Yahoo News General election 2024: The candidates standing in the Vale of Glamorgan
The Vale of Glamorgan is traditionally a bellweather seat, its result indicating how the election could go. Labour and the Conservatives are both frontrunners here.
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 can see how this constituency is changing. It is getting marginally smaller, losing 8.3% of its current size to Cardiff South and Penarth.
READ MORE: What is my general election 2024 constituency - as 90% of areas hit by boundary changes
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Where does the constituency cover?
It includes Wenvoe, Rhoose, St Athan, Llantwit Major, Cowbridge, and the Court, Cadoc and Baruc council wards.
You can also find your constituency by entering your postcode here:
What happened in the general election in 2019
Who is standing?
Alun Hugh Cairns (Conservatives)
Stuart Field (Abolish the Welsh Assembly Party)
Ian James Johnson (Plaid Cymru)
Lynden Mack (Green Party)
Kanishka Narayan (Labour)
Steven Rajam (Lib Dem)
Toby Rhodes-Matthews (Reform UK)
Steven Sluman (Independent)
The candidates
All candidates are being asked to provide answers to the same questions, these will be added here once received.
Alun Cairns - Conservatives
Alun Cairns has served as MP for the Vale of Glamorgan since 2010 and has lived in the community for 25 years. He has been elected four times. He previously worked for Lloyds Bank and was an Assembly Member for 12 years. He wife Emma runs a specialist education law firm, and they have one son Henri.
Alun served as Secretary of State for Wales between 2016 and 2019 and secured a new financial settlement for Wales - described by the Welsh Government as ‘very fair’. He abolished the Severn Tolls and steered the passage of the Government of Wales Act through Parliament.
After leaving government, Alun was elected Chairman of the All-Party Beer Group, which seeks to support pubs and the brewing industry. The Chancellor said Alun was one of the MPs who focussed his mind on the benefits of a duty freeze and reduced duty on beer served in pubs.
Outside politics, Alun has raised over £100K for charities by running the last 12 London Marathons. He holds the title of fastest MP over the 26-mile course.
Name a policy you want to see become law if elected as an MP
Alun would like to see more free trade deals with different nations around the world – and the establishment of a Welsh Development Agency type body to support Welsh Businesses.
What's the biggest issue facing Wales and what will you do to fix it?
Alun believes economic development and the Welsh Government’s anti-business agenda leads to a wider wealth gap between Wales and the rest of the UK. He says the development of a Wales Development Agency type body is needed to promote and support Welsh Business.
Who has been the best British Prime Minister and why?
Churchill. Alun says he had vision, strategy and the leadership skills needed to secure UK and European peace and freedom.
Ian Johnson - Plaid Cymru
I’m the former Mayor of Barry and proud to be the Plaid Cymru candidate for the Vale of Glamorgan.
I’m 45 years old and I’ve been a member of the Vale of Glamorgan Council and Barry Town Council since 2012, leading the Plaid Cymru group on the county council since 2017. I’ve been focusing on scrutiny of the Labour-run council – which recently exposed a £3.7m over-spend on a new IT system and spending £2.7m on the Barry Docks bus station which didn’t have a single bus call for nearly six months.
I also won the campaign to prevent fracking in the Vale and fighting the Barry Docks Incinerator. I’m a former pupil at Romilly Primary and Barry Boys Comprehensive, a community centre trustee, a volunteer at Barry Arts Festival and I write a weekly sports column about local football club, Barry Town United.
Name a policy you want to see become law if elected as an MP
At Westminster, I would fight for a £20 per week increase in child benefit in order to tackle child poverty. This would help 330,000 families in Wales, helping them to deal with the cost-of-living crisis caused by the Conservatives, and taking 60,000 children in Wales out of poverty altogether.
I would also demand that Wales gets the £4bn funding that we are owed for building the HS2 railway in England. That should be invested in improved rail and bus transport in Wales, including extra services on the Vale railway line to Rhoose and Llantwit Major.
Alongside that, I would look to secure a fair funding formula for Wales, based around our needs, so that we can all get the public services we deserve.
What's the biggest issue facing Wales and what will you do to fix it?
I think that most people are concerned about the state of the NHS.
Under Labour in Wales, the number of GPs has fallen by a quarter in the last ten years and the number of patients per GP has risen by 32%. At Westminster, I would be fighting to properly fund our NHS and recruit 500 new GPs so that we can get an appointment when we need one. An investment in primary care means that health issues can be identified early and, hopefully, resolved. In the same vein, Plaid Cymru’s Cancer Strategy would focus on early diagnosis, tackling cancer from the very start.
Who has been the best British Prime Minister and why?
Barry-born Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard, took on the sexism and misogyny that she faced in her political career. In all seriousness, what does it says for how Wales is marginalised in the UK that there hasn’t been a Welsh-born Prime Minister of the UK for more than a hundred years?
