MP for Swansea West
Davies was elected to Parliament at the 2010 general election as MP for Swansea West with 34.7% of the vote and a majority of 504. [46] [47] [48]
In July 2010 Davies introduced the Credit Regulation (Child Pornography) Bill [49] to impose fines on credit and debit card providers for facilitating the downloading of child pornography from the internet.
On 19 May 2011 Davies proposed that the Government pay for the promised rail electrification from Cardiff to Swansea from transnational EU transport funding to which the UK was entitled as it would complete electrification from London and join to Ireland via the ferry link [50] . On 16 July 2012 Davies got Government assurances from Transport Secretary Justine Greening that by 2014, the 100th anniversary of Swansea-born Dylan Thomas’s birth, rail electrification would continue to Swansea on the basis that Admiral insurance and others had stressed it would make a huge difference [51] .
On 12 December 2012 Davies presented the Multinational Motor Manufacturing Companies (Duty of Care to Former Employees) Bill [52] to require multinational motor manufacturing companies to provide a duty of care to former employees in respect of pension provision. This was part of the campaign to get Ford UK to compensate pensioners of their spun-off company Visteon UK Ltd., for the shortfall in their pensions and to recognise their “duty of care” to workers including those in Swansea Visteon pensions [53] . The Bill was tabled to coincide in Parliament with the cross-party motion and debate co-sponsored by Davies and Stephen Metcalfe MP on Ford and Visteon UK. Davies said he came to demand justice but also in sadness as his father David, as head of economic development at the Welsh Office, had been instrumental in bringing Ford to South Wales in 1964 [54] . Ford and Visteon UK Ltd - Hansard Ford eventually paid £28 million compensation to former Ford employees on the 10th of June 2014 [55] .
In August 2013 Davies faced backlash after he said Labour, under Ed Miliband’s leadership, had let the Tories win the argument on the economy which “makes us look like a shamefaced schoolboy admitting responsibility by omission” [56] .
In October 2013 Davies presented the Counsellors and Psychotherapists (Regulation) Bill [57] to ban gay to straight conversion therapy and to ensure treatment was evidence-based, delivered by qualified practitioners and regulated by the Health Professionals Council. Davies re-presented the Bill in July 2014 [58] and called upon successive governments to ban conversion therapy and to prevent unqualified people from presenting themselves as psychotherapists [59] .
In July 2014 Davies introduced the Sugar in Food and Drinks (Targets, Labelling and Advertising) Bill [60] to set government targets for the amount of sugar in food and drinks and to put sugar content on labels and in advertising in teaspoonfuls in order to reduce sugar consumption, diabetes and obesity. His Bill and “Action on Sugar” campaigned for a tax on added sugar, including a House of Commons reception during the first anti-sugar week [61] .
In September 2014 Davies introduced a Bill to criminalise “Revenge Porn” [62] ; to prohibit the distribution of sexually explicit images without consent and require that the default settings of mobile phones and personal computers deny access to pornography. He argued that the law must punish and deter the malicious uploading of private videos of former girlfriends which inflicted permanent and growing misery. Following publicity of Davies' Bill in September 2014 to criminalise the distribution of sexually explicit images without consent on the internet (known as revenge porn), the offence of "disclosing private sexual photographs and films with intent to cause distress" was enacted as section 33 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015. [63]
The WIkipedia article about Davies was one of a number edited ahead of the 2015 general election by computers inside Parliament, an act which the Daily Telegraph reported "appears to be a deliberate attempt to hide embarrassing information from the electorate". In Davies's case, the information deleted related to his expenses. [43]
At the 2015 general election, Davies was re-elected as MP for Swansea West with an increased vote share of 42.6% and an increased majority of 7,036. [64] [65] [66]
In December 2015, Davies published his Fracking (Measurement and Regulation of Impacts) (Air, Water and Greenhouse Gas Emissions) Bill, calling for strict limits on water contamination and fugitive methane emissions. [67]
Davies campaigned for the UK to remain in the EU [68] and on 6 July 2016, two weeks after the UK voted to leave the EU, presented, the EU Terms Of Withdrawal (Referendum) Bill [69] [70] . The Bill proposed a public referendum to either endorse the Government’s UK exit package from the EU or to remain an EU member, prior to the UK giving irreversible notice to exit under Article 50 of the Treaty; He re-presented the Bill on 6 September 2017 [71] .
