Yahoo News General election 2024: The candidates standing in Cardiff East
Cardiff East is a constituency being re-established under the new boundary review in Wales. A previous seat of this name was abolished in 1950, it is mainly made up of the former Cardiff Central seat and some of the Cardiff South and Penarth constituency.
The former Cardiff Central seat was held by Labour's Jo Stevens since 2015. She will contest the seat again this election. The boundaries of all but one Welsh seat have changed ahead of the 2024 election, only Ynys Mon (the island of Anglesey) remains untouched, all others have seen changes which could impact the results on election night. You can read the background to the changes here.
Instead of 40 constituencies, there are now 32 in Wales and the idea behind it is to make all Westminster constituencies the same size. Using figures from electoral calculus, we see this constituency is 78.2% the former Cardiff Central seat and 32.4% Cardiff South and Penarth, also a safe Labour seat.
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The election is taking place on Thursday, July 4 and 32 MPs will be elected to represent Wales.
Where does the constituency cover?
The council wards of Adamsdown, Plasnewydd, Penylan, Cyncoed, Pentwyn, Llanrumney, Rumney and Trowbridge.
You can also find your constituency by entering your postcode here:
What happened in the general election in 2019
Who is standing?
Rodney Berman (Lib Dem)
Beatrice Brandon (Conservatives)
Lee Canning (Reform UK)
Sam Coates (Green Party)
Cadewyn Eleri Skelley (Plaid Cymru)
Jo Stevens (Labour)
John Aaron Williams (Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition)
The candidates
All candidates are being asked the same questions, and their answers will be added here once received.
Rodney Berman - Lib Dem
I’ve been happy to live in the constituency since moving to Cardiff in 1994 to take up a research job at what is now Cardiff University’s School of Medicine, having completed my studies in Glasgow where I was born and grew up. I jumped at the chance to work with the first Lib Dem group in the Welsh Assembly, as senior researcher, in 1999. That year I was first elected to Cardiff Council for the Plasnewydd ward, going on to serve as council leader from 2004 to 2012. Since then I have been working as a senior manager for a body that represents doctors, helping them influence health policy in Wales. Since 2017, I have been a councillor for Penylan. I am a member of Albany Road Run Club and also enjoy cycling and hiking – a charity trek with my husband Nick and friends to Everest Base Camp being the trip of a lifetime.
Name a policy you want to see become law if elected as an MP
If I were elected as an MP, a real focus for me at Westminster would be an issue that I don’t think we have heard enough about in this election campaign. I would be a passionate supporter of legislation to get the UK back on track in tackling climate change by cutting greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2045 at the very latest. We need bold action to avoid catastrophe and save the planet for future generations. There are real advantages for us in taking action now: we can cut energy bills and create hundreds of thousands of secure, well-paid new jobs in all our communities installing home insulation, heat pumps, solar panels and electric vehicle charging points. I want Wales to be leading the way on climate change and take people with us.
What’s the biggest issue facing Wales and what will you do to fix it?
The crisis in our health service, undoubtedly. It is simply not good enough that people in Wales are waiting longer for treatment on our NHS than in England. It is not acceptable that people here find it so hard to get a GP appointment. Labour has been running our health service continually now since 1997 and frankly Wales deserves better. Too many of our health boards have been placed in special measures. To turn things round at speed, we need a UK Government that is prepared to tax big business and the banks so that we can increase funding to the NHS right across the UK, including ensuring that the Senedd has more money to spend on sorting out the current problems and ending long-term health inequalities that were highlighted by Covid.
Who has been the best British Prime Minister and why?
As a proud Liberal, I am delighted to be able to pick the only Welshman to become PM. I am a huge admirer of David Lloyd George – in particular for what he achieved before he became PM, delivering the People’s Budget which brought in the state pensions and declaring a war on poverty as Chancellor. Not only was he a radical and social reformer, he was a passionate supporter of Home Rule for Wales. So I am pleased to stand in the same tradition as Lloyd George, on a manifesto that pledges a fair deal for Wales by giving our Senedd many of the powers already transferred to the Scottish Parliament – even though I think the great man would be depressed that we still have not achieved this so long after his death.
