Hello and welcome to The Valleys Lead.
First of all, a huge thanks to everyone that has subscribed, shared, commented, and got in touch with stories since we launched earlier this month. We’re writing for people in the south Wales valleys to be heard, and it’s a huge encouragement that so many are getting behind this goal by supporting The Valleys Lead.
This week, I’m inviting you to sit in on an interview I had with Rhun ap Iorwerth, the leader of Plaid Cymru. I met up with him at an event at Clwb y Bont in Ponypridd to ask him a few questions regarding how his party plans to address some of the issues we in the south Wales valleys are facing.
I also spoke with MS Heledd Fychan, to learn what she has been hearing from locals while canvassing.
And finally, you’ll hear from people in your communities. What do they think about Plaid Cymru?
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The Valleys Briefing
(A little round-up of some stories in brief from our valleys.)
Back in October, specialist palliative care at Ysbyty Cwm Cynon in Mountain Ash was paused after the health board declared significant medical staffing challenges. There is recent outcry from locals after rumours that the Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board has commenced the process of removing this essential service from Ward 6. There is a petition started to “save our specialist palliative care beds.” There is also a survey people can fill out to express their concerns.
Cash Access UK has confirmed that a new banking hub will open in Ebbw Vale in 2027, helping to maintain access to cash and face-to-face banking services in the town. Councillor John Morgan, Cabinet Member for Economy & Place, said: “We understand how important access to banking services is for residents and local businesses in Ebbw Vale. We welcome the confirmation that a banking hub will be established in the town and look forward to working with Cash Access UK to ensure the community is kept informed as plans progress.”
Next week, councillors in Blaenau Gwent will consider draft proposals for 2026/27 at a special Corporate Governance and Resources Scrutiny Committee. The draft budget recommends a council tax rise of 3.75 percent, which is lower than the original planning assumption of 4.95 percent. However, locals have been in touch with The Valleys Lead to ask why council tax is rising when council services are failing.
Plaid Cymru’s leader says the south Wales valleys won’t be forgotten
In just a little over three months, we’ll find out the results of what will likely become a historic Senedd election. It’s going to be different than any other previous contest, with the number of politicians elected to Cardiff Bay increasing from 60 to 96. And the constituencies and voting system are changing too.
Although we are sure you’ve been following, just to recap, the most recent YouGov polling in January shows that Plaid Cymru have now opened a 14-point lead over Reform UK in voting intention, with the two parties previously having been neck-and-neck.
Plaid Cymru are now on 37% of the vote, up seven points since September, with Reform UK falling back six points to 23%. The battle for third place is close, with Greens now on 13%, up seven points, alongside Labour and the Conservatives on 10% each. The Liberal Democrats are on 5%.
With Plaid Cymru currently in the lead, The Valleys Lead thought it important to find out what the party’s leader, Rhun ap Iorwerth, had to say on some of the issues that we in the south Wales valleys are speaking about. We grabbed ten minutes with him at an event in Pontypridd to ask him how he specifically act for those living in the valleys
The Welsh NHS
Time and time again, people in the valleys have said they are frustrated by the failing state of the NHS. Not the failing state of the staff – most can’t say enough good about the doctors, nurses, and healthcare assistants they’ve seen. People are disappointed by the Welsh government’s lack of prioritising of funding to the NHS.
ap Iorwerth told The Valleys Lead that his plan will be to tackle “two elements,” first of which is to deal with the long waiting times for medical treatment.
“We have identified the need to put significant funding in, which we’ve secured through the budget recently, to deal with that,” he said.
But more importantly, he said, he wants to build resilience in healthcare for the future. “I have said I will bring into government is a role specifically aimed at preventative healthcare,” he said. “And also putting measures in place to secure more cooperation between councils and health boards so that social care is looked after. That’s the only way we can make a sustainable healthcare system for the future, otherwise, we’re just going to be firefighting. And that’s what it feels we’ve been doing for too many years.”
However, Plaid Cymru was recently accused by Welsh Conservative MS Samuel Kurtz of not challenging the Labour government on issues revolving around the NHS in four out of the last five budgets.
“Under the Welsh Labour Government, propped up by Plaid Cymru, our Welsh NHS is broken,” the Welsh Conservatives’ website reads.
Immigration
All over social media and in local pubs and cafes, you’ll find people in the valleys nervous about Plaid Cymru because of their stance on immigration.
“The populist right weaponises the issue of immigration,” ap Iorwerth told The Valleys Lead. “It’s not based on fact or what’s actually happening, but maximising divisions for their own political gain.”
Although he’s been portrayed as wanting no control over immigration, he definitively said that isn’t true.
“I don’t believe in unregulated borders, but I do believe in tolerance,” he said. “And in treating people with respect.”
