precursor to attacks on wider minority rights and to greater authoritarianism.”
“I ask the Minister to ensure that, however we get to the final guidance on the practical implementation of the ruling, it really does respect the rights of trans people to privacy and to living their lives in their acquired gender, and that it also offers protection to all those organisations that find themselves under attack for being trans-inclusive. We need to see guidelines that focus on inclusion and not exclusion. Turning to the international scene, we all appreciate that there are significant financial pressures at this time, but I would like to make a specific plea to ministerial colleagues to protect the support given to LGBT rights programmes through the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’s foreign aid budget.”
“Turning to the trans community, I have met many trans people and their families this year, as I expect the Minister has, who have been deeply upset since the Supreme Court ruling last April—not just by the ruling itself, but by the way in which the ruling has been seized on by some, interpreted far more widely than the context of the Equality Act 2010 and used as a weapon against trans people. We must find a way to enable trans people to live their lives peacefully and with dignity without having to come out repeatedly in all sorts of circumstances.”
“There should be no rolling back of equality, diversity and inclusion programmes, whether that is LGBT+ inclusive relationship education for young people in schools or in a public or private sector workplace. I am pleased that our Employment Rights Act 2025 gives formal recognition to trade union equality officers and has strengthened employer duties against harassment. That will certainly help, but we should be under no illusion that there is not still much to do. I know a lot of work has been done on the conversion practices Bill, and I appreciate that the Minister is absolutely committed to bringing it forward and ensuring that it is fully trans inclusive, but time is ticking on, and I would be grateful if she could tell us when she is likely to publish a draft Bill.”
“I welcome the fact that through amending the Crime and Policing Bill, the Government are moving ahead with making LGBT+ and disability hate crime into aggravated offences, bringing them in line with racial and religious hate crime. But changes in the law need to be supported by cultural change. Unfortunately, too often we hear of denigration, taunting and bullying of LGBT+ people, sometimes through ignorance but also, I am sorry to say, through open prejudice, even among those who we would hope knew better in our public services. Research by the TUC into harassment, bullying and prejudice of LGBT+ people in the workplace revealed that over half of respondents, rising to 80% of trans respondents, have been subject to one of those.”
“I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham East (Nadia Whittome) not only for taking the initiative on this debate, but for making a fantastic opening speech and saying so much about our trans community that is so important. I will come back to that in a moment. In this LGBT+ History Month debate, it is important not only to acknowledge how far we have come on LGBT+ rights, but to renew our determination to protect the progress we have made and to do more both here and abroad to enable LGBT+ people to enjoy the same opportunities that non-LGBT+ people enjoy. I will not repeat much of the excellent speech that my hon. Friend has just made and will keep my remarks fairly brief.”
“Time and again, small manufacturing firms in my constituency of Llanelli tell me that high energy costs are making it difficult for them to be competitive, and they feel that they are on the edge. Given the lack of investment by the previous Conservative Government and the fact that this Government are playing catch-up, when does the Minister think that enough new sources of energy will be generated to bring down prices? How soon will interim help arrive?”
“Far more challenging is what our strategy is for managing and combating the impact of internet warfare and how we build up our defences against it. We absolutely must take Russian interference in our politics and democracy as seriously as any physical threat and develop strategies to deal with it, so I very much welcome the Government’s activities to date. I appreciate that, for security reasons, the Minister may not be able to give a full account of everything that is being done, but I ask him to make tackling Russian interference an absolute priority, through both the upcoming elections Bill and much further action across the whole of Government.”
“Attacks on LGBT+ communities and other minorities can often signal the beginning of the growth of authoritarianism and further erosion of democratic rights. We must remember that Russia does not just interfere directly in the UK, but can indirectly affect UK interests by interfering in countries currently friendly to us, such as Commonwealth countries. Of course, we have also seen the election battles in countries close to the EU or NATO, as other Members have mentioned. In terms of tactics, the Kaleidoscope Trust’s recent report “Legal Battlegrounds” has detailed disinformation and manipulation of the narrative, networks that amplify messages—such as influencers, proxy organisations and religious organisations—and political and electoral disruption. Recognising the problem of Russian interference is only the first step.”
