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The Guardian
03-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Seven of Labour's newest MPs look back on a ‘relentless' first year
Labour's first year back in power has been marked by high stakes and harsh realities. Despite ambitious promises, the party has struggled to maintain the support of voters – reflected in low poll numbers and a near defeat on its big welfare legislation. For new MPs the challenge has been to push urgent reforms while navigating Westminster's unforgiving terrain. Seven rising Labour voices speak about the year that has tested them all. For Witherden, the MP for Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr, Fahnbulleh, the MP for Camberwell and Peckham and Sandher, the MP for Loughborough, Labour's first year has been a lesson in managing urgent reform against the weight of political constraints. All talk about the urgency to drive radical reforms – and the costs of falling short. Witherden's first day in parliament was also the day he lost his mother. 'The serjeant at arms came in and said I needed to get on a train straight back to north-east Wales. I was able to be with my mum and hold her hand when she died just before midnight.' He calls the experience disorienting and says he struggled to find his footing. But a year on, he is unrepentant about voting against the government's welfare plans. 'My feeling was we'd got it wrong. I thought we did need to make a stand on that. You risk undermining your own side – but ultimately, it led to a sound decision.' Witherden argues Labour has been bold on workers' rights and renationalisation but warns the party should not retreat. 'Labour is best when it is bold.' He sums up the year as 'a great honour and a privilege to represent the area where you come from'. Fahnbulleh, as a government minister, opts for a measured tone, sharing challenges without criticising the government. She describes the past year in one word: 'Pace. When you look at the policies, the interventions, the legislation, it's a ridiculous amount in one year – particularly when you think about the inertia of government for the last five.' She accepts it hasn't all landed. 'We've got to do more on bread-and-butter cost of living issues. That's what people will judge us by.' She is proud of the recent extension of the warm homes discount, a policy she has long championed. 'That intervention will touch 6m households and countless lives.' But she says the government is still united. 'The stakes are too high for us not to rally. We have a collective duty to make this count.' Sandher calls the year 'determined' and describes this period as an 'angrier time in politics. People are literally turning away from us in Westminster and say democracy feels like it isn't working.' He says he is proudest of helping to organise Labour support for the assisted dying legislation. But for him, the real challenge is to balance stability with a bigger vision. 'Ideas are what move people to change the country. Until you get here, you don't realise how important ideology really is.' For Blake, the MP for Cities of London and Westminster, and Toale, the MP for Bournemouth West, Labour's first year has been a test of discipline and expectations. Both MPs argue the government has made progress but acknowledge the limits of what voters will tolerate, and how proving credibility after episodes like the welfare vote remains the harder part. Blake does not hide the pressure of a year in government. '[Wednesday] was quite hard. We just saw the scale of what we're trying to do and how visible we all are. The tone of PMQs, seeing that pressure … that was quite hard.' She rejects the idea that Labour is simply managing decline. 'I disagree. I think there are really significant structural changes happening.' Housing, she argues, is the clearest example. 'If you look at the underinvestment in social housing over the last 14 years and contrast it with the government's proposals, that's a clear example of investing in the future.' Blake points to reforms to renters' rights as proof the shift is real, and cites the bill passing the Commons as a 'great day'. She also argues business remains onside. 'There is that trust there because of fiscal discipline and the clear objective to have regulation which supports economic growth.' Blake sums up the year as a 'whirlwind'. Toale is blunt about the gap between progress and perception. 'No, we haven't restored trust in politics. You can't expect that we'll solve all the issues we have in one year.' She highlights tackling knife crime as a high point. But she says it has been confronting to be seen as part of the system she hoped to improve. 'I've gone from being Jess to being 'a politician'. And with that comes a whole lot of assumptions people make about me.' Toale adds that misinformation online has made it harder to convince and speak to voters. 'You can't have a good debate about the challenges we face in 140 characters on X. It's very difficult to turn around a narrative once it's started.' But she argues the government has made meaningful changes – and says the priority now is to prove it. 'We're on the way,' she says describing the past 12 months as 'a year of planting seeds'. For Anderson, MP for Buckingham and Bletchley, and Asato, MP for Lowestoft, the first year in government has been about turning promises into results, and avoiding the drift that has cost Labour trust. Anderson is clear the stakes are high if voters don't see results. Asato says the progress is already visible. Asato dismisses any suggestion the government has been too timid. 'I would dispute that we're not bold,' she says. 'We have to cut through all the planning delays to bring 1.5m homes. We've invested in the NHS and have the most ambitious pledge of any other country in the world to halve violence against women and girls. You cannot say that's not bold – we're making that difference.' Despite the workload, she says the sense of purpose outweighs the strain. 'There are days where you think: 'Gosh, this is quite a lot.' But there's never been a day where I have not looked around and felt the deep honour of service.' Her word for the year: 'Progress.' Anderson is unusually frank about the risks. 'I think if people don't think they're better off, their public services haven't really improved – I mean the NHS – and that we haven't really cracked the small boats issue, there's a healthy chance that they will roll the dice again.' Despite that, he says ambition matters: 'I think there's no point being a member of parliament, being in government, if you're not really ambitious about what you want to change.' He sums up his year as 'relentless'.