On July 13 2016 Davies presented the UK Environmental Protection Maintenance of EU Standards Bill [72] to safeguard EU standards of environmental protection in the UK, for water, air, soil, flood protection, and climate change, after its withdrawal from the EU.
On 20 July 2016 Davies presented the UK Trade and Investment Agreements Ratification Bill [73] for the Government to require Parliament to consider, amend and approve all trade and investment agreements including any investor-state dispute settlement arrangements.
Davies’ new Sugar Bill of September 2016 required government targets for national sugar consumption aimed at compliance with the total implied by the World Health Organisation’s recommended sugar intake per person (accounting for age, gender etc) in order to improve public health from lower sugar intake. This would be supported by food labelling and advertising with sugar expressed in teaspoonfuls and, for foods which exceed 20% sugar content, not to be promoted as “healthy” or “low-fat” plus a ban on their advertising before the 9.00pm watershed. [74]
Sixty years after the Clean Air Act, Davies introduced the Clean Air Bill [75] in September 2016 to curb emissions and develop sustainable transport systems by road, rail air and sea. This included air quality targets, vehicle testing reflecting on-road conditions, air pollution measurement and warnings, powers to restrict and ban diesel vehicles in urban centres, a national infrastructure of electric and hydrogen filling points and a fiscal strategy to incentivise consumers and producers towards cleaner vehicles. [76] The latest version of Davies' Clean Air Bill was published in October 2023.
On 13 March 2017 Davies criticised the Government’s plan for rail electrification to Cardiff by 2018, being delayed to Swansea until 2024 [77] and on 1 November 2017 called for an “electrified metro” between Swansea and Cardifff to complete rail electrification from London, to help and economy and environment and to offset the negative impact of HS2 on investment in Wales. [78]
At the snap 2017 general election, Davies was again re-elected with an increased vote share of 59.8% and an increased majority of 10,598; the highest ever Labour share in Swansea West. [79] [80]
Davies campaigned against the triggering of Article 50 and, having campaigned for the public to have The Final Say, broke the Labour whip to vote against it. [81]
On 27 March 2017 Davies apologised to Speaker John Bercow for referring to Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg as "Moggy" during a Commons debate about the EU referendum. [82]
In April 2018, nearly two years after Davies’ 16 July 2016 EU Terms Of Withdrawal (Referendum) Bill [83] , the People’s Vote Campaign was launched supporting his Bill’s provisions for a public vote on the Exit Deal. Davies supported the campaign with his own music track and video [84] .
In May 2018 Davies introduced the Plastics Bill [85] to set enforceable targets, higher than the EU’s after Brexit, to reduce and recycle plastic packaging and to support sustainable alternatives.
In July 2018 Davies introduced an updated Counsellors and Psychotherapists (Regulation) Bill [86] to widen the proposed ban on “conversion therapy” to include any form of therapy that assumes that any sexual orientation or gender identity is inherently preferable to any other and attempts to change or suppress a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity,
Davies favoured a second referendum over Brexit. In August 2018, Davies wrote:
To make Jeremy Corbyn prime minister next year, Labour must back a public vote on the EU deal. The alternative is no deal, which would trigger a hard Brexit inflicted by a right-wing Tory prime minister between 2019 and 2022. (...) The chaos of a no-deal Brexit – with food and medicine shortages – will require emergency measures to keep lorries and planes moving. Shrinking economic activity and trade will require a squeeze on "expensive" environmental standards and rights at work. So, soon we may all be flying on board Jacob Rees-Mogg's time machine back to Charles Dickens' Britain. [87]
In September 2018 following a panel on indoor air pollution [88] Davies, as Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Air Pollution, published Indoor Air Pollution: Health Impacts & Potential Solutions. The inquiry reported that air pollution from domestic chemicals and wood burners mixed with outdoor air pollution to harm public health in the home.
