COLUMN: Looking back on my first year as your MP

In his exclusive column for MyTown Media, Montgomeryshire’s MP Steve Witherden looks back on his first year as an MP after shocking the local political scene with a Labour victory.

“It has been a year since the people of the Welshpool area put their trust in me and elected Montgomeryshire’s first ever Labour Member of Parliament.

One year ago, I promised that I would help attract inward investment, and through the Welsh Affairs Committee I have been working to do just that, hosting a series of meetings with businesses to hear what the government can do to bring in the capital they need.

I promised to stand up for workers and was proud to support the Employment Rights Bill in Parliament which will end fire and rehire, ban zero hours contracts, and legislate more protections for new starters, giving workers in the Welshpool area more job security.

I promised to address the climate crisis, which is already affecting Mid Wales as severe floods get ever more frequent. The UK and Welsh Labour governments are working hard together to sort out our water system, invest in flood defences, and protect communities like those on the banks of the Severn which are vulnerable to flooding. I have taken a strong stance against Hafren Dyfrdwy too, who appear to be ripping off consumers with extortionate water bills.

I promised to stand with farmers, who grow our food and steward our beautiful countryside. That is why I opposed the UK government’s APR policy and Powys County Council’s plans to sell off its tenant farms, both of which are short-sighted.

I promised to improve cross-border healthcare, under threat as local hospitals are downgraded, waiting times in England deliberately increased by a cash-strapped Powys Teaching Health Board (PTHB), and our Air Ambulance base closed.

I have stood shoulder to shoulder with constituents opposed to being treated as second-class citizens who deserve access to high-quality, local healthcare just because they live in a rural area. I have held PTHB, the Welsh health minister, and the First Minister of Wales to account in regular meetings and will not stop fighting until the situation improves.

I promised to make sure Wales got its fair share and to that end opposed the UK government’s cuts to disability benefits, which were largely dropped after strong backbench pressure. These cuts would have been much more keenly felt by Welsh people compared with the rest of the UK.

I promised to campaign for infrastructure funding in the constituency too, and recently welcomed £11m for Powys County Council to spend on upgrading transport while working with the government to improve mobile connectivity and ensure an orderly transition from analogue to digital landlines.

I promised to be a loud voice on the genocide in Gaza, with thousands of constituents supporting my calls in the Chamber of the House to end UK arms exports, which risks making us complicit while totally undermining our moral authority as a country that subscribes to the ideals of international law and self-determination.

And in Westminster, I am proud of the UK government for bringing in well-deserved pay rises for public sector workers and raising the National Minimum and Living Wages, for renationalising the railways and bus networks, for decriminalising abortion and signing economy-boosting trade deals with the EU, India, and the US.

Above all, I promised to be honest and transparent with constituents. Things are tough, and so there is much, much left to do, including implementing business rates reform, publishing a pro-town centre plan, enfranchising 16 and 17-year-olds, securing new local health services, and creating a growing economy that is fairer for all.

Representing Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr is the highest honour and helping constituents with whatever issue they bring to the table gives me so much energy.

I am more than looking forward to another year as the Welshpool area’s loud voice in Parliament.