AFTER an important night in politics, I was pleased to see Labour get a good result across Wales. Seeing Alun Davies return to his seat in Blaenau Gwent was heartening after his tenacious work during the campaign. It’s now up to Labour in the Welsh Government to work hard to deliver the manifesto promises.

I was particularly interested in the continued commitment to invest more money per person into health and social care.

With an ageing population and the continued health legacy of our previous industry, it is so important to support the NHS and our care system to help those that need it most.

That means on my part pursuing issues around the local ambulance service.

I have been campaigning the past few years around ambulance response times and I know that there has been a lot of hard work to try and bring them down.

I was also pleased to see Gwent return a Labour Police and Crime Commissioner in Jeff Cuthbert.

Policing in Wales is still firmly on the agenda in Westminster so I will be sure to press the new PCC about my priorities, namely ensuring that victims get the best treatment possible and a fair deal.

While Westminster will be full of talk of the upcoming EU referendum, I’ll be doing my bit to promote Open Farm Sunday as part of my role as the Shadow Minister for Food, Farming and Rural Affairs. Farming is such a massive industry in the UK, providing millions of jobs as well as so much of both our food and exports.

The day is a chance to go down to your local farm see how it really functions and get a bit of an understanding of how farms fit in our modern life cycle.

Thankfully in Gwent we have plenty of countryside and know this very well, but other parts of the country aren’t so lucky.

Visit https://farmsunday.org/ for more information as well as too see the farms near you.

Finally, Europe. 

The historian in me looks back at the wars that bestrode the continent, with countries fighting over parcels of land and eventually the world. The small villages that dot our country lost a third of their men in some cases. The fight to knit Europe together is one of the great achievements of our times and I can’t advocate tearing ourselves from that union.

The financial support and access to a 500m-person market on our doorsteps cannot be abandoned lightly.