Davies said The Leave campaign broke the rules [89] . On 18 December 2018 he presented the European Union (Revocation of Notification of Withdrawal) Bill [90] to revoke the UK’s Article 50 notification to withdrawal from the EU unless Parliament agreed a withdrawal agreement that was supported by a public referendum - saying in the EU Withdrawal Agreement debate that day “If the Secretary of State went to a restaurant and ordered a steak and a bit of chewed-up bacon arrived, he would have the right to send it back. The waiter would not have the right to say, “You ordered some food—eat it.” [91]
In January 2019 Davies argued China would be a fickle and dangerous ally for post-Brexit Britain and that “A People’s Vote on the terms of the deal is the only way forward” [92] and in February 2019 he re-presented his 2016 Terms of Withdrawal from the EU (Referendum) (No. 2) Bill [93] for a referendum to either approve the UK-EU withdrawal agreement or for the UK to remain in the EU. [94]
In March 2019 Davies presented the Fracking (Measurement and Regulation of Impacts) (Air, Water and Greenhouse Gas Emissions) Bill to measure and regulate the impact of fracking on air and water quality and on greenhouse gas emissions [95] and argued the government must take action against fracking [96] The Government banned fracking in November 2019 [97] .
In the series of Parliamentary votes on Brexit in March 2019, Davies voted against the Labour Party whip and in favour of an amendment tabled by members of The Independent Group for a second public vote. [98]
On 25 September 2019, in a case sponsored by Davies [99] the Supreme Court ruled that the suspension of parliament for five weeks by Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the run up to Brexit was illegal [100]
On 2 October 2019 Davies introduced a new Clean Air (3) Bill [101] to establish the right to breathe clean air and the National Clean Air Agency to enforce published air quality targets; to develop sustainable public, private and commercial transport by road, rail, air and sea and to restrict the use of polluting vehicles in urban areas; to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel-powered vehicles from no later than 2030; to improve indoor air quality and to criminalise the removal of devices that reduce vehicle emissions. However, the Government’s Environment Bill didn’t provide any carbon emissions targets and Davies argued Extinction Rebellion are right to be angry. [102] Nevertheless in November 2020 the Government agreed to ban new petrol and diesel cars from 2030 [103] .
Davies was again re-elected at the 2019 general election, with a decreased vote share of 51.6% and a decreased majority of 8,116. [104] [105] [106]
On 9 January 2020 Davies wrote that any newly elected Labour leader should understand that Brexit will crash and burn – and when it does. Labour needs to hold the Tories responsible [107] .
On 5 May 2020 Davies argued that the Government was still trying to ‘manage’ COVID-19 under ‘herd immunity’ rather than eliminating it as other countries had done. [108]
On 29 May 2020, as Chair of the All Party Group on Air Pollution, Davies launched the Air Quality Strategy to Reduce Coronavirus Infection [109] which included proposals to increase spaces for pedestrian and cyclists, more frequent public transport services to avoid crowding, improvements in indoor air quality and the adoption of World Health Organisation air quality targets. The Launch of Air Quality Strategy to reduce coronavirus infection report [110] highlighted that poor air quality increased the likelihood of covid infection and its severity and the proposals, including to work from home wherever possible, were designed to minimise a second peak in infection as lockdown measures were reduced [111] . In contrast, Davies said, the Government’s decision to end online participation of MPs in Parliament was disenfranchising up to 15 million people and endangering democracy [112] .
On 3 November 2020 Davies broke the Labour whip and voted against the Overseas Operations Bill, stating “it betrays the values that generations have fought for” [113] .
