Speeches by Stevens.

“I am working with the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero to ensure that Wales plays a leading role in reaching our net zero targets and clean power by 2030. By supporting floating offshore wind, onshore wind, hydrogen, nuclear, tidal and carbon capture, we are seizing the unique economic opportunity of…”

“The £600 million that the Welsh Government are to invest in the Welsh NHS can happen only if the hon. Lady’s colleagues in the Senedd vote for the budget. If they do not vote for it, the money will not happen.”

“We are working in a spirit of genuine collaboration with the Welsh Government to do everything possible to cut waiting lists and build an NHS fit for the future in both England and Wales—a marked change from previous UK Governments, who were obstructive and hostile to the Welsh Government. We are sharing best practice,…”

“Ahead of the opening game of this year’s Six Nations in Paris on Friday evening, I know Members right across the House will want to join me in wishing the Wales team good luck in their campaign. Wales has joined a long list of other countries that have introduced a visitor levy, including Germany, Spain and France. The…”

“As the hon. Member may know, tourism is devolved, and we work closely with the devolved Governments. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport—my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for that Department is here—will carefully monitor the proposal by the Welsh Government. There are currently no plans to introduce …”

“We are a small nation. In terms of the political groupings within Wales, pretty much everybody knows each other, both within their own parties and cross-party. The good thing is that you have relationships in place already. We had done a lot of preparation for Government as part of the run-up into the general election …”

“Thank you very much, Chair, and good afternoon, everyone. Congratulations to everyone on your membership of this Committee, and thank you for the invitation to appear today. I echo your sentiments, Chair, about hoping to have a very constructive relationship with the Committee while we are in office. Thank you for lett…”

“To deal with your first point, it was not a deliberate omission from my opening statement, because I did say, “My priorities include”. It was not a definitive list of priorities. I strongly believe that Wales benefits from being part of the Union, and that the Union benefits from having Wales in it. That has always bee…”

“I will be perfectly frank on the first part of your question, which is that it is not good enough. That is a direct consequence, I am afraid, of the last 14 years of underfunding by prior Governments, and that is why I am determined to change that. I cannot change the past, but I hope that we can change the future. In …”

“First of all, thank you for your correspondence, Llinos. You have had a reply from me. I obviously share the frustrations and the worries of all those who were affected by the closure. As you say, it is very good news that one of the berths will reopen tomorrow. That has been confirmed literally as I was walking into t…”

“We have not had. I want us to. I cannot pre-empt the spending review, but I am going into it with rail as the number one priority for Wales. We all know that building rail infrastructure drives economic growth, job creation, house building, employment and improved social cohesion, because people have public transport t…”

“It definitely is, and the siting of Bangor University in north Wales, and Cardiff University, Swansea University and others, have played a part in the Celtic Freeport. We have great universities with great talent in them, and we need to foster that talent and innovation even more.”

“We confirmed the freeport programme in the autumn statement. I am very pleased that the Celtic Freeport is now open for investment, following tax site activation last November, and we are working at pace with MHCLG and the Welsh Government to progress the Anglesey Freeport tax sites, which I am hoping will activate nex…”

“As we know, we have a proud steel-making history in Wales, like we had a proud coal-mining history in Wales. At one point, we had 250,000 miners just across the South Wales pits. You will know, David, that, when the election was called—in fact, on polling day, on 4 July—both blast furnaces in Port Talbot were due to sh…”

“I am very happy to do that, Chair. Thank you for the invitation today. Thank you, all, on behalf of Nia and me, for the questions. We would be delighted to come back in 12 months’ time.”

“As I said, we said in our manifesto that decision-making on structural funds will be made by elected representatives of Wales. There was a change under the previous Government, where Welsh Government were completely cut out of it. Welsh Government have a key role to play in the delivery of new funds, alongside other pa…”

“The role of the council, which the Prime Minister chairs, is to facilitate that partnership working between UK Government, devolved Governments and the various categories of mayors in England. It will not make policy directly for Wales, but it does provide a really important vehicle for Governments and authorities with…”

“I know how important that line is in south Wales, cross-border, as well as in north Wales, in terms of people living, working and socialising right across the border, all day, every day. It is a huge channel for economic growth on both sides of the border at both the bottom and the top of Wales.”

“As I said earlier, I want us to have a sustainable pot of rail infrastructure funding for Wales. We need to stop deriving the future of rail in Wales from HS2 alone. I cannot change what has gone on in the past, but I can change what happens in the future. We need sustainable funding of our own. That is what I am aimin…”

“On the intergovernmental relations structures and those three tiers that you mentioned, we have clearly not seen, in the past few years, the engagement and activity that one would have expected between the two Governments through all levels of that structure. It differed from level to level. Certainly, we did not have …”