Cadewyn Eleri Skelley - Plaid Cymru
I’m 21 years old, studying International Relations and Politics at Cardiff University. I live in Roath, Cardiff in a rented 1 bed flat with my partner, and I am originally from Swansea.
My entire life I have been witnessed to inequality. Growing up, my family relied on the benefit system and struggled to put food on the table, afford rent, and afford our utilities. Now, as a person whose identity is under the trans umbrella, I suffer from discriminatory policies from both the Tories and now the UK Labour party.
I have been active in campaigning alongside other peace activists in response to the genocide in Gaza, I fought with students over abolishing tuition fees, alongside striking lecturers during the UCU strikes, and attending protests revolved around the cuts to Welsh culture by the Welsh Government.
I have worked previously in the retail sector, and now have an internship with Prosiect Perthyn - where my aims are to see how to better engage minority communities within the Welsh language and culture, and how they themselves can influence Wales' culture for the better.
My hobbies include watching theater and thriller films, listening to music, and baking, and I'm the youngest out five siblings.
Name a policy you want to see become law if elected as an MP
A major policy that I want to see become law is the nationalisation of our utilities (water, energy, and broadband), so that they are free at the point of use.
People are struggling with the cost of living, and these are vital services that are needed by everyone in the modern day. Why should people have to pay for brown, ecologically dying rivers? Why should people have to pay extortionate prices for their energy bills while energy companies had recorded record high profits in the winter last year, as families had to decide whether to pay for food or heating in the winter? And in the 21st Century where more and more people need the internet to work from home, why should those who have low income be locked out of a vital service, and those in rural communities be underprioritised and neglected?
It is my firm belief that through nationalisation, not only can we properly tackle the cost-of-living crisis at one of the major sources, we can more efficiently tackle the climate crisis as well. Sewage is dumped into our rivers, and not enough is being done by energy companies like Shell and BP to switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy fast enough. Through nationalisation of specifically water and energy, we can better control each sector.
What's the biggest issue facing Wales and what will you do to fix it?
The biggest issue in Wales currently is the cost-of-living crisis, and as a socialist I am committed to uplifting every member of our constituency.
My solutions would be donating 65% of my wage to local foodbanks and charities in the Cardiff East area. Whilst this does not tackle the problem at its source, it is my hope that this will allow our local charities to help more of those in need. Additionally, I aim to campaign for rent controls within the Cardiff area; the nationalisation of our utilities so they're free at the point of use; abolish the two-child benefit cap, bringing 300,000 children out of poverty, alongside an increase of £20 for child benefits per week plus campaigning for the expansion of free school meals for secondary school children; to tax the ultra-wealthy of our society through a wealth tax while simultaneously cracking down on tax dodgers and close tax loopholes, and; taking the tax burden off those who cannot afford it and onto those who have the broadest shoulders through the devolution of tax brackets
Who has been the best British Prime Minister and why?
If I was forced to pick one, it would be Clement Attlee, as he is often attributed to the creation of the Welfare State, the nationalisation of key industries, and the cabinet that held Nye Bevan - who is the reason the NHS exists today. While it is possible to criticise the Attlee government, he is quite honestly the baseline standard we should look too in our politicians today, a standard that is unfortunately far removed from our modern politics.
Jo Stevens - Labour
I’m Jo Stevens. Since 2015 I have been the Labour MP for Cardiff Central and I am the Labour candidate for the new Cardiff East constituency. I was born in Swansea, grew up in a village near Mold in Flintshire, before studying law at Manchester University. For 27 years I was a trades union solicitor and then director at Thompsons, a UK wide law firm dedicated to representing trades unions and their members. I represented people who had been mistreated, injured or killed at work. I am currently Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Wales in Keir Starmer’s Shadow Cabinet.