On 30 December 2020 Davies again broke the Labour whip - to vote for Boris Johnson’s Brexit Deal to avoid a No Deal Brexit - and instead abstained on the grounds that if all 200 Labour MPs had abstained then there would be no risk of no deal as 280 Conservative MPs would have had to vote against their own deal to produce one. [114]
On 27 January 2021 Davies broke the Labour whip a third time and voted against the Covert Human Intelligence Sources (Criminal Conduct) Bill which gave covert agents legal immunity saying its powers “were unnecessary, disproportionate and open to abuse, and brings operatives beyond the rule of law….to commit serious crimes” that could be authorised in the name of “the economic well-being of the United Kingdom” so “crimes could be committed against anti-frackers and Extinction Rebellion and so on” [115] .
On 9 March 2021, Davies said, as HS2 didn’t go through Wales, a high speed rail link should be provided between Bristol, Cardiff and Swansea to better connect the 3 million people who lived there. [116]
On 24 July 2021 the Guardian reported that the Met police ‘tried to recruit ex-officer to spy on climate change activists’ [117] and Davies, as Chair of the all-party parliamentary group on Democracy and the Constitution, said: “Despite the public outcry around the use of covert human intelligence sources to infiltrate peaceful protest groups, it appears this practice is ongoing” and that “The combination of police powers to ban protests for the risk of serious annoyance and legal immunity for covert agents means they could become agent provocateurs.”
On 1 July 2021 as Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Democracy and Constitution Davies published the Bristol Clapham Inquiry — ICDR “Police Power & Right to Protest” [118] in the aftermath of the Sarah Everard Vigil and the Bristol “Kill the Bill” protests against the Police Crime Sentencing and Courts Bill. [119] The report received widespread media coverage [120] [121] [122] . On 11 March 2022 two judges ruled, in favour of the report’s finding that the Met Police had breached the rights of the organisers of the Sarah Everard Vigil [123] .
On 26 October 2021 Davies moved the debate Transport Funding: Wales and HS2 [124] saying Wales had had 1.5% of UK rail enhancements for 5% of the UK population for decades and was entitled to its £4.6billion share of HS2 rail investment.
In November 2021, The Independent revealed that Davies is one of 16 MPs who claimed expenses to cover their residential rent payments despite letting out their own properties in London. In Davies' case, he claimed £67,000 in taxpayer funding to rent a home between November 2017 and April 2021 while collecting rental payments from a home he owns in the capital. [125]
On 14 December 2021 as Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Air Pollution Davies published its Report [126] : Pollution from waste incineration calling for a moratorium on new urban waste incinerators saying “We must apply the precautionary principle to new waste incineration in urban locations so that the cumulative health risks of ultrafine particulates to dense populations do not materialise.” [127]
On 9 February 2022 he joined former leaders of the Conservative and Labour parties, Iain Duncan Smith and Jeremy Corby in calling for a halt to a new 700,000 tonnes a year waste incinerator in Edmonton and opposed the Government’s plan to double incineration by 2030. Davies argued that converting PM2.5 to lower weights of smaller particulates increased public health risk, as they penetrate the bloodstream and organs more easily, that wood-burning stoves already accounted for 38% of PM2.5, that London’s 30% recycling rate could be doubled to Swansea’s 62% and that the Government should tax incineration to incentivise recycling instead of building excess incinerator capacity, which would incentive harmful burning. [128]
In January 2022, following a spate of spiking of people and their drinks in Swansea Davies commented “there are dozens and dozens of these spikings in Swansea alone, and there is a concern they are not always taken seriously enough by bouncers, by the health authority, by police officers who assume people are drunk, when in fact they have been spiked either in their drinks or physically with a needle” [129] . His recommendations to combat spiking published by the Home Affairs Select Committee required scanners, bag-checks and detection wands at the venues, databases of attendees to include their photo IDs, and their consent for victims to view indoor CCTV surveillance, cup/bottle covers, drink and urine testing, and regulation of these provisions through collaboration between the local authority, police and health authority.