Kanishka Narayan - Labour
I grew up in Cardiff, on Glenroy Street, with parents who worked in hospitality and then as lawyers, and a brother who trained in Cardiff and Bridgend as an NHS doctor. I now live on Barry’s wonderful waterfront.
I trained as an economist and was glad to follow my family into public service. I advised ministers on economics as Senior Adviser at the Cabinet Office and then as Expert Adviser to Britain’s Environment Secretary. I then gained experience in the private sector, advising FTSE boards, government finance ministries, and climatetech entrepreneurs on managing their balance sheets.
Outside of work, I have been a passionate volunteer for Citizens Advice, Trussell Trust, and for my own initiatives to mentor kids from South Wales into fulfilling academic and job opportunities. I love reading non-fiction (history and philosophy), walking across our wonderful Welsh landscape, and cricket. Age: 34 years old.
Name a policy you want to see become law if elected as an MP
I want to see a credit union law that significantly increases the impact of the credit union movement in our country. Too many households suffer from problem debt, worsened by unscrupulous lending and debt collection practices. It creates huge stress, drives harshness in relationships and deprives kids of a fulfilling, joyful childhood.
It is possible to support more dignity and humanity in how debt works. We know that from effective credit unions in America and Ireland. It is a cause close to my heart and one I have had the privilege of publishing national research on. If I become the Vale’s voice in Westminster, I will fight for an expanded credit union movement here in the Vale and across the UK.
What's the biggest issue facing Wales and what will you do to fix it?
Prosperity. 14 years of Westminster mismanagement have made us worse off, weakened our public services, held back our environmental action. At the heart of it is the damage done to our economy.
Wales has an amazing history and culture of compassion. It binds us together. Prosperity is the glue that can retain that compassion. By bringing greater investment, backing science and technology, and putting dignity of work front and centre, I hope to bring prosperity back to Wales and to the UK.
Who has been the best British Prime Minister and why?
Attlee’s achievement in rebuilding our country after the war, and forming the most remarkable institution of the NHS from the ashes of conflict, is the greatest inspiration. In our present time of crisis and conflict, it is also a practical guide to ambition in politics.
Steven Rajam - Liberal Democrat
I’m Steven Rajam, I’m 43, and I’m the Liberal Democrat candidate for the Vale of Glamorgan: I’ve lived and worked in the Vale of Glamorgan area for the last 15 years.
Away from my work with the Liberal Democrats, I own and run a successful independent radio business based near Cowbridge - we were named radio production company of the year last year by our peers in the industry, and also were awarded the British Podcast of the Year award. I was thrilled to bring those home to Wales, where we have an amazing cultural sector.
Family-wise, I’m a doting Dad to a nine-year old daughter - my own father moved to the UK from Sri Lanka before I was born. I’m also a keen musician and sports fan: Wales in the rugby, Southampton in the football.
Name a policy you want to see become law if elected as an MP
Our public services are in a mess: our trains don’t run on time, the NHS is struggling, and our energy bills are crippling. Meanwhile, Conservative and Labour governments in Westminster and Cardiff Bay are taxing hardworking people to breaking point. It’s not fair.
We’ll reverse Tory tax cuts for big banks, close tax avoidance loopholes for the super-rich, and bring in a windfall tax on the super-profits of oil and gas companies, so the cost of improving our public services is paid for more fairly.
Our policies are far greener than the Greens: we’ll invest money in a proper green economy, jobs and infrastructure for Wales’s future, not get bogged down in rows about high-speed trains.
What's the biggest issue facing Wales and what will you do to fix it?
People across Wales are struggling with a cost of living crisis caused by years of Tory mismanagement in Westminster. Labour say they have the answers - but they’ve had 25 years in charge in Wales and many people see little improvement. Plaid Cymru say they’re all for Wales: but they’re committed to spending hundreds of thousands - perhaps millions - of your taxes on an immediate referendum on Welsh independence.
No-one’s standing up for ordinary people. We’re committed to better childcare for working families, a better deal for high streets and businesses, and an improved standard of living and a cleaner environment for ALL Welsh people. Not just the same old, status quo from the stale old guard.
Who has been the best British Prime Minister and why?
Tony Blair worked with the Liberal Democrats in opposition to help bring in devolution for Wales, introduce a national minimum qage, and bring two million people out of poverty. He trusted and respected our Lib Dem leader, Paddy Ashdown, and together they discussed and introduced policies that transformed Wales and the UK for the better.
Sadly Blair stopped listening, and events like the Iraq War saw him move away from both our parties’ shared ideals. I truly hope Keir Starmer has more sense if he wins. People often say the Lib Dems won’t win the general election. But when it comes to ideas that change Britain for the better, we’ve been hugely influential.