In my spare time, I enjoy real ale, good books and music and watching sport, particularly cricket, football, rugby and darts. I’m a member of Glamorgan County Cricket Club, a regular at Cardiff City FC and on the terraces at Cardiff Rugby.
Name a policy you want to see become law if elected as an MP
Throughout my working life I’ve sought to improve legal rights and protections for working people. I took cases to court to change the law and I went into Parliament to change the law too. Labour’s New Deal for Working People will mean the biggest improvement in employment rights and protections in a generation. It will boost wages, make work more secure and support working people to thrive.
The last Labour government lifted basic minimum rights in the workplace by introducing the National Minimum Wage, the 48-hour working week, 28-days paid holiday, parental leave, and greater protection from unfair dismissal. The next Labour government will introduce legislation within the first 100 days to deliver a genuine living wage, ban exploitative zero hours contracts and end fire and rehire.
What's the biggest issue facing Wales and what will you do to fix it?
The biggest issue facing Wales is the Tory cost-of-living crisis. My constituents tell me shocking stories about their mortgages and rents skyrocketing in the aftermath of the disastrous Liz Truss mini-budget. Both households and businesses are under enormous pressures because of the rising costs they are suffering.
Growing the economy on secure foundations will be the number one mission of the next Labour government. There’s enormous potential for industries like floating offshore wind in Wales, creating new, well-paid jobs but a proper industrial strategy is needed to make that a reality. Unlike the Tories, Labour has one ready to go.
Who has been the best British Prime Minister and why?
It is hard to overlook the transformative Clement Attlee government, rebuilding the country after the ravages of the Second World War. In particular, the foundation of our NHS by Nye Bevan, is Labour’s greatest legacy. As Attlee’s Labour government rebuilt Britain in the aftermath of war, we need a Labour government now to deliver a decade of national renewal.
As Labour’s candidate for Cardiff East, it would be remiss of me not to mention the enormous contribution Jim Callaghan made to our country, the only person ever to have held all four great offices of state. Many older residents in Cardiff East still remember him as their MP, with his flat in Llanrumney.
John Williams - TUSC
I was born and bred in Gloucester, just an hour away by train. A very working class area, that I regularly visit when I can to see my family. My dad's side of the family was from Exeter, my mums side of the family are from all over, including my grandmother who was from Tredgar. I moved to Cardiff in 2014, to study drama and English but I decided to stay as I fell in love with the place. At university, I became active in socialist politics and the trade union movement, and also got a job in hospitality, where I still work today.
Name a policy you want to see become law if elected as an MP
One policy that I would like to see become law is proper working class and community control over MPs and all representatives that are elected. Voters should have the right to recall MPs for scrutiny if they aren’t happy with what they’re doing. Part of that should be that MPs should only be on the average wage of a worker in their constituency, to keep them in check. MPs shouldn’t be able to spend expenses on bills and the basics, only genuine expenses, but these should be open to scrutiny also and made public.
What's the biggest issue facing Wales and what will you do to fix it?
One of the biggest issues facing Wales, but is also affecting the rest of the UK, is austerity. More than £1b has been cut from the Welsh NHS budget in the past 14 years, meaning that Wales has the worst functioning part of the NHS in the UK. Official austerity, (although it can be argued that austerity really started with Thatcher) has been with us for 14 years and used by the Tories to devastate communities and public services.
Unfortunately, the Welsh government and local authorities have just implemented these budgets with no fight back. Ultimately, all these parties defending capitalism and profit will never be able to deliver what’s objectively necessary to change society.
Who has been the best British Prime Minister and why?
Clement Attlee has been the one prime minister that has given us the most gains in Britain. In terms of council homes, the welfare state, bringing industry into public ownership, and of course the beloved NHS. Unfortunately, when Winston Churchill got back in, he started to reverse some of the gains.
Tory and Labour governments since have chipped away at it little by little and we really have got a fight on our hands to save the NHS. The private sector should be completely kicked out, the pay demands of the health workers should be met, all cuts reversed and more funding! As Aneurin Bevan said, “The NHS will last as long as there are folk left with the faith to fight for it.”