“Before I finish, I would like to make specific mention of the way in which Russian interference weaponises LGBT+ issues. That is not by accident; it is a way of dividing societies and weakening our democracy. Research by the Kaleidoscope Trust and its international partners, alongside the UK Government, has shown that Russia systematically promotes anti-gender and anti-LGBT+ narratives, which are used to polarise electorates and mobilise nationalist and populist movements. Furthermore, it may discredit liberally aligned politicians or undermine trust in institutions such as NATO, the EU and the UN. Protecting LGBT+ rights is not just a human rights issue; it is now becoming a national security priority.”
“State and non-state actors may choose to claim responsibility, to create deliberate ambiguity or to use technology to conceal their involvement completely, creating the impression of spontaneous indigenous action. Furthermore, targeting and manipulating public opinion, even if systematic and attributable, cannot be prosecuted under international humanitarian law, which focuses on physical harm. In some countries, such as Estonia, there are initiatives to build resilience—for example, by educating school students to recognise and deal with internet brainwashing techniques—but all too often, including in the UK, consideration of cyber-security focuses very much on infrastructure attack and personal exposure to fraud or sexual grooming, with limited discussion of mass psychological attack.”
“We value freedom of speech and freedom of belief. To us, censorship is unthinkable. We would not wish to challenge people’s right to access information from their sources of choice. We actually pride ourselves on giving all sides a fair hearing. Even in dealing with extremist views that all mainstream political parties abhor, we agonise about whether a no-platform stance plays into the martyr narrative—that the establishment will not give them a fair hearing. Even if we can achieve balance in a good TV discussion, there is no such balance on social media, where powerful algorithms are at work. The nature of this form of hybrid warfare means it is difficult to attribute responsibility with certainty.”
“We have been shocked to see what a powerful tool it has been in recruiting even well-educated, seemingly well-integrated young people in western countries to go to fight with Daesh abroad. Our counter-messaging skills clearly remain inadequate, so the potential for such computational propaganda to be used by state and non-state actors, both overtly and covertly, is enormous, and Russia has no qualms about using it. It can be used to stir up social unrest and racial hatred and to erode the will of a population to defend itself. Our vulnerability is all the greater because we seem reluctant to recognise or to discuss the potential for manipulating our own populations. That is a challenge to our security, stability and prosperity. We in mature democracies are vulnerable because of the very values we hold.”
“Worryingly, security experts estimate that more than 10% of content across social media websites and 62% of all web traffic is generated by bots. As our former colleague Ian Lucas, the former Member for Wrexham, said in his book “Digital Gangsters”, which details some of the work carried out by the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, far from protecting people’s data, big companies such as Facebook have long been sharing users’ and users’ friends’ data. Who knows where that ends up? Even when there is a clear international public consensus in condemning openly abhorrent material posted on the internet by extremists, we have seen how difficult and resource-intensive it is to remove it even from the big-name social media platforms, with little hope of preventing those who are determined to access it from finding it.”
“We have become familiar with marketing databases and the eerily accurate profiles they generate of us, but the recent acceleration in the shift from cash to card or phone for all manner of transactions, constantly increasing exposure to social media, and ever greater connectivity to the internet mean ever more information about us can be harvested and used to target messages. No longer are we merely subject to a billboard slogan seen four times a day or to the same TV advert viewed a dozen times; every spare moment, as we idly thumb our phones, we are ready targets for bombardment with internet messages. Moreover, that bombardment masquerades as our free choice, as we scroll and click, often oblivious to the subliminal messages that target us.”
“We should be under no illusion about the Russian interest in influencing opinion in western democracies and interfering with our very democracy. I will not repeat the excellent points that my hon. Friend the Member for South Norfolk (Ben Goldsborough) and other colleagues made on finance and named individuals. I will focus specifically on internet warfare. There is nothing new about propaganda or information warfare, but technological advances and our increasing reliance on technology make it much easier, quicker and cheaper to customise messages ever more precisely, with ever more powerful algorithms to target audiences thousands of miles away.”
