CREATING opportunities for young people in Wales outside of its cities should be a priority, said returning Plaid Cymru Senedd member Delyth Jewell

Speaking to the South Wales Argus following her re-election as regional member for South Wales East, Ms Jewell said her priority during this Senedd term was to improve the chances and opportunities for young people as Wales emerges from the pandemic.

“I want there to be more opportunities for young people to stay in the areas where they are from,” she said.

This includes “being able to buy or rent homes and having job opportunities so people don’t feel like they have to move to Cardiff or further away in order to get those opportunities.

“There are so many things that are encompassed in that - making sure there are enough jobs, and good quality jobs, for young people to have.

"And I want to make sure that there are support services there for young people, in terms of mental health support, making sure that they’re able to not feel like this year has been lost.”

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Tackling child poverty is another key issue for this Senedd to address, Ms Jewell said.

“We still have a situation where one in three children in Wales – and that’s even worse in some of our communities – live in poverty,” she said. “We need to stop that. There’s nothing inevitable about that needing to happen.

“I will be considering it my mission to be holding the Welsh Government to account to make sure that we eradicate child poverty.”

Reflecting on the election, which saw her returned to the Senedd alongside new Plaid regional MS Peredur Owen Griffiths, Ms Jewell said she was “really proud” of the campaign.

She stood against Hefin David for the constituency seat in Caerphilly, and although Mr David increased his majority, securing more than 3,500 more votes, Ms Jewell returned the highest vote count for Plaid in the area since the very first then-Welsh Assembly election.

“Considering the very challenging circumstances that we had with Covid – we were only able to campaign face-to-face for less than a month – I really enjoyed the campaign and I’m really proud of what we were able to achieve,” she said.

“Having seen the results from across Wales, now we know how much Labour’s support had gone up, and in Caerphilly and lots of constituencies in the south east the Ukip vote seems to have gone back towards Labour. Considering all of those circumstances, and how Covid had given the Welsh Government such a boost, I was really pleased.

“I’m very grateful to the people of the region for returning me to the Senedd and for electing Peredur as well to join me in representing the region.

“I’m incredibly grateful and I don’t take something like that for granted. I will work tirelessly to get better support for all communities in the region.

“On a very personal level, that was a really big thing as well. In 2016, I was second on the list and my running mate had been Steffan Lewis. We had ran together and had hoped to be elected together but we weren’t. I had come to the Senedd when he had passed away, so it really felt this time like we were doing it for him as well. After the regional count, I said that I will always consider that I will be sharing my seat with Steffan.”

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Ms Jewell added that it would be “a huge boost” to the party having a second representative in the South Wales East region, and this will help in terms of scrutinising the Welsh Government.

“Inevitably there will be times when the Welsh Government will need to be held to account," she said. "I have never shied away from scrutinising the government and sometimes the first minister hasn’t always liked that, but I think that is a really important part of my role.

“Where I see that they are doing things well, I will say they are doing things well. Where there are areas that they need to improve, I’ll point that out too because I think I’d be failing the constituents of the region if I didn’t do that.

“There have been issues where I think it is important to be able to find consensus and to work across party lines and I’m sure, and I hope, there will be opportunities for us to do that again.

“I’m really loyal to my party, but I’ve never been a tribal person. If there are ways in which we can do something by working constructively across party lines, let’s do it.”

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Ms Jewell stressed that no matter who people in the region voted for, her door was always open for people who need help.

“It’s really important for me to get the message across to people that regardless of who voted for, I represent all of the people living in this region,” she said. “So if ever there is anything I can do to help anyone who lives in this region, I would be keen for them to get in touch with me. They don’t need to be a supporter of my party, I am here for all people living in the area.”