Penarth Times – View from the Senedd

It is an honour and a privilege to have been re-elected as your Member of the Senedd for Cardiff South and Penarth. I want to thank everyone who voted for me, for placing their faith and trust in me to represent them for the next 5 years.

The election was unusual, and like no other. We couldn’t spend as much time talking to residents so we had to adopt other ways of reaching out and engaging with  communities across Cardiff South and Penarth. Despite this, turnout was up in Cardiff South and Penarth. While this is a welcome step there is still more work to do. I am delighted that the number of people voting Labour in the constituency rose to 18,153, an increase of almost 5000 votes on 2016. Our share of the vote also increased to 49.9%.

It was an equally remarkable night for Labour across Wales, winning half of the seats in the Senedd, equalling our best ever results. It was a ringing endorsement by people across Wales of the Welsh Government’s leadership in responding to the pandemic. While speaking to people on the doorstep and on the phone a recurring theme was how safe they felt living here in Wales. Our ambitious manifesto to help us recover from the impact of covid and to build back better also struck a chord with many people.

Going into the election we pledged to deliver the biggest catch-up programme in our NHS and schools, a real living wage for all social care staff and to fund 600 PCSOs to make our streets safer. We also promised to create a National Forest for Wales and abolish single use plastics, build 20,000 low carbon homes creating thousands of jobs across Wales and to introduce a Young Persons Guarantee of work, education or training.  These ambitious pledges were the promises we made to the people of Cardiff South and Penarth at the election. As we did at the last election, we will keep our promises.

Following the election, I have been asked by the First Minister to take on the role as Minister for Economy. Over the next Senedd term we will face major challenges. Not only will we begin our recovery after covid but we also face the impact on Brexit and reduced funding from the UK Government. However there will also be opportunities to build back better to create a vibrant and sustainable economy. I am looking forward to playing my part in the recovery. I will focus on moving the economy forward, creating jobs, apprenticeships to help build a stronger fairer Wales.

As ever, if you have any concerns or questions you would like to ask me please get in touch with my office at [email protected] or on 0300 200 7150.