“It is a pleasure to serve with you as Chair, Ms Butler. I thank all those who signed the petition, which speaks to a growing awareness and concern about the extent of Russian interference in our democracy. I note the particularly high number of signatories from Wales, doubtless because of disgust at the treachery of Nathan Gill, the former leader of Reform in Wales, who was recently sentenced for accepting Russian bribes to speak up on behalf of Russia. Our friends in eastern Europe have long been aware of the way the Russians use a whole range of tactics to achieve their aims. Before the 2014 invasion of Crimea, we saw the use of hybrid tactics by the Russian Federation in Ukraine to influence not only the different sections of the Ukrainian population and the Russian population back home, but western opinion.”
“I very much welcome the fact that Llanelli, along with the rest of Wales, will be in the pilot expansion of the victims’ right to review scheme. However, as the Minister will know, it is often very difficult for children who have suffered neglect and abuse, or adults who suffered it as children, to report such incidents. Will the Minister agree to meet me to look again at extending the six-month time limit for summary offences, which leaves survivors with no redress and allows abuse and neglect to go unpunished?”
“Thirdly, we need to impose sanctions on those authorising and carrying out crimes against the civilian population. As extraordinarily challenging as it is, it is vital that we work persistently with Ukrainian and international allies in raising the plight of those living under occupation and the illegal acts against them, particularly those held in detention. We must stress the accountability of their captors, and seek the location and release of those who are in detention or who have disappeared. We need to look beyond the present to a time when the temporarily occupied territories come back under Ukrainian control, and prepare for the enormous task of reconstruction. That will not only be a physical task of rebuilding infrastructure, but will—crucially—require the rebuilding of communities.”
“The inhumane and illegal treatment of Ukrainians in the temporarily occupied territories receives little news coverage, and too often does not feature in talks about a ceasefire or peace. The Minister has taken a sustained interest in all these matters, so I would be grateful if he could tell us what the United Kingdom is doing, and what more we can do, to highlight and tackle these issues. First, we need to raise the plight of civilians and detainees in the temporarily occupied territories as widely as possible, particularly with appropriate international bodies and forums such as the United Nations and the G7. Secondly, we need to support international bodies such as the ICC in getting access and establishing accountability, and provide support for the Ukrainian authorities and NGOs trying to document this situation.”
“We heard from the Ukrainian Ministry of Education and Science that it provides online materials, which families have to use clandestinely, to allow their children some access to Ukrainian education. Ukrainians in the temporarily occupied territories have been subject to the most appalling abuse by the Russian authorities, with over 15,000 detained. There is an horrendous list of arbitrary arrests, appalling detention conditions, torture, sexual violence, unfair trials and people being detained either in the many detention centres in the temporarily occupied territories or after being deported to Russia. There is specific targeting of those who uphold Ukrainian civic identity, of local officials who will not collaborate with the aggressors and even of those who are just distributing aid.”
“We have seen the devastation in the temporarily occupied territories. Buildings have been destroyed, and there has been a lack of water and power. Cities have had their physical infrastructure hollowed out, and have seen the loss of so many of their citizens, both on the frontline and by displacement to other areas of Ukraine and beyond. That has a significant impact on their resilience. More than that, Ukrainian citizens are subject to Russia’s relentless attack on their very identity, being declared by Russia as Russian citizens, with some 3.5 million Russian passports issued and 300,000 people forcibly conscripted into the Russian military forces. Some 664 cultural heritage sites have been damaged or destroyed, and Ukrainian children are being forced to follow the Russian curriculum, with its narrative and worldview.”
“One entrepreneur had relocated his factory there and had had to recruit new workers, while a couple who had a patisserie business were not only setting up new kitchens but establishing a whole new customer base in local cafes. We then visited a displaced university that had moved lock, stock and barrel to Vinnytsia. That was in just one city, and it is replicated across Ukraine, at a time when those cities themselves are under attack from Putin, when their resources are having to be prioritised for the war effort, and when many of their citizens are serving on the frontline. The challenges and pressures are enormous. I mention those displaced populations to remind us of their individual human stories and to highlight the impact of the exodus of talent from their home towns.”
“On its last visit, the all-party parliamentary group on Ukraine went to Vinnytsia, a city the size of Swansea in central Ukraine, which has welcomed, housed and supported 47,000 Ukrainians displaced from the temporarily occupied territories—47,000 individuals who have had to make agonising decisions about uprooting and leaving their homes, friends, family and work colleagues. Each of them will have their own story and will be worrying day in, day out about what is happening in their home towns, in the temporarily occupied territories, and about what the future holds. We also met extraordinary business people who had come to Vinnytsia and re-established their businesses.”