The National
01-07-2025
- Business
- The National
Labour MP backs calls for Wales to copy Scottish Child Payment
Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr MP Steve Witherden praised research by the Bevan Foundation which found that creating a 'Welsh Child Payment', based on the Scottish benefit, would be the 'most powerful and effective' way of cutting child poverty. The backbencher said that the evidence for 'putting money into people's pockets' as a way to tackle poverty was 'overwhelming'. Asked whether he believed that the Welsh Government should have the ability to set its own welfare policies, Witherden he was 'supportive of devo max', adding: 'I think it's about having the autonomy to choose, isn't it? If you have devo max, you do have more power to decide.' He added: 'I don't think anyone in Scotland would claim that it was some kind of utopia in this regard, child poverty exists there as it does everywhere in the UK, sadly. 'At the moment the Scottish percentages do look more favourable than the England and Wales combined percentages on child poverty.' (Image: PA Wires) Witherden highlighted research which looked at the potential impact of Wales copying the Scottish Child Payment, saying: 'There's lots of evidence for this – putting money in people's pockets, for lack of a more technical term – how helpful it is. 'There's sound research on this outside of the UK, USAID, UK development aid, it's found that when you can directly get the cash to people on the ground, it does alleviate poverty, it does make a difference. 'There's sound research backing that up, I know it has its critics, I'm not one of them, I follow the evidence and the evidence is quite overwhelming.' READ MORE: Welfare reforms could push 150,000 into poverty, official DWP modelling suggests The MP, first elected to Parliament last year, also called on the UK Government to publish an interim update on the work of its child poverty taskforce. He said: 'I'd like to hear some feedback on the findings thus far.' The taskforce was supposed to publish its findings this spring but the Government has delayed this, confirming in May that it was committed to publishing 'later this year'. It would look at a range of measures to bring down child poverty, including scrapping the two-child cap. (Image: Canva) The Scottish Child Payment was announced by the SNP in 2019 and the first payments were made two years later. It is paid to families who are in receipt of Universal Credit or income-based Jobseeker's Allowance. Parents get £27.15 per week for each child they have under the age of 16. The Scottish Child Payment has been described as a 'game changer' by the Child Poverty Action Group. Official statistics have found that there were projected to be 90,000 fewer Scottish children expected to live in poverty by 2024 because of the policy and other measures. The Bevan Foundation's report from June this year said: 'Among all the interventions modelled, the introduction of a Welsh Child Payment emerges as the most powerful and effective. 'Based on the Scottish Child Payment, this intervention would provide support for each child in low-income families, with no deductions from existing benefits. It reaches nearly one-third of households that are in poverty within the data and reduces child poverty across the sample by almost 23%.' The Welsh nationalist party Plaid Cymru have also backed calls for a Welsh Child Payment, saying it had 'proved transformational in Scotland'. The UK and Welsh governments were approached for comment.