The Nation of Sanctuary is a plan created by the Welsh Government for how in Wales will support refugees and asylum seekers to integrate into our communities, and it’s one Plaid Cymru has stated it will continue to support.
“The vision is an international vision to support people when they move,” he said.
Currently immigration isn’t devolved – Wales doesn’t decide the numbers of refugees and asylum seekers it receives. But those that we do receive are supported through the Nation of Sanctuary policy. Welsh Conservatives and Reform UK have pledged to scrap it, saying it costs too much at £63.87m between 2019 and 2025 - equivalent to 0.05% of the total budget for that period.
But asylum seekers will still be dispersed to Wales if the policy didn’t exist, and without the Nation of Sanctuary, there are questions regarding how they will integrate efficiently.
“We have a role to play in better processing and provision in place for those that land on these shores – those who have moved here driven by wars and environmental catastrophes,” he said. “Labour and Conservatives have failed to put that in place. When people do move, we look at them as humans and see how to integrate them into our communities.”
The “forgotten” valleys
An Ebbw Vale local got in touch only yesterday with The Valleys Lead to say how he feels the south Wales valleys have been “forgotten” in politics, that all the focus is on England, and perhaps some of the larger cities in Wales.
When put this concern, ap Iorwerth told The Valleys Lead: “I absolutely think they’re right to feel they have been forgotten. Whether it’s UK Government policies or Welsh Government policies, it doesn’t feel there has been enough of an effort to make people included in plans for developing our nation.”
He claimed that his party will bring about a new development agency for Wales that would support businesses in Wales to grow, develop, and profit Wales.
“The key element of the body will be a need to ensure that prosperity is fed to all parts of Wales,” he said, emphasising that the valleys will benefit from economic growth.
Born in Pontypridd himself, ap Iorwerth emphatically stated that the valleys wouldn’t be left behind with Plaid Cymru in power.
“When people think of Wales, they often think of the valleys,” he said. “They are a symbol of Wales, and its incumbent on all of us in position of leadership to make sure that this part of Wales does absolutely feel it is at the heart of building a new future for our nation.”
Why are people in the valleys voting Plaid Cymru?
The Valleys Lead also spoke to Plaid Cymru MS Heledd Fychan at the same event, asking her to describe the conversations about Plaid Cymru she has had with residents while canvassing.
“I’m hearing that people are desperate for change, but meaningful change,” she told The Valleys Lead. “I’ve lost count of the times I’ve been told – ‘I’ve always been Labour, but never again.’ People seem genuinely sad and angry that the party they’ve supported all their lives seems to have abandoned them. Many have already decided that they will support Plaid Cymru, others are genuinely undecided and thinking of not voting even. Others are going for Reform, telling me – ‘well, how much worse could it get.’”
Dai Powell, a resident of Merthyr Tydfil, told The Valleys Lead there isn’t a chance he’ll be voting for Labour again. “Labour has had its day, and I’d never vote Reform,” he said. “I just want to stop Reform. They would destroy our way of life in the valleys. As an ex-miner, I always voted Labour, but it’s not the Labour I voted for. They are more Tory than true Labour.”
Alicia Murphy in Ebbw Vale said similar: “I’m leaning towards Plaid,” she told The Valleys Lead. “I would never vote Reform because I think they will take what rights we have away.” She has been disappointed with her Labour-led council in Blaenau Gwent, and will almost definitely not be voting for them in the next election.
Neil Powell, also in Merthyr Tydfil, told The Valleys Lead he think Plaid Cymru are the “right party to lead Wales.”
“I previously voted Labour and was a member,” Neil said. “Labour no longer represent working people and have lost their socialist grass roots base. I think Labour are making some positive changes, which are not being fairly reflected in the media; however they are not a party that I feel I can trust anymore. This is an opportunity for Plaid Cymru to prove themselves to the Welsh public.”
While there are those like Dai, Alicia, and Neil switching their vote from Labour to Plaid Cymru, there are plenty who have also decided to vote Reform UK, and those voting for Welsh Conservaties or the Green Party instead of Labour. Some people aren’t voting at all.
“I think Plaid are clinging on to outdated ideas,” Lynda Blandford, who won’t be voting for Plaid Cymru in May, told The Valleys Lead. But Lynda won’t be voting for Labour either as she doesn’t recognise it as the party she once knew, and she most certainly won’t vote Reform UK as she doesn’t trust Farage and hasn’t seen a proper manifesto. “But I will go and vote even if I put lots of crosses - brave women fought and died to give us the vote.”
When canvassing, residents of previously Labour-heavy communities have told Fychan that they are for the first time supporting Plaid Cymru because they believe it’s the only party standing up for communities in Wales, the only party who can stand up to Reform UK, and the only party campaigning for issues that matter to locals.
“They know us, have worked with us, and know they can trust us,” she said.
Meaning they have until now?