“The United Nations has repeatedly reaffirmed Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders. Russia has absolutely no right to try to assimilate the territories it is occupying into its own administrative systems. Rather than repeat the excellent points made by colleagues about the legal framework, and by my hon. Friend the Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire South (Johanna Baxter) about the appalling kidnapping of Ukrainian children, I will mention some of the other aspects of the dreadful situation facing the citizens of Ukraine.”
“I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Leeds Central and Headingley (Alex Sobel) for all the work he is doing on Ukraine and for securing this important debate on the non-recognition of the Russian occupied territories, allowing me and other Members of Parliament to state on the record that we utterly condemn Putin’s invasion of parts of the sovereign territory of Ukraine. We must not allow aggressors to get away with the invasion and attempted annexation of another nation’s sovereign territory. That is essential if we are to uphold international law and the rules-based international order. Moreover, weakness, inaction and ceding to Putin will only embolden him, as indeed it already has. Not content with his invasion of Crimea in 2014, he launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.”
“T7. I thank my right hon. Friend the Chancellor for bringing us record investment, financial stability and repeated interest rate cuts, but does she share my astonishment that Reform is not only welcoming treacherous Tories who did so much to wreck our economy and public services, but actually entrusting them with economic policy?”
“The capping of ground rent at £250 will give certainty and relief to leaseholders in Llanelli, who face unpredictable and unjustifiable hikes in ground rent and for whom the reform simply cannot come soon enough. Will the Minister give us a bit more detail on the timetable for the Bill and assure us that he will do everything he possibly can to ensure that the cap is brought in as soon as possible?”
“A constituent of mine disclosed full details of her change in circumstances to the Department, but although the Department admitted it was its mistake—it had received that information and had repeatedly failed to update its records—it still sent her a very threatening letter. Although I fully support the need to protect the public purse, would the appropriate Minister agree to meet me to discuss how the Department could improve its updating procedures, reduce the occurrence of overpayments, and treat claimants more considerately when they have received overpayments through no fault of their own?”
“I congratulate my right hon. Friend on doing so much to bring housing back under control and to upgrade it, as well as on the roll-out of Valour centres—the Links charity in Llanelli has put in an excellent application. I also welcome the fact that the Bill will strengthen the armed forces covenant by ensuring that it covers all public services. There is good will across the country, in devolved Governments and in councils, but how will we ensure that, right across all public services, including those that are devolved in Wales, the covenant actually delivers for veterans? We want them to have the very best of services in all circumstances.”
“The cost of living is still a major concern for my constituents in Llanelli, so I very much welcome the decision by this Labour Government to give households £150 to help with their domestic energy bills, but can the Secretary of State explain exactly who is eligible and when and how they will receive the money?”
“As the Foreign Secretary has alluded to, the 1951 agreement allows the US to construct and operate military bases across Greenland, house personnel, and control the movement of ships and aircraft. Will she do all she can to urge US counterparts to use that agreement to provide enhanced protection for NATO’s northern borders and to drop the outrageous threat of tariffs, which is causing very damaging uncertainty for our industry? If implemented, they would not only hit our industry but further fuel inflation for the US consumer.”
“I thank the Minister for her update and her acknowledgment of how important it is that the families who have suffered so much and campaigned so hard are satisfied by the final wording of the Bill. What assurances can she give us that the Government will provide the leadership, training and resources to change the culture of cover-up and minimalist responses, and ensure that people get the full truth the first time around?”
“To sum up, I urge the Minister and his colleagues to ensure that the necessary analysis is undertaken as soon as they are provided with the testing information and data, and that they make their decision without delay. Any delay would undermine confidence among potential purchasers of Ajax, lead to us missing vital opportunities in the purchasing timetables of key potential customers, further demoralise the workforce and undermine broader investor confidence in our industrial strategy. A lot depends on how the Minister handles this issue.”
“No one factory exists in isolation, and if we need further proof of our interdependence, the Jaguar Land Rover cyber-attack brought it home starkly. If the JLR crisis had led to one local company—for example, a supplier of a specific part for JLR—going bust, there would have been contagion, because that would have had an immediate effect on the other car companies it supplied. Conversely, if we implement our industrial strategy by supporting foundation industries such as steel and developing advanced technologies such as semiconductors, and we make the UK a vibrant hub of new high-tech industries, they will feed off each other. That creates an attractive environment for investment and aspirational workers. Ajax is an important part of this ecosystem.”
