Bench Across Britain: After 100 years of dominance, will Labour retain its grasp on Wales?
The Welsh electorate has travelled in one direction for the last 100 years.
Labour always win more votes and seats than their rivals in Wales but, floating our parliamentary bench on a barge across the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, we discover not everything is as tranquil as it seems in this stunning beauty spot.
The 20mph speed limit, wind farms and waiting times on the NHS are all matters raised by people who are not happy with Labour’s record in the Senedd.
The first person we meet is Reuben Jones, who works at the local barge hire company adjacent to the aqueduct.
“I’m a transgender person,” says Reuben. “I’m very unhappy with the state of the Israeli-Palestinian conflicts at the moment. There are a lot of issues with the education system, a lot of problems with the health care system.
“Neither the Conservatives nor Labour have made a concentrated effort to stand up for trans people in the UK.”
Cain Hughes and Reuben Jones
‘Equal society’
Labour have been criticised by JK Rowling for their stance on Transgender issues. The author accused the party of being “dismissive and often offensive towards women fighting to retain their rights”.
Labour have restated their plans to “modernise” the gender transition process, but Reuben feels Plaid Cymru have more to say and “are interested in an equal society and want to stand up for transgender rights”.
“I understand in certain women’s groups concerns about their safety,” Reuben adds. “I do empathise with that. But at the same time, they want to erode the rights of transgender people, which is not the right thing to do either.”
Navigating our green bench across Thomas Telford’s breathtaking aqueduct, the Llangollen Canal narrows to the width of our boat with a sheer drop on one side down to the River Dee which sparkles innocently 120ft below my feet.
Paul Otteson and his wife Susan
Once across to the other side, we find retired project manager Paul Otteson, from Carmarthenshire, a man who loves the Welsh countryside and is angry about plans to build wind farms in Llandovery, where he is from in South Wales. His main concern seems to be what is going to happen with the cabling from the turbines.
“We know we need electricity, but there has to be a better way of doing it,” he says. “Recently, they had a vote in the Senedd, and it was a tie. And the Labour casting vote was against burying cables. So, obviously, Labour are not in my good books at the moment.”
The vote was split between Welsh Conservatives and Plaid Cymru who voted for the more expensive option of laying the powerlines underground and Welsh Labour who voted against that, over concerns it would make the project unviable.
Hilary Thomas
‘Best ideas’
But walking down the same towpath, retired bed and breakfast owner Hilary Thomas says: “We need more electricity. We need more solar panels. We need more wind farms. We need a tidal barrage in Wales down on the Bristol estuary there. Anything that keeps the cost down.”
In her mind, Hilary says she has flip-flopped over whom to vote for and still hasn’t decided who has “the best ideas”.
There have been 25 years of devolution in Wales and Labour have always been the largest party, so just as in the rest of Britain the incumbent Conservatives are being judged for their record in government, in Wales so too are Labour.
As we continue upstream and speak to others, Labour’s record on the NHS comes under attack. Some of their spending is described as “wasteful” but the most common topic of conversation is the roads, which many complain aren’t much faster than the waterways since the Welsh government introduced its 20mph speed limits.
‘Money wasted’
Reaching the Telford Inn we meet master and lady of the house Robert and Sarah Kinton-Chittenden, who are happy, after serving lunch, to take a rest on our bench, which is now providing extra seating in their beer garden.
“Very comfy. I can see why they nod off in parliament,” says Sarah, pressing down on the green upholstery. They talk about lower speed limits impacting on tourism to their pub, failure to tackle immigration and the state of the national health service. “That needs sorting out,” says Sarah.
“Massively,” agrees Robert.
“Because so much (money) went on this 20 mile-an-hour (speed limit), however much it was. I don’t remember the statistics,” says Sarah.
“It’s £35m,” adds Robert.
Robert and Sarah Kinton-Chittenden
“Something that could have been put into our national health. You know, it’s wasted now,” says Sarah.
Robert picks up again: “No doubt they’ll spend another £35m putting it back, so that’s £70m wasted. It could have gone into hospitals and schools. Ridiculous. What a waste of time.”
The Welsh government estimates it would cost £5m to reverse some of the reduced speed limits.
The couple agree with the argument made by Welsh nationalists Plaid Cymru that Wales is owed £4bn to compensate for the decision not to build HS2 all the way to Manchester, which would have helped people travelling to North Wales.
“I do think there needs to be more money put into Wales and we’re talking an extra few billion because of the lack of high-speed trains,” says Robert. “They spent loads of money and it only goes to Birmingham. There’s already a train to Birmingham and it runs every day. Pointless. Ridiculous!”
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Bench across Britain: Behind the scenes
Like several of the people we have spoken to along the river, Sarah and Robert haven’t yet decided where their vote will go.
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Our longboat chugs through a constituency that has been swallowed up in the boundary changes, Clwyd South, now distributed among four other constituencies. A long-time Tory target it was finally stolen from Labour by the Conservatives in 2019.
Polls suggest voters in the countryside region, along with the nearby city of Wrexham, will turn back to Labour – but from our short trip down the canal, we have found quite a number of floating voters.
A teenage girl who was killed after getting out of a police car on the M5 in Somerset has been named.
Tamzin Hall, 17 and from Wellington, was hit by a vehicle that was travelling southbound between junction 24 for Bridgwater and junction 25 for Taunton shortly after 11pm on Monday.
She had exited a police vehicle that had stopped on the northbound side of the motorway while transporting her.