On August 8 2022 as Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Democracy and Constitution Davies published the inquiry on Judicial Independence [130] which reported that the Government had attacked judges, pressurised the Supreme Court and politicised Law Ministers and proposed, instead of being compromised, judicial independence should be underpinned by legislation with Ministerial guidance. Davies said that the role of lord chancellor had become “a political stepping stone from which to take pot shots at the judiciary”. [131]
On 9 August 2022 Davies proposed the UK, like Spain and Germany, should subsidize rail fares post-covid as Putin’s war had inflated petrol prices and profits UK train prices are astronomical – we should follow Spain and Germany’s lead by cutting them | The Independent
On 2 November 2022 Davies published a new Plastics (Recycling, Sustainability and Pollution Reduction) Bill [132] to set targets for the elimination and recycling of single-use plastics; to encourage reuse and refill models of packaging; ensure that UK plastic reduction and recycling targets were greater than EU targets; require manufacturers and retailers to pay the cost of recycling plastic; set targets to reduce plastic waste incineration; ban the export of plastic waste by 2027; standardise plastic packaging; empower the Office for Environmental Protection to enforce measures to reduce to plastic pollution; develop sustainable alternatives to plastic packaging; fiscally incentivise plastic recycling investment and sustainable behaviour by consumers and retailers; and for a Government plan to agree a global treaty on plastic pollution reduction.
On 24 November 2022 Davies said Wales needed its 5% UK population share of rail investment instead of 1.5% and to be treated like Scotland, which got its 8% population share, to provide an extra £5billion for Wales from HS2. [133]
On 12 December 2022 Davies proposed that the UK introduce carbon border adjustments, like the EU, to protect Welsh steel production from Chinese imports with twice the carbon content, and, like Germany, France, Poland and Spain, for the UK to withdraw from the Energy Charter treaty to prevent trans-national companies suing the UK government for environmental and health laws which reduced the companies’ profits [134] .
In January 2023 Davies presented a new Clean Air Bill [135] to Parliament to establish the right to breathe clean air with air pollution targets enforceable by the Office for Environmental Protection and new provisions to reduce indoor and outdoor air pollution including greenhouse gases. It required minimum standards for air quality in workplaces, homes and public spaces and the monitoring of air quality. It placed new duties on the government to encourage and enable active travel, to reduce transport emissions and to increase awareness of the impact on public health from air pollution and to restrict the use of wood-burning stoves in urban areas. The Labour Party, having considered the right to clean air [136] , promised a Clean Air Act but omitted it from its 2024 Election manifesto. [137]
At the 20 March 2023 Budget Davies highlighted that “in Wales 1,000 university staff at the cutting edge of developing green growth initiatives are being sacked because the promise of us getting “not a penny less” after the withdrawal of the EU structural funding has been broken by this Government.” [138]
In April 2023 Davies’ proposals, as Trade Rapporteur, “Safeguarding democracy, rights and the environment in international trade” were agreed by the Council of Europe; the proposals required trade agreements to be compliant with human rights and the Paris Agreement for the 46 member states. The proposals noted human rights, democracy, the rule of law and sustainable development are subjected to international trade and investment agreements prevailing over domestic law and required that such agreements should not undermine these values but enhance them. Trade agreements should therefore include enforcement mechanisms to protect these values, commensurate with those that protect investors, via a UN Multilateral Investment Court for enterprise versus state disputes and a reformed World Trade Organisation’s Dispute Settlement mechanism for interstate disputes. Member States should upgrade “old generation” treaties to promote sustainable development and protect fundamental rights to help implement global environmental treaties and the Sustainable Development Goals. Trade negotiations and agreements should be subject to Parliamentary scrutiny and ratification with states promoting corporate due diligence to protect the environment, fundamental rights and public health, and to mitigate climate change.
On 10 May 2023 Davies said that, by not getting its population share of HS2 rail investment, “Wales is being robbed of £5 billion, which works out at £3,700 per household” needed “to build a stronger, fairer and greener Union, in which Wales gets its fair share.” In addition to getting its population share of rail investment he said “Scotland earns much more per head than Wales, yet it gets a higher Barnett consequential”. [139]
