Senedd Election 2021: South Wales East party statements

Four seats are up for grabs in South Wales East. Remember, in the regional list votes are cast for parties rather than candidates, with votes allocated on a proportional basis.

Seats are allocated based on the order of each party's list, meaning the first name on each list is the most likely to become an MS, with the second, third and fourth candidates increasingly less likely.

Abolish The Welsh Assembly Party:

1. Mark John Reckless

2. Richard Taylor

3. Stephen John Jones

4. Michael John Ford

5. Robert John George Steed

6. Hugh Meolwyn Hughes

The Abolish the Welsh Assembly Party wants to remove a whole layer of politicians by getting rid of the 60 AMs/MSs in Cardiff Bay, soon to rise to up to 90, and save the £65 million required annually to support them.

We want to see Cardiff Bay tax powers returned to the UK Government, so nobody can be made to pay more tax purely because they live in a Wales made so much poorer by devolution.

In addition, we believe we should return to one NHS, so patients in Wales can be treated equally to those in England, with shorter waiting times and better health outcomes.

Abolish supports UK Government building the M4 Relief Road, working with Newport Council, to support our economy.

Academies and free schools should be able to set up here in Wales, to offer parents a wider and better choice of schools, subjects taught and language used.

Finally, we will end the one million Welsh speakers target, and have the public sector communicate in Welsh on request rather than sending everything out bilingually, which is a drain on taxpayer cash and environmental resources.

Vote Abolish the Welsh Assembly Party to stop Wales sleepwalking towards independence.

Britain’s Communist Party:

1. Rob Griffiths

2. Bob Davenport

3. Glenn Stephen Eynon

4. Irene Green

The Communist Party won't make impossible promises. We won't shout 'Abolish the Assembly – decide everything in London again', while taking a Senedd salary.

We will do what we have always done - fight alongside the people for social justice in our workplaces and communities.

We will campaign to regain the industrial powers stolen from Wales by Boris Johnson's Internal Market Act. Then we can rebuild manufacturing and save the steel industry.

We want to use the 70 new policy-making powers coming to Wales as a result of Brexit - not fight that battle all over again.

Our manifesto 'Real Power for the People of Wales' shows how we can plan public transport, improve our environment and support local business.

The Senedd should be free to invest in council housing and a National Care Service.

Communists there will also ask the awkward questions. For instance, why were the lessons of Exercise Cygnet in 2015 - about investing in the NHS against a future pandemic - ignored?

Many people in Gwent and Merthyr Tydfil know the record of Communists in battles for jobs and public services, against pollution and privatisation. We stand for socialism.

Now, together, let's wake up the Senedd!

Conservatives:

1. Laura Anne Jones

2. Natasha Asghar

3. Matthew Robert Hatton Evans

4. Nick Evans

5. Gavin Chambers

6. Edward Dawson

7. Donna Gavin

8. Gareth Rhys Hughes

Welsh Conservatives will build a better Wales not only to recover from the effects of the pandemic and lockdowns, but also from 22 years of mismanagement of our country under Labour.

After a generation of this, it’s never been more urgent.

Only the Welsh Conservatives have a plan for change and realistic recovery by building on our strengths as a people, as a nation, and as part of a strong United Kingdom.

Welsh Conservatives will build the M4 Relief Road and invest in other road infrastructure projects.

We will create 65,000 new jobs to help our economy bounce back, giving more people the security of a regular wage. We will guarantee extra funding to our precious NHS every year, with 3,000 more nurses and 1,200 doctors by 2026.

Welsh Conservatives will guarantee 5,000 more teachers and more investment in education to provide the best schools and skills for young people, so that future generations will not be failed by Labour, but to level up with – and exceed – other nations in the UK.

Only a vote for the Welsh Conservatives on May 6 will ensure Wales’ economic recovery and the chance to build a better, stronger, greener, and more equal future.

Gwlad – The Welsh Independence Party

1. Calen Jones

2. Laurence Williams

3. Ryan Thomas Williams

4. Terry Beverton

Gwlad – The Welsh Independence Party – is a new, grass-roots party whose aim is a fair and prosperous independent Wales.

Our priority is to achieve economic growth in Wales, closing the obvious prosperity gap that exists relative to our neighbours over the border. We believe the best way to do this is to adopt pro-business, free market policies, in sharp contrast to the way that Wales has been governed by the Labour Party and Plaid Cymru over the last 20 years.

We support Brexit while noting that Europe has many examples of small countries who have found that independence has enabled their economies to grow rapidly. For example, after Slovakia (which is not much bigger than Wales) left Czechoslovakia, its economy grew much more strongly than that of the Czech Republic and caught up with it.

However, we will not rush into independence but will use the Welsh Government’s existing powers at first, to undo some of Labour’s most damaging legacies such as the large budget deficit and bloated Third Sector (very well-funded ‘voluntary’ organisations run by Labour party allies).