A mandatory referral was made to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, which is now carrying out its own investigation into what happened.
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Avon and Somerset Police said: “Our thoughts and sympathies go out to Tamzin’s family for their devastating loss.
“A specially-trained family liaison officer remains in contact with them to keep them updated and to provide support.
“The family have asked for privacy at this difficult time.”
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The police watchdog, the IOPC, has been asked to investigate.
In a statement, director David Ford, said: “This was a truly tragic incident and my thoughts are with Tamzin’s family and friends and everyone affected by the events of that evening.
“We are contacting her family to express our sympathies, explain our role, and set out how our investigation will progress. We will keep them fully updated as our investigation continues.”
Paramedics attended the motorway within minutes of the girl being hit but she was pronounced dead at the scene.
The motorway was closed in both directions while investigations took place. It was fully reopened shortly after 11am on Tuesday, Nationals Highways said.
A survivors group advocating for women allegedly assaulted by Mohamed al Fayed has said it is “grateful another abuser has been unmasked”, after allegations his brother Salah also participated in the abuse.
Justice for Harrods Survivors says it has “credible evidence” suggesting the sexual abuse allegedly perpetrated at Harrods and the billionaire’s properties “was not limited to Mr al Fayed himself”.
The group’s statement comes after three women told BBC News they were sexually assaulted by al Fayed’s brother, Salah.
One woman said she was raped by Mohamed al Fayed while working at Harrods.
Helen, who has waived her right to anonymity, said she then took a job working for his brother as an escape. She alleges she was drugged and sexually assaulted while working at Salah’s home on Park Lane, London.
Two other women have told the BBC they were taken to Monaco and the South of France, where Salah sexually abused them.
Mohamed al Fayed. Pic: AP
The Justice for Harrod Survivors representatives said: “We are proud to support the survivors of Salah Fayed’s abuse and are committed to achieving justice for them, no matter what it takes.”
The group added it “looks forward to the others on whom we have credible evidence – whether abusers themselves or enablers facilitating that abuse – being exposed in due course”.
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Salah was one of the three Fayed brothers who co-owned Harrods.
The business, which was sold to Qatar Holdings when Mohamed al Fayed retired in 2010, has said it “supports the bravery of these women in coming forward”.
A statement issued by the famous store on Thursday evening continued: “We encourage these survivors to come forward and make their claims to the Harrods scheme, where they can apply for compensation, as well as support from a counselling perspective and through an independent survivor advocate.
“We also hope that they are looking at every appropriate avenue to them in their pursuit of justice, whether that be Harrods, the police or the Fayed family and estate.”
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Bianca Gascoigne speaks about Al Fayed abuse
The Justice for Harrods Survivors group previously said more than 400 people had contacted them regarding accusations about Mohamed al Fayed, who died last year.
One of those alleged to have been abused is Bianca Gascoigne, the daughter of former England player Paul.
Speaking to Sky News in October, Gascoigne said she was groomed and sexually assaulted by al Fayed when she worked at Harrods as a teenager.
UK
Wes Streeting ‘crossed the line’ by opposing assisted dying in public, says Labour peer Harriet Harman
Wes Streeting “crossed the line” by opposing assisted dying in public and the argument shouldn’t “come down to resources”, a Labour peer has said.
Speaking on Sky News’ Electoral Dysfunction podcast, Baroness Harriet Harman criticised the health secretary for revealing how he is going to vote on the matter when it comes before parliament later this month.
MPs are being given a free vote, meaning they can side with their conscience and not party lines, so the government is supposed to be staying neutral.
But Mr Streeting has made clear he will vote against legalising assisted dying, citing concerns end-of-life care is not good enough for people to make an informed choice, and that some could feel pressured into the decision to save the NHS money.
He has also ordered a review into the potential costs of changing the law, warning it could come at the expense of other NHS services if implemented.
Baroness Harman said Mr Streeting has “crossed the line in two ways”.
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“He should not have said how he was going to vote, because that breaches neutrality and sends a signal,” she said.
“And secondly… he’s said the problem is that it will cost money to bring in an assisted dying measure, and therefore he will have to cut other services.
“But paradoxically, he also said it would be a slippery slope because people will be forced to bring about their own death in order to save the NHS money. Well, it can’t be doing both things.
“It can’t be both costing the NHS money and saving the NHS money.”
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Review into assisted dying costs
Baroness Harman said the argument “should not come down to resources” as it is a “huge moral issue” affecting “only a tiny number of people”.
She added that people should not mistake Mr Streeting for being “a kind of proxy for Keir Starmer”.
“The government is genuinely neutral and all of those backbenchers, they can vote whichever way they want,” she added.
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Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has previously expressed support for assisted dying, but it is not clear how he intends to vote on the issue or if he will make his decision public ahead of time.
The cabinet has varying views on the topic, with the likes of Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood siding with Mr Streeting in her opposition but Energy Secretary Ed Miliband being for it.
Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband is said to support the bill. Pic: Reuters
Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood has concerns. Pic: Reuters
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The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill is being championed by Labour backbencher Kim Leadbeater, who wants to give people with six months left to live the choice to end their lives.
Under her proposals, two independent doctors must confirm a patient is eligible for assisted dying and a High Court judge must give their approval.
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Labour MP Kim Leadbeater discusses End of Life Bill
The bill will also include punishments of up to 14 years in prison for those who break the law, including coercing someone into ending their own life.
MPs will debate and vote on the legislation on 29 November, in what will be the first Commons vote on assisted dying since 2015, when the proposal was defeated.
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