COLUMN: All change at the Senedd
“There has been much change in the Senedd with a new First Minister and with new Ministers being appointed. I have also changed some of my responsibilities.
I congratulate Vaughan Gething MS on becoming the new First Minister. He has a significant job ahead of him. I believe he needs to focus on getting NHS waiting times down, which are currently the longest in the UK. Improve education standards, improve the economy and take-home pay in Wales.
A new Rural Affairs Minister has also been appointed, and there is a real need for him to build back trust with farming and rural communities.
A new Transport Minister has also been appointed, and he has made promises to make changes regarding the controversial blanket 20mph speed limit.
My own role within the Senedd and the Welsh Conservatives has also changed. Andrew RT Davies as my own party leader has asked me to be the Shadow Minister for mid Wales and Deputy Chief Whip. I am delighted to be able to have further opportunities to stand up for our region in the Senedd.
I am also remaining as the Chair of the Welsh Parliament’s Health and Social Care Committee, so will be continuing in my work in scrutinising the Welsh Government on its performance when it comes to the NHS, as well as providing the Government with recommendations for improvement.
As someone who was born and raised in mid Wales, there is nothing more that I want to see than our region prosper. The communities of mid Wales are in real need of greater support from the Welsh Government.
Mid Wales has a fantastic tourism industry, but it is threatened by the Labour Government’s plans for a tourism tax and pushing accommodation providers out of the sector. Instead, we should be expanding the tourism offer and supporting local businesses to create jobs by creating a specific Mid Wales Tourist Board.
For mid Wales, I want to see the Welsh Government boosting jobs and investment by reducing the financial burden on businesses, but we have seen business rate relief slashed in Wales, whereas in England business are receiving significantly higher levels of business rate support.
In mid Wales we are lucky to have stunning landscapes and a strong rural community. The proposals in the Welsh Government’s Sustainable Farming Scheme are a huge threat to our rural communities, I want to see this scheme scrapped and a new scheme introduced with a focus on what works for farmers and rural communities. I’ll be keeping up the pleasure on the new Rural Affairs Minister to bring about this change.
I want to see our landscapes protected. The people of mid Wales have fought hard over the past decade to campaign against large scale pylons, we must protect our beautiful landscape. We are ready to oppose further inappropriate plans.
We have suffered poor public transport for too long in mid Wales. One of my priorities is to campaign to better the performance of Transport for Wales on the Cambrian Aberystwyth to Shrewsbury line and I have been seeking assurances over commitments made by Transport for Wales and the Welsh Government. Good transport connections are key to improving the local economy which is why I actively campaigned for the Newtown bypass and continue to campaign for other important road improvement schemes as well as improving road safety. It is reported that sadly Powys has one of the highest road accident rates leading to someone being killed or seriously injured on our roads per 100,000 population. We need action on some of our unsafe roads, such as the A458 between Trewern and Middletown.
Last but not least, we need to improve access to better healthcare in mid Wales. With no district general hospital in Powys, I continue to work towards seeing a new hospital located in Newtown to serve north Powys.
Also, although we are told a decision has been made to close our Welshpool Air Ambulance base, along with other local campaigners, we will be challenging this decision, and I will have more news on this in the coming weeks.
As you can see, there are so many areas that I want to progress for the benefit of mid Wales, and my new area of responsibility is going to be a busy one.”
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