Powys County Times
30-06-2025
- Business
- Powys County Times
Government welfare reform U-turn 'not enough', says Powys MP
Montgomeryshire MP Steve Witherden has confirmed he will be among the Labour rebels voting against the government's proposed welfare benefits reforms. Speaking on BBC Radio Wales on Friday, June 27, Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr MP Steve Witherden said concessions in the governments planned cuts to welfare 'is not enough' for him to support the proposal. Mr Witherden was among the first Welsh Labour MP's to criticise the proposed cuts back in March, with the UK government saying it had listened and reached an agreement on the proposal that included a rollback on some of the cuts last week. Under the proposed reforms, people who currently receive Personal Independence Payments (PIP) or the health element of universal credit will continue to do so, while planned cuts will reportedly impact future claimants. Speaking on BBC Radio Wales, Mr Witherden said: 'I feel it is not enough for me. I came to the Labour movement from the Trade Union movement and in there we always opposed new terms and conditions for new starters. I do still have concerns that someone post-November 2026 would be treated differently to someone under the current system. 'We're talking about people who can't eat unassisted, people who can't go to the toilet unassisted. The score that they would obtain would be different and it would be insufficient to meet the threshold. 'It'll be two different systems treating people who become disabled at two different times. 'It would still amount for approximately £4,500 less annually for a recipient so it's something I feel very uncomfortable with. It amounts to an almost £7billion cut annually from what's being spent on disability benefits at the moment.' Stephen Kinnock, a UK government minister and MP for Aberafan Maesteg, said he was confident the revised welfare reforms would pass in the House of Commons during a second reading on Tuesday, July 1. When asked what he thinks other Labour MP's will do when it comes to voting on the reforms, Mr Witherden added: 'It's very difficult to say as this is very recent, with the announcements coming overnight. 'I only ever speak for myself and never for colleagues, so it will be interesting to see how these proposed changes are greeted. 'I want the welfare state to always be there for people who find themselves in that situation and I wouldn't want to see that change for people coming into the system.'
Powys County Times
21-06-2025
- Health
- Powys County Times
New bluetongue rules 'impossible burden' on farmers
The new rules for bluetongue would place an 'impossible cost burden' on farmers according to a Powys MP. MP for Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr, Steve Witherden, said that he is concerned about the potential spread of the disease but that it could not be at the cost of farmers who cross the Wales-England border. The new rules would require sheep crossing into Wales to be tested for the blue tongue virus, regardless of whether they are vaccinated, which can cost anywhere from £40-£70 per animal. This could lead to huge bills with one farmer telling the County Times that it would cost him as much as £25,000 to move his flock. According to NFU Cymru, over 550 farms lie in both England and Wales, with many of them being in Powys, whose eastern edge makes up about half of the 160-mile border between the two countries. 'I am deeply concerned about the potential spread of bluetongue and believe we need a workable solution to contain its spread, and protect livestock and farmers,' said Mr Witherden. 'I realise that there are a great many aspects of the management of this disease to consider by DEFRA and Welsh Government, but the rules they collectively impose must not make farming life impossible for farmers with cross border farms. 'Is it really sensible that a farmer has to test an animal because it moves from one field to another on their farm, when that field border is the Welsh/English border?' Help support trusted local news Sign up for a digital subscription now: As a digital subscriber you will get Unlimited access to the Oswestry Advertizer website Advert-light access Reader rewards Mr Witherden said he would be 'strongly encouraging Welsh Government and DEFRA to reach a sensible and workable solution for both cross border farms and for transporting animals where the road passes from Wales'. He added: 'I am continuing to stay in regular contact with the FUW, NFU Cymru and NFU in London. I will be listening to concerns and pressing for sensible and affordable solutions to help farmers deal with the practical reality of cross border farms and the costs and rules associated with testing. 'We also need fast access to inoculation for livestock. 'It is paramount that we have a practical set of clear and well communicated rules and that we take all the precautions necessary to ensure that this disease does not spread.'
Cambrian News
04-06-2025
- Business
- Cambrian News
MP leads debate on arms trade with Israel calling for immediate suspension on exports
Witherden asked the government to publish its most recent assessment of risk that Israel was committing genocide against Palestinians, publishing the list of export licences still in effect, whether a new decision as been reached on continued arms sales, how the government defines weapons classed as 'defensive in nature' and why the government hadn't suspended F-35 compononet shipments after admitting it was a 'clear risk' of violating international law.
