Meet your Vale of Glamorgan candidates for the General Election

Voters in the Vale of Glamorgan constituency will have the choice of eight candidates for the parliamentary seat and the Barry and District News has heard from each one this week.

Camilla Beaven (Labour)

I’VE lived in the Vale of Glamorgan most of my life, growing up in Barry and Cowbridge. I work for Jane Hutt AM, fighting every day for vulnerable people, I know the issues which worry Vale residents very well. If elected I will stand up for the constituency which has shaped me and bring vitality and compassion to the role. My priorities will include ensuring fairness for the women who have suffered due to state pension changes, protecting pensioners, the young, the disabled and the bereaved from the cruel and unnecessary Tory cuts. The alarming rise in foodbanks across the Vale, in Dinas Powys, St Athan, Llantwit Major and Barry is proof that austerity is hurting not working. Tory cuts to police funding have resulted in 20,000 fewer police officers with police stations across the Vale closing to the public. I will support Labour’s pledge to fund an additional 10,000 police officers, 853 of these will come to Wales, many to the Vale. I am proud of what a Welsh Labour Government has achieved for Wales and the Vale and I will continue this work in Parliament. Labour can offer a better, fairer Britain for everyone.

Alun Cairns (Conservatives)

I WAS first elected as the MP for the Vale of Glamorgan in May 2010. I live in the constituency with my wife Emma and our son Henri. My father was a welder at Port Talbot Steelworks and my mother was a shopkeeper. I first became politically aware whilst growing up in the Swansea Valley. Before being elected I worked for Lloyds Bank for more than 10 years in business development, with my last role in financial services compliance. Following 11 years as an Assembly Member, I was elected as MP for the Vale and in July 2014, became Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Wales and a Government Whip. In March 2016 I was appointed as Secretary of State for Wales. I am an avid runner, this year completing my sixth London Marathon, raising thousands of pounds for local charities. Amongst other interests, I also keep a small flock of sheep and am life President of Barry Town United Football Club. I am standing to protect the Vale from excessive housing development and to secure a fair funding settlement. I prioritise the need for superfast broadband for every property and have pledged to extend local bus services across the Vale.

Stephen Davis-Barker (Green Party)

I am a keen cyclist and runner who enjoys working on my allotment and running a micro animal sanctuary. As a young self-employed small businessman from a farming family living in Barry, I believe I am a candidate who understands the needs of the countryside and the town. My belief is that society should be fair, where people are paid a proper living wage, where everyone pays a fair share to enable us to build a safe and secure future. Public services are run for people not profit and education is a right not a privilege. One of the challenges within my constituency is encouraging the decision makers to move away from old, outdated, harmful facilities like Aberthaw power station and replace them with new, renewable, locally beneficial energy generators but not replace them with environmentally damaging projects like fracking and incinerators. Farming has suffered huge problems recently. We need to protect and invest heavily and help to diversify one of the most important industries we have. The Vale deserves an MP who is different from your usual politicians, one who demonstrates compassion rather than cynicism and protects our public services instead of cutting them to the bone.

David Elston (Pirate Party) 

I HAVE been involved in the St Athan community for years. Here I am trustee of a local park’s charity and helped raise over £5000 for the local play areas so far. For the last year I served on the St Athan Community Council as a co-opted councillor. I’m a member and current Leader of Pirate Party UK. That doesn’t mean I have a cutlass or parrot, but that I care deeply about our liberties. I am running to free our culture, protect our personal freedoms and ensure our right to privacy. Those issues should underpin our society and are intrinsic to the new digital and online worlds that have become such an important part of our lives. Our approach to politics needs to be reversed. Instead of a predetermined menu of policies to sell on the doorstep, I will share with you the Pirate manifesto that has been crowdsourced from the membership and beyond. I want to hear your ideas and to look at the evidence in order to make policy. We need transparency in government, a sensible approach to housing and infrastructure planning (including blocking the Barry Incinerator), radical reduction in class sizes and proper funding for schools.

Jennifer Geroni (Liberal Democrats)

I WAS born in South Wales and have lived in Barry with my husband for the last 10 years. I studied Chemistry at Oxford University and spent five years working as a teacher in Oxford and London before coming back to Wales to study for a PhD in Engineering at Cardiff University. Since then I’ve worked a researcher for the Chief Scientific Advisor for Wales, providing independent science advice to the Welsh Government, and as a research manager at Cardiff University. I currently work as a research bid writer and project manager at Cardiff Metropolitan University. I have decided to stand as a parliamentary candidate for the first time because I can already see the impact of Brexit on jobs in Wales. In my work, falling numbers of students from outside the UK means less money available to support good quality education for local students. It means less money coming into our local economy and is already leading to job losses. I want to give people a chance to vote for someone who will fight against a damaging hard Brexit and stand up for the local economy.

Melanie Hunter-Clarke (UKIP)

I AM STANDING in the upcoming Parliamentary election to bring about the change in the Vale of Glamorgan that we so desperately need. The Conservatives and Theresa May may be talking tough on Brexit, but they will not deliver the Brexit we voted for in Wales. We must remember Theresa May was herself a Remainer. During this campaign the Tories and Labour are promising the world, but afterwards they will not deliver – they never do. I will fight against the Tory policy of a ‘death tax’. How can it be right that a person who has worked hard and saved all their life, has their estate taken off them when they die. Locally, if elected, I will fight against the Barry Incinerator, and stand up for local people. I live in the constituency, and work in Cardiff. It’s time for real change. By electing a UKIP MP, you will get someone who will hold the government in Westminster to account, and ensure Brexit is delivered. A majority government, with no effective opposition is not a good thing. We cannot allow Theresa May to walk all over Wales.

Ian Johnson (Plaid Cymru)

COMING from Barry, I’ve always wanted my hometown to reach its potential. That’s why I became involved in local politics - so that I could make a difference, something I try and achieve in all my activities. Having been a Plaid Cymru councillor for the past five years in the centre of Barry – recently reelected with an increased vote – I know that people trust me to work hard and deliver for them, and I ask readers to think of the genuine difference I could make in Parliament. As Barry’s champion I will stand up for our town in Parliament, giving a voice to the Vale and Wales in discussions on Brexit, fighting the Tory dementia tax and opposing cuts to public services for our most vulnerable people. In my work as a mental health researcher for a national charity, I have seen the impact of austerity cuts upon local families, and the effect of low wages, which is why I strongly support a genuine Living Wage. I will continue to oppose the Barry Docks incinerator, fight for increased investment for the town and do my best to ensure Barry reaches the potential we know it has.

Sharon Lovell (Women's Equality Party)

THE Women’s Equality Party is a vote for change. WE do politics differently and believe it is time for a new beginning. Gender equality is at the heart of everything WE do. WE believe that by addressing this WE will provide a society and create communities that are fair, equal and better for everyone. I am standing in the Vale of Glamorgan for the Women’s Equality Party to ensure we have equal pay, equal parenting and care giving, equality in education, ending violence against women, equal representation in business/politics, equal rights to health care and equality within the media. WE want the Vale of Glamorgan to be the best it can be; a place to live without foodbanks, threats to our local services, a healthy environment and education and health services that are accessible, fair and equal. This general election WE can do things differently. WE can put hope and opportunity back into our community by creating and designing a system that works for the furthest first and as a result makes things better for everyone I live in Barry and I look forward to continuing the campaign, meeting everyone and standing up for what is right; equality.