We are a natural choice for those who have voted Conservative, UKIP or Brexit in the past.

www.gwlad.org

No More Lockdowns

1. Gruff Meredith

2. Mattie Ginsberg

No More Lockdowns is a Welsh party that wants to see an to end all lockdown policies and restrictions in Wales now and in the future. We're standing on the regional list in South East Wales and South Wales central in the Welsh Senedd election.

It’s already being implied that there will be more lockdowns/restrictions in the coming months or even years. We cannot allow this to keep happening.

Some of our priority policies are:

We'll end all lockdown policies and restrictions of our essential rights and freedoms now and in the future, including our rights to freedom of speech, freedom of movement, freedom of assembly and freedom to protest.

We will ensure all Welsh businesses, schools and universities can, with common sense care, reopen and remain open.

No enforced or coerced masks, vaccines or vaccine passports. These choices should be voluntary and up to the individual.

This coming election is your opportunity to choose a measured scientific approach and the restoration of freedom in Wales instead of disproportionate lockdown restrictions. This may be one of our last chances to protect our essential freedoms and rights - for today and for future generations to come.

For more please visit www.nomorelockdowns.wales

Plaid Cymru

1. Delyth Non Jewell

2. Peredur Owen Griffiths

3. Lindsay Geoffrey Whittle

4. Rhys Mills

5. Jonathan Thomas Clark

6. Ian Gwynne

7. Daniel Tudor Llewelyn

As we emerge from the shadow of Covid-19, this is our chance to choose a new path, a path to a better future that only we ourselves can build, a future of fresh possibilities, new energy and hope.

We will give every child in Wales the best start in life.

We will deliver a plan for the whole country to prosper – creating thousands of quality jobs in every part of Wales.

We will make household budgets go further through a fairer deal for families, workers and small business.

We will learn the lessons of the pandemic, by delivering a seamless national health and care service and we will face up to the climate and biodiversity crisis by taking the radical action the moment requires of us.

We will end child hunger, fuel poverty and homelessness within five years. And pledge ourselves to building a nation that delivers the opportunity of a decent life for all.

A Plaid Cymru Government will empower the people of Wales to decide the future of our nation in an independence referendum.

So let us face the future together and take this first step on May 6. Vote for Wales. Pleidleisiwch o blaid Cymru.

Propel: Wales need Champions

1. Kieran James Glyn Gething

2. Anthony Nash

3. Celia Jones

4. Kristopher Ashley

For this election, Propel has introduced the Contract with Wales.

It includes ten laws that we will introduce, if we're part of the government after May.

On day one of a Propel-supported government, we will appoint an independent investigator to report on government waste, fraud and corruption.

We’ll launch an independent inquiry into the handling of the Coronavirus pandemic. And we'll end Labour's extreme and ineffective lockdown measures. We'll deliver an efficient, safe way out of the pandemic.

We’ll also vote through a Modern Direct Democracy Act so that power is put in the hands of the people. That will give the Welsh public the power to bring about referenda that will be legally binding.

Instead of importing gas from the Middle East and Russia, we’ll bring in a Welsh Energy Independence Act, so we use Welsh gas.

This will bring in billions of pounds in profits.

And with this money we’ll set up a Sovereign Wealth Fund that can be used to transition Wales to 100 per cent renewables.

Welsh people don’t have to live in poverty. We just have to have the courage to demand more from our government.

Wales needs champions. Vote Propel on May the 6.

Reform UK

1. James Freeman Wells

2. Kirsty Rebecca Walmsley

3. David John Rowlands

4. Colin David Jones

5. Robert Charles Beavis

Many of you put your trust the Brexit Party in 2019.

We delivered and now we’re asking you to trust us again so that we can start to reform Wales.

Our national policies include scraping the BBC TV license fee; raising the point at which people start paying income tax to £20,000; more efficient public services, including zero NHS waiting lists; and changing our voting system that embeds the two-party status quo.

Reduce waste to lower taxes.

Wales has 22 councils delivering similar services at a great cost.

We will reduce the number of councils and chief executives earning up to £180,000 by half and use the savings to freeze council tax.

No more lockdowns.

Now that we have vaccines, new treatments and knowledge of who is at risk from Covid, we must use this information to manage the disease.

We must not damage our communities further by shutting schools and businesses again.

Devolution isn’t working, but we believe it’s because of third-rate Labour politicians.

We will reform devolution to ensure government is leaner and more decisive. Cancelling devolution would hand power to the Tories in Westminster which would be a huge step backwards for Wales.

Ukip Scrap The Assembly/Senedd

1. Mostyn Neil Hamilton

2. Benjamin Lee Walker

3. Thomas George Harrison

4. Robert Norman James

Ukip is the only anti-devolution party that has not only committed to a referendum to scrap the Senedd immediately, but also has a comprehensive vision of what Wales would look like post-devolution.

