There are a lot of positives to be taken from last week’s election results.
Labour saw 186 council seat gains, 8 councils gained, 10 out of 11 Mayors and 10 Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) gains, overall a very successful night for the party.
Congratulations to Jane Mudd on her successful Gwent PCC campaign and thanks to everyone that came out to help campaign in recent weeks.
These elections show that there is a desire for national renewal. Voters are sending a message to the Tory party that it is time for a change, it’s time for a General Election.
That being said, it is difficult to know what these results means for a General Election. We cannot rest on any assumptions and there is still much work to be done. We can take encouragement from the results but nothing should be taken for granted. Our unity is important and we must keep going.
I have been helping out campaigning in key battleground seats like Bristol and Blackpool, and will be continuing to campaign in neighbouring Monmouthshire in coming weeks.
The PCC vote there showed that, although there is excellent support for Labour, we must still campaign very strongly.
As I have said before, the road to No.10 leads from our valleys through key seats like Monmouthshire and it is vital we put in the hard yards there.
There are regular campaigning opportunities across the area (they can be found on your Labour Hub ‘events’ page and also by checking your inbox for emails from me, the candidate Catherine Fookes, and others), it would be great if we could continue building our team of volunteers for leafleting and canvassing to help drive home our campaign, win back Monmouthshire and help ensure a future Labour government.

Business Questions
As Shadow Deputy Leader of House, I led Business Questions last week, questioning Leader of the House Penny Mordaunt MP on a number of issues, including Tata Steel and how the internal politics of the Tory Party are getting in the way of good governance – you read my full contribution here.
I once again pressed the topic of Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron, and how his previous job, working for scandal-ridden Greensill Capital, impacts his current role as Foreign Secretary.
I had questioned Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden about this during the previous week. I raised how it has been reported that Foreign Office officials have refused to say whether Lord Cameron has recused himself from parts of his role, given his previous work in promoting the China-backed Port City Colombo, receiving no real answer.
So again, at Business Questions, I repeated my question. I mentioned how Parliamentary scrutiny is being weakened by the Foreign Secretary being out of reach in the Lords. I brought up how Lord Cameron has unanswered questions from Members of this House and is yet to reply to my letters asking about his time at Greensill.
One of these questions is about his use of private planes and personal taxation. Lord Cameron still enjoys VIP air travel, but taxpayers are now footing the bill.
I asked the Leader of the House how she thought this looked to struggling families dealing with a cost-of-living crisis.
Each and every question and point raised went unanswered.

Cyber Security
Recent reports about the attack on the Ministry of Defence only emphasises how important robust Cyber Security is for our nation’s defence. It is crucial that we have a steady supply of talented young people ready to fill these roles, keeping the jobs based in the UK.
We need more work being done like that at Thales in Ebbw Vale and through the Cyber College Cymru course I helped establish at Coleg Gwent to ensure this.
I raised this point in a question to Deputy Prime Minister recently and also in another to Secretary of State for Business and Trade Kemi Badenoch.

 

Parkrun
It was great to mark the upcoming 20th anniversary of parkrun by joining volunteers and representatives at a Parliamentary reception.
As Chair of the Parkrun All-Party Parliamentary Group and a keen parkrunner myself, I am a big advocate of this fantastic public health initiative and am always happy to help spread the word and also thank those who turn out week-in week-out to put these events together.

 

Advice Surgeries
Thanks to Cllr John Morgan for joining me for an advice surgery in Georgetown. If you could not make it but wanted to speak with me, please email me at nick.smith.mp@parliament.uk or call 01495 313167.
My next surgery is 4pm – 5pm, Friday (May 10th) at Cwm Institute (Canning Street, Cwm, NP23 7ST) where I will be joined by Cllr Derrick Bevan.

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