Yahoo News General election 2024: Find out more about the candidates standing in Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney
Under the new electoral map for Wales, Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney seat pulls together a combination of Labour strongholds. Under the new electoral boundaries, it is all the former Blaenau Gwent seat with part of Merthyr and Rhymney, Caerphilly and Islwyn.
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. The new make-up is 100% of the former Blaenau Gwent seat plus 20.3% of Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney, 9.2% of Caerphilly and 4.8% of Islwyn.
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There are eight candidates standing in this seat for the election taking place on Thursday, July 4 and 32 MPs will be elected to represent Wales.
Where does the constituency cover?
This constituency includes Abertillery, Blaina, New Tredegar as well as Pontlottyn, Twyn Carno, Aberbargoed, Bargoed and Gilfach.
Here is the map from the Boundary Commission for Wales for the Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney seat:
You can also find your constituency by entering your postcode here:
What happened in the general election in 2019
Who is standing?
Anne Baker (Green Party)
Jackie Charlton (Lib Dem)
Robert Griffiths (Communist Party of Britain)
Yas Iqbal (Workers Party)
Hannah Elizabeth Jarvis (Conservatives)
Niamh Salkeld (Plaid Cymru)
Nick Smith (Labour)
Mike Whatley (Independent)
The candidates
All candidates were all asked to answer the same questions, the responses received are all below:
Anne Baker - Green Party
Anne Baker, 64, varied career: gardener, admin officer, trade union representative and branch secretary, Adult Education Tutor, Health and Safety Consultant. Two children and two grandchildren. Hobbies: photography, walking, reading, gardening and scuba diving. I enjoy bird watching and run a Zoom group for Green Party Women, about birds and wider nature.
Name a policy you want to see become law if elected as an MP
Zane’s Law and the Climate and Nature Bill
What's the biggest issue facing Wales and what will you do to fix it?
Many issues affect Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney, such as lack of jobs, aggravated by poor transport, especially for those without cars. There are unique problems created by the nature of the valleys, meaning routes to work can become blocked very easily, by accidents, landslides etc.
Buses and trains are too infrequent. I would work to get improved funding for public transport and to regulate them again, as happens in London.
Who has been the best British Prime Minister and why?
The best PM we didn’t have would have been John Smith, but I also liked Harold Wilson for creating the Open University and Clement Atlee for the creation of the National Health Service.
Robert Griffiths - Communist Party of Britain
I grew up in Llanrumney, Cardiff, later living in Splott - in the shadow of the steelworks - and now Caerleon. I have worked in Newport and the Gwent valleys for much of the past 40 years, with NACRO and as a TUC and Workers Education Association tutor. Since 1998, I have been general secretary of the Communist Party.
Over the years I have campaigned for bilingual nursery schools, public services and Welsh devolution; and against austerity, the housing leasehold racket, toxic waste pollution, EU membership and US-led wars in the Middle East and Afghanistan. I chair the Cymru-Cuba friendship society and have campaigned for the rights of the Palestinian people for 50 years. My three daughters have eight grandchildren - and they need to grow up in a world of peace, security and shared prosperity.
Name a policy you want to see become law if elected as an MP
We should take the big energy companies back into public ownership. Since privatisation, British Gas, EDF (French), Scottish Power (Spanish) and E.ON (German) have made many billions for their shareholders, ramping up gas and electricity prices with the support of Tory and Labour governments and useless price regulator Ofgem.
President Macron fully nationalised EDF and ordered it to limit price rises in France to 3%. Here, EDF and others doubled their prices, while the Tories bribed and subsidised them (via us) with public money. Labour's feeble policy will change nothing. They say we can't afford nationalisation. Rubbish The 1945 Labour government nationalised gas and electricity (and coal, rail and steel) after a Depression and a World War.
Nationalising them again would stop the price rip-off. We could then plan for a green future, creating many more jobs as we invest in wind, solar, tidal and thermal power
What's the biggest issue facing Wales and what will you do to fix it?