We don’t want to take powers away from one group of politicians in Cardiff Bay and hand them over to equally distant politicians in Westminster. We would see powers transferred back to the people of Wales through directly elected health boards and self-governing schools.

We also believe that Wales is ill-equipped to be a ‘Nation of Sanctuary’ for bogus asylum seekers, many of whom have arrived here from safe countries in Europe. The Penally camp cost the taxpayer over £1 million to police.

Ukip has also committed to reviving the Welsh economy.

We would end lockdown immediately and allow businesses to reopen.

We would also cut VAT on alcohol served in licensed premises to zero and freeze business rates at zero to help small businesses.

We have also pledged to build the M4 relief road to invite investment into the left-behind South Wales valleys.

If you want to put politicians out of a job and instil common sense into Welsh politics, then vote Ukip on May 6.

Wales Green Party

1. Amelia Helen Womack

2. Ian Roy Chandler

3. Lauren James

4. Stephen James Priestnall

With Labour unable to win seats on the regional ballot in South Wales East, the fourth space will be between Abolish the Welsh Assembly or Wales Green Party.

The more proportional voting system on this ballot penalises parties already winning seats in constituencies, as well as ensuring that every vote cast truly counts.

On May 6, you have the chance to make history, and elect the first Greens to the Senedd.

Your choice is between a Ukip splinter group, seeking to destroy Welsh democracy, or the chance for a bright, Green future.

This election will decide how Wales recovers from COVID-19, and we have the opportunity to build a stronger, more secure future where we all have the support we need to thrive.

A future where our NHS is well funded, and health and social care is available within communities.

A future where we reach net zero carbon emissions by 2030, whilst creating tens of thousands of jobs.

And a future where everyone has a safe, warm place to call home and the financial help they need.

Only the Green Party can build that future, and transform Wales.

Welsh Labour

1. Helen Ursula Cunningham

2. Peter Richard Jones

3. Mary Ann Shelley Brocklesby

4. Majid Rahman

A vote for Welsh Labour is a vote for young people. A vote for a real living wage for social care workers. And a vote for a Covid recovery plan that includes the biggest catch up programme for our NHS and schools.

This last year has been unlike any other. Our Welsh Labour Government has been cautious, careful and straight-talking throughout the pandemic. We have worked with NHS staff and frontline workers to get people vaccinated and fought to protect Welsh sports clubs and the arts.

The Welsh Labour Government has acted to protect businesses – with the most generous business support package in the UK, saving more than 165,000 jobs in the last year alone.

Our manifesto pledges are ambitious and realistic. Everything we have said we will do can be delivered – we have a credible plan for what can be done to make Wales a stronger, fairer nation for all who live here. This election is the chance to give us the tools to finish the job, and keep moving Wales forward.

Welsh Liberal Democrats:

1. Jo Watkins

2. Veronica Kathleen German

3. Oliver Benedict Townsend

4. Jeremy Jefferson Becker

The Welsh Liberal Democrats are offering the people of South Wales East the chance to Put Recovery First.

Our plan will move Wales forward to a new normal, where we all have the opportunity and support needed to thrive. We will support local business, tackle the climate emergency, and ensure we build back better from the pandemic.

Job creation and lifting people out of poverty are two key areas we plan to focus on. Thanks to the Liberal Democrats free school meals have shot up the political agenda and it was thanks to the Welsh Lib Dem Education Minister Kirsty Williams who ensured eligible children continued to receive free meals when schools were closed and that meals were provided during the holidays, something we will extend beyond this pandemic as well as investing in programmes which tackle holiday hunger, isolation, and exclusion.

We will continue to allocate funding that gives our poorest pupils the same opportunities as their peers, from helping to cover the cost of school uniforms and sports kits, to supporting trips and IT equipment.

We have ambitious plans for job creation and economic developments, creating jobs through housebuilding, retrofitting and energy efficiency works. We will set businesses free by freezing business rates.

Welsh Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition:

1. Mariam Victoria

2. Kamish Cammilla

3. Sharon Mngaza Melanie

4. Benedict Dave Reid

The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) is standing candidates for the Senedd in every part of Wales to provide a real alternative for working people.

We need socialist champions for the working class who will stand up for their interests.

Who was it that kept society going during the lockdowns?

It wasn’t the billionaires or the CEOs - it was health workers, care workers, teachers, supermarket workers, bus drivers, posties and other key workers.

And it was those workers who paid the highest price with the highest death rates in the pandemic.

But it is also workers who will be required by the Welsh and UK governments to pay the bill for the economic cost of the pandemic – in jobs and pay cuts.

TUSC members of the Senedd will stand up and represent the interests of working people in the Senedd.

They will speak up for the working class – opposing real pay cuts, like the nurses one per cent, or job losses.

And as we come out of the Covid crisis Wales is facing the threat of even greater cuts to funding to its public services from the Tory government in Westminster.

TUSC will fight to oppose all cuts.