This weekend I visited just some of the wonderful independent businesses in Newport West to celebrate #ukindieday.

I started the weekend with a visit to Orla Rose Cakes on Malpas Road and picked up some cupcakes for my Parliamentary staff. Bex and the team at Orla Rose Cakes were very busy baking birthday cakes on Friday morning. Their determination and hard work is apparent in the work that they do and as you can see the shop is beautiful.

You can see Bex’s cake creations on her Instagram and Facebook page.

The next stop was a trip to the National Park’s Tredegar House to visit Busy Bees Patchwork and Sero Zero Waste.

Busy Bees Patchwork has been open since 1998 and is a ‘hive of inspiration’ for the arts. You can sign up to art classes as Covid restrictions ease and shop in-store for beautiful fabrics and products for all your patchwork and sewing needs.

And last but not least, I visited Laura and Liz at Sero Zero Waste for #PlasticFreeJuly.

Sero Zero Waste opened in March this year. Laura and Liz have been championing zero waste and plastic-free to help mitigate the climate crisis and single-use plastic crisis. As a Shadow Environment Minister, I care very much about switching our consumption habits to reusable products and packaging.

Luckily, the environment is devolved to the Welsh Government in Wales. The Welsh Labour Government has achieved some of the best recycling rates in the world, with Wales at the top in the UK, 2nd in Europe and 3rd in the world. Newport alone has one of the best separating recycling systems thanks to the hard work of the Newport City Council and Wastesavers.

However –  I suggest that we all have a go at #PlasticFreeJuly this month.