It has been an absolute privilege to serve the community that shaped me as the Member of the Senedd for Delyn and I have worked hard on your behalf as your representative since 2016. I’m now proud to lead the list for Welsh Labour for the new constituency of Clwyd as our number one candidate here in my home, alongside the other Welsh Labour candidates in the election – Carolyn Thomas, Crispin Jones, Ellen Jones, Rajeev Metri, Catherine Claydon, Arran Fearn and Cheryl Williams. As part of the campaign in the new constituency, I’ve been out and about in recent weeks talking to people in Rhyl, Prestatyn and Llangollen and further afield, as well as back in Mold and Holywell.

For the first time in years, Wales has a real chance to build a fairer future and move on from Conservative austerity and the crisis of the pandemic at this election. Free prescriptions, free bus travel for over-60s and the Education Maintenance Allowance for young people – Welsh Labour policies make real a difference for all our communities here in North Wales. Now is our chance to build on this – good jobs, investing in public services and a fairer deal for everyone.

In our corner of the country, we are at the forefront of the industries of the future, from clean energy to new technology – well paid jobs, a lifelong retraining guarantee and a new industrial strategy. Recently Welsh Labour launched its manifesto for the election campaign and I’m proud to stand on a whole host of pledges to the people of Wales – a £2 cap on single bus fares and a better say on bus routes, an expanded childcare offer, with funded provision from nine months old, a £4bn hospitals of the future fund which means the rebuilding of Wrexham Maelor and a better deal for the staff who keep our schools and health service going, ending term-time pay for school staff and providing fair-pay agreements for social care workers. This is fairness you can feel, the Welsh Labour way.

On top of that, your Welsh Labour candidates offer some personal pledges too – we will be visible and accessible through street stalls, engagement events and regular advice sessions across Clwyd, we’ll provide a platform for individuals’ and organisations’ voices to be heard in shaping the future of our towns and local services, we will champion our corner of the country, continuing to make the case for investment, opportunities and connectivity and we’re fully committed to working to bring communities together and to challenge division.

Our towns matter, they matter to me, they matter to all of us. That’s why backing and believing in our town centres has always been both a political and personal priority to me – our high streets should be at the centre of our communities and for too long they’ve been under pressure. I’m proud to have played a part in bringing in Wales’ Transforming Towns programme, which has seen significant Welsh Labour investment in communities across our part of the country, including the re-opening of Holywell High Street and Queen’s Market in Rhyl. But we can and will do more.

Recently I joined Eluned Morgan in Rhyl to talk about Welsh Labour’s pledges to invest further in our high streets and to help to create a strong future for our towns and communities. Welsh Labour has pledged to help transform empty units into businesses, leisure facilities and homes, create a community right-to-buy in law to empower people to keep local places for community use, give greater powers to councils to prevent the over saturation of certain businesses such as vape shops, barbers, betting shops and fast-food outlets and to enable more pop-up shops and interim use of empty units. These pledges will help to rebuild our town centres, providing jobs and opportunities and restoring pride in our communities.

As I am officially a candidate and the pre-election period has begun, it means that, in line with Senedd procedure, my office is no longer able to accept new casework in the usual way. However, if you have an existing case, please don’t hesitate to get in touch – we’re still here and able to help. If you do not have an existing case, I can still raise matters on your behalf as a candidate. The best way to get in touch is via hannahforclwyd@gmail.com and you can keep up with the campaign on my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/HannahBlythyn.