“For too long, procurement procedures have looked only at headline price and failed to give due consideration to the huge benefits of securing jobs here in the UK—good jobs, tax revenue, social cohesion and, as brought home more vividly through covid and the Ukraine conflict, our resilience and security. When we look at the current Ajax situation, we can see why some might ask, “Why invest? Why bother with the risk? Wouldn’t it just be easier to buy off the peg and let another nation take the risk?” Apart from the fact that we may end up with a substandard product, with the problems emerging only after purchase, what happens when, as we saw in covid, other nations prioritise their own needs or supply routes are otherwise sabotaged?”
“We have a very loyal workforce in Merthyr, who have gone above and beyond to deliver on Ajax. They not only want jobs now, but to see a future for young people, and that is dependent on securing orders for Ajax. There are also all those who work in the supply chain. Ministers may decide that further work is needed. If so, I again stress that it needs to be done as nimbly as it can be. Decisions on Ajax will have a ripple effect on wider industry. I support our industrial strategy and our determination to rebuild our industrial base to make sure we have the capabilities to develop the likes of Ajax.”
“It would be unforgivable if the latest tests vindicated the quality and viability of the Ajax project, but ministerial schedules and the machinery of government then caused delays, compounding the problems and losing us valuable opportunities. Uncertainty is a pervasive killer. Any delay will sow the seeds of doubt in the minds of potential customers. There has been huge investment in Ajax, and if it is to pay its way and justify the investment in such an advanced capability, we need to attract orders from abroad. There is an important opportunity to showcase Ajax in early February, and it would be crazy if that opportunity is lost through poor prioritisation of the Procurement Minister’s priorities. Then there is the workforce. For them, uncertainty—the fear of losing their job—is devastating.”
“The Minister will be fully aware that an enormous amount of expertise, investment and effort has gone into the development of the Ajax vehicle, producing a vehicle of significant and unique capabilities. I absolutely understand that we want to ensure high-quality performance and safety, and there has been extensive testing of the vehicle over thousands of kilometres, with noise and vibration limits well within acceptable levels. I understand that the latest testing will be completed shortly, so my ask of the Minister is simple: once the latest testing results are available for ministerial consideration, we need Ministers to give absolute priority to the analysis and consideration of those results and to ensure that decisions on next steps are made without delay. Time is of the essence, and we need clarity on Ajax as soon as possible.”
“I ask the Minister to use all the means at her disposal to identify the most effective ways of getting the message across; to implement a concerted, specific strategy on horse and rider safety; and to work collaboratively with the Welsh Government on any devolved aspects of such a strategy.”
“478.] The question is: how aware are drivers of the dangers of rural roads? The speeds that we see drivers do are frightening, and drivers show no consideration for the lack of visibility on bends or at junctions where farm tracks come out on to roads. Could we put a greater emphasis on rural roads, and particularly horse rider safety, in driving tests? What other tools do we have? We can educate the willing and prosecute the transgressors, but that is likely to happen only when there has been a serious accident—when it is too late. We absolutely cannot be complacent about this issue.”
“As our new road safety strategy says on horse rider safety, “despite an investment of £2.4m in paid advertising raising road users’ awareness of the changes to The Highway Code, it is clear from research by external road safety stakeholders that more work is needed to embed these changes.” Aspects of transport are devolved, and I am aware that the Welsh Government have taken action on this, including by incorporating key British Horse Society messages into the Pass Plus Cymru training for young drivers, but we all know that more is needed. Last week, on horse safety, the Minister said: “We will look at what more we can do to strengthen the advice and guidance, and ensure that people are aware of those issues in the highway code.” —[ Official Report , 8 January 2026; Vol. 778, c.”
“I thank all those who have written to me regarding this very important topic, particularly Sandra Downey at Talcarn Farm, who allowed me to have a ride in a horse-drawn carriage on a main road—believe me, that is really scary and it made me realise their vulnerability. Of course, we have the highway code and the guidance to pass wide and slow, but how do we get that message across more effectively?”