South Wales valley communities face long-term problems of neglect and decline. Big business is only interested in areas like this when there's a big profit to be made. Generations of workers in these valleys have created vast amounts of wealth.
Where is that wealth now? Most went to the iron, steel, coal and finance capitalists. It exists today in the City of London, the banks and overseas investments. Britain still has one of the richest capitalist classes in the world - tax them properly!
But now the valleys are not so profitable. Companies are bribed with public money to come here and make a quick buck, before clearing off to where the grass is greener.
Tory and Labour governments scrapped regional development policies and slashed funds for local services. As a socialist MP, I would help build a broad alliance demanding more powers and finances for local councils, local companies (including cooperatives) and for the Welsh Senedd. We need an Economic Plan for Wales that will invest in local communities, transport and the environment.
Who has been the best British Prime Minister and why?
Clement Attlee's government created the NHS and a modern social welfare system - thanks largely to our own Aneurin Bevan and Llanelli MP Jim Griffiths. But he also joined the USA's Cold War against socialism and his own party's left-wing MPs. He locked Britain into NATO as a nuclear weapons alliance led by the USA.
That almost bankrupted Britain and our NHS, driving Bevan to resign and enabling the Tories to win the 1951 General Election. Ebbw Vale MP Michael Foot introduced new employment, trade union and health and safety rights, during the 1974-79 Labour government.
But then Prime Minister Callaghan surrendered to the demands of big business and the City. He attacked working people and paved the way for Margaret Thatcher's victory in 1979. The lesson? Elect MPs who stand by the people - and who stand up to big business, war-mongers and the powers-that-be.
Nick Smith - Labour
I grew up in Tredegar in a family of miners and steelworkers. My first job was helping my dad who was a roundsman for Brace’s Bread, travelling in his van around Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney. I went to Tredegar Comprehensive School before studying at Coventry University and Birkbeck, University of London.
I’m Labour through and through. I joined the party when I was 16 years old, and I am proud to have served as MP for Blaenau Gwent since 2010. Prior to becoming an MP my last job was Director of Policy at the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists. As a teenager I played snooker at the local workmen’s hall and still enjoy the sport as a spectator, and I also enjoy watching local rugby teams. I’m a keen parkrunner at Parc Bryn Bach and also enjoy films and playing Scrabble.
Name a policy you want to see become law if elected as an MP
I want to see our NHS back on its feet. The Welsh NHS needs a true partner in Westminster. We can see what’s possible when two Labour governments work together by looking at the record of the last UK Labour government on the NHS in Wales - the shortest waiting times on record and the highest patient satisfaction in history.
Labour has pledged to cut waiting times by targeting those who have been waiting the longest and who are in the most need, paid for by cracking down on tax avoidance and non-dom loopholes. As a successor in Nye Bevan’s constituency, I would also like to see a strong emphasis on preventative health care and the promotion of physical activity to help with long term health issues.
What's the biggest issue facing Wales and what will you do to fix it?
Wales is continuing to pay the price for Tory economic failure. People are being hammered by the Conservative Cost-of-Living crisis. Energy costs, food bills and mortgage rates are sky-high. People are working harder than ever for less reward. Labour will deliver economic stability. Growing the economy on secure foundations is the number one mission of the next Labour Government.
We want to bring forward a decade of national renewal, kickstarting growth, boosting jobs and making work pay. Locally I want to see our young people being prepared for the jobs of tomorrow, in cyber, digital and hi-tech engineering, something we have made a good start on through the Cyber College Cymru programme I helped create (and which is now spreading to other campuses across South Wales) and through the soon to be opened High Value Engineering Centre campus in Ebbw Vale. All of which we can and should expand on for the future.
Who has been the best British Prime Minister and why?
Clement Attlee rebuilt our economy following the Second World War, when our country had been through huge domestic and global challenges. He got our country back on its feet and introduced the NHS which has made such a difference to so many people’s lives ever since. And also Tony Blair because he introduced the first National Minimum Wage, secured peace in Northern Ireland and invested heavily in our public services including the Sure Start programme which helped so many children and their families, something I’m still angry about the Tories dismantling after the 2010 election.
