PLAID'S NEW SOUTH WALES EAST TEAM

Plaid's Lindsay Whittle and Jocelyn Davies and South Wales East Regional Campaign Team

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.

A BUSY MORNING IN ABERGAVENNY...

A brief moment in time during a busy campaign, with Jill Evans (MEP), Plaid President, Fiona Cross (Monmouth Constituency Candidate), Jonathan T Clark (South Wales East - Regional List Candidate), Jocelyn Davies (South Wales East - Regional List Candidate) and Janet Davies in 'Red Square', at Plaid Street Stall, in Abergavenny on Tuesday 2nd May 2011.   

REMEMBER - AMBITION IS CRITICAL

Ambition is Critical

New Labour (or whatever they want to call themselves these days) are quietly hoping that we all suffer an attack of collective amnesia and by the Labour line that it's the Tories fault. It's a big simple lie, but, one that the Labour Party (both old and new) has used again and again over the years. It's also totally untrue - they held the reigns of power at Westminster between 1997 and 2010 and did nothing to curb the bankers, improve the NHS, and deliver fair funding for Wales. Lacking the ambition and the motivation to govern Wales effectively they should not be rewarded for their poor record over the past 12 years.

Plaid Cymru leader Ieuan Wyn Jones has pledged that Plaid would bring about a ‘revolution’ in the way Welsh Government works for the people of Wales.The Plaid leader labelled Labour’s lack of policy ideas during this election campaign as tragic. Mr Jones said that their dearth of ambition clearly showed how electing a Labour government in Wales in this election would allow their Ministers to continue to manage failure and halt progress.

Mr Jones listed among Labour’s failures:

• Plummeting education standards
• Poor public health and bloated bureaucracy in the NHS
• Devastating handling of the UK economy and clueless approach to job creation in Wales
• Refusal to reform the way Wales is funded

Plaid Cymru leader Ieuan Wyn Jones 

Speaking at a press conference in Cardiff, the Plaid leader also said that Labour had failed to lead and unite the Welsh Civil Service behind a clear sense of purpose and a determination to deliver – and had a devastatingly poor record in providing a strong voice for Wales in Westminster. He cited their failure to ensure fair funding for Wales whilst in power in London as a clear example of why Labour cannot claim to ‘stand up for Wales.’

Mr Jones was joined by Plaid’s candidate for Caerphilly Ron Davies who said that Labour’s record on education, health and the economy had been devastating for devolution in its first twelve years. Mr Davies said that despite their arrogance in this election, Labour had failed to produce any shred of evidence that they wanted to improve Wales’s social and economic prosperity. He said that their record of decline had given them no right to ask Wales to give them a majority on May the 5th.

Plaid Leader Ieuan Wyn Jones said:

“Despite weeks of campaigning we still haven't heard anything from Labour about how they will improve our education or health services, and how they plan to develop Wales's economy for the next generation. For a party which has held power for 12 years in Wales, their lack of vision and ambition is tragic. Wales cannot afford to reward Labour failure by giving them a free hand to manage decline for the next 5 years. Our people and our communities deserve so much more, and Plaid Cymru is the only party which believes that a better Wales is possible.”

Jocelyn Davies

Plaid Cymru’s candidate in South Wales East Jocelyn Davies said:

"We need to ensure that Welsh government is fit for the future and not a relic of the past. We also need a Welsh Government that can force the Conservative and Lib Dem Coalition in London to sit up and take notice of the needs of Wales. If Labour is given a majority on May the 5th the UK Government will yawn, roll over and go back to sleep again on matters relating to Wales. We cannot allow that to happen.”

Plaid’s candidate in Caerphilly, Ron Davies said:

Ron Davies

“Those who know Labour inside out understand what drives the party’s political aspirations –it's power for its own sake, rather than any ambition to make a real difference to people's lives. The Welsh Labour party lacks substance and ambition – and their claim that they will stand up for Wales lacks credibility after their failure to do so for the last 12 years. We can't go on like this. They want it to be 'business as usual’. My vision for devolution has always been of a Welsh Government which has the capacity, the solutions and the drive to really change Wales and to make it a more confident, more prosperous country. The only party in this election which has shown any evidence that it is in any way qualified to do this is Plaid Cymru.”

Ieuan Wyn Jones said that, in contrast to Labour, in this election Plaid is proposing a package of ideas to improve services and to reform the way government works in Wales. Plaid’s manifesto will be designed to

• Transform our schools, health service and economy
• Save money and increase transparency
• Devolve further key services to Wales and ensure fair funding from the Treasury
• Improve efficient working within the Welsh government and local government
• Strengthen Wales’s voice in London and Brussels by creating new formal intergovernmental relationships

PLAID'S SOUTH WALES EAST REGIONAL CANDIDATES ANNOUNCED

Plaid Cymru members have chosen their South Wales East list candidates for next May's Welsh General Election. Hundreds of party members from across the region took part in the selection process which saw Jocelyn Davies, Lindsay Whittle, Bleddyn Hancock and Jonathan Clark selected as Plaid candidates for the region.

Jocelyn Davies will lead the Plaid team on the list, with Lindsay Whittle second, Bleddyn Hancock third and Jonathan Clark fourth. In 2007 Plaid capture two of the four regional seats.

Lead candidate Jocelyn Davies AM said:

“It's a great honour to have been selected to lead such and experienced and dedicated team of candidates into next year's election campaign.

"The Plaid team in the South East will be campaigning hard to make 2011 Wales' Year. We'll be working hard for a Yes vote to give Wales the proper parliament we deserve.

"We'll also be knocking on doors across our communities showing that Plaid is the party with an ambitious plan for the coming decade - a plan designed to meet the major challenges that we face over the coming years.

"As candidates, our local priorities will continue to be ensuring that good quality jobs are created in our communities and ensuring our hospitals and schools are providing our people with the service we deserve."