PLAID'S REGIONAL TEAM FOR SOUTH WALES EAST

On Thursday you have two votes in the Welsh General election on Thursday May 5th. Our National Assembly now has some law making powers so we can begin to finally fix some of the economic, social and environmental problems that effect our county. We need people who will ge ton with the job rather than those who would talk around the problems that effect our communities. So use you vote wisely and vote Plaid twice for a better Wales.

Your second vote is for the South Wales East regional list, Plaid's regional list team, consists of:

Jocelyn Davies

Jocelyn Davies is the number 1 regional candidate on the South Wales East list. She can be contacted at JocelynDavies@plaidcymru.org. Born in 1959, Jocelyn Davies is from Newbridge, Gwent and has represented the South Wales East region at the National Assembly since 1999. She read law at Oxford University’s Harris-Manchester College and is a former borough councillor.

She is Plaid Cymru’s first woman Government Minister, with responsibility for housing and regeneration. She is also Business Manager for the Plaid Cymru group in the National Assembly. Her political interests outside her Ministerial responsibilities include constitutional affairs and special educational needs.

Lindsay Whittle

Lindsay Whittle is the number 2 regional candidate on the South Wales East list. He can be contacted at LindsayWhittle@plaidcymru.org. Lindsay Whittle is a Plaid candidate for the South Wales East region. He was born in Caerffili and lives in Abertidwr, and since 2008 has been the Leader of Caerffili County Borough Council for second time, having previously led the authority between 1999 and 2004. Lindsay has fought every Assembly election thus far, and the previous seven Westminster elections, for Plaid Cymru and has repeatedly won local council elections for 34 years.

Lindsay is the Welsh Local Government Association’s spokesperson on Equalities, Community Safety and Social Justice, and still serves as a Governor for his old school, Cwm Ifor Primary. Outside of politics Lindsay has had a professional career of several decades as a Housing Manager in Cardiff, and his political interests include housing and local government, as well as issues such as combating homelessness.

Bleddyn Hancock

Bleddyn Hancock is the number 3 regional candidate on the South Wales East list. He can be contacted at BleddynHancock@plaidcymru.org. Bleddyn Hancock is a trade union official who was prominent in the successful battle to secure compensation for retired miners, a campaign which won the biggest workers' compensation package in the world. Bleddyn has served as a Plaid councillor and also a candidate at various Assembly and Westminster elections.

He was elected to the first ever Plaid-controlled council in Wales, in Merthyr, as one of the youngest councillors in the country at the time, and later figured in the civil disobedience campaign which led to the construction of the A470. Bleddyn Hancock also used his legal experience to assist the safeguarding of the Tower and Bettws collieries. Aside from his experience as General Secretary of the NACODS mining union for South Wales, Bleddyn Hancock has served as a miners' representative on the European Coal and Steel Community, and on the National Coal Board. He was educated at the Glamorgan Polytechnic.

Jonathan T Clark

Jonathan Clark is the number 4 regional candidate on the South Wales East list. He can be contacted at JonathanClark@plaidcymru.org. Jonathan Clark was born in Newport in 1966 and still lives in the city of his birth. Jonathan was Plaid Cymru's candidate for Monmouth for Westminster in 2005, for the National Assembly in 2007 and for Westminster in 2010.

A web-administrator at the University of Wales, Newport, Jonathan worked for the Directorate for Public Affairs and Internal Communications at the Metropolitan Police. Before living and working in London, he was a trainee journalist for the Gwent based Free Press Series newspapers. Educated at St Julian’s Comprehensive School and Gwent College for Further Education, Jonathan gained a B.A. (Hons) in History at St David's University College, Lampeter.

He also has an MA Celto-Roman Studies from University of Wales, Newport and is working on a Research PhD in Roman Archaeology at Cardiff University. Jonathan's political interests include affordable housing, public transport and economic development. His non-political interests include trekking, writing as well as supporting Newport County AFC, the Gwent Dragons and Newport Rugby Football Club.