CANDIDATES for the new Westminster seat of Mid and South Pembrokeshire outlined why they should have your vote at an electoral hustings last week.

The joint Planed/Pure West Radio general election hustings was held at Pembrokeshire College on June 27, with six of the candidates for the Mid and South Pembrokeshire seat attending.

Those attending were: Alistair Cameron (Welsh Liberal Democrats); Stephen Crabb (Welsh Conservative); Stuart Marchant (Reform UK); Vusi Siphika (Independent); Cris Tomos (Plaid Cymru); and Henry Tufnell (Welsh Labour), with Hanna Andersen (Women’s Equality Party) and James Purchase (Green Party) unable to attend.

The candidates initially outlined why they should have your votes before a series of question and answer sessions.

Stephen Crabb said: “My promise at this election is the same as every single time I’ve been elected, to be the very best for Pembrokeshire.”

Vusi Siphika said: “It’s a real honour to be here as an independent to put myself forward; there is a choice, there is a word we’ve used, having a love for each other, not very often used in politics, it can be used for the betterment of people.”

Cris Tomos told members he was standing for “activism and localism”: “I’m a fifth-generation dairy farmer, it’s great to be part of a community; I’m standing for activism and localism, we can do great stuff, now is the time grasp these natural resources, starting from the grass roots upwards.”

Alistair Cameron, a county councillor, said: “As liberal Democrats we want to do a lot for job opportunities, particularly in floating offshore wind, and in social care, an enormous challenge for the county council at the moment.”

Reform’s Stuart Marchant said: “I think our best days lay ahead of us; there are so many opportunities in Pembrokeshire; it needs a member of parliament that will shout and scream and draw out the best of the community.”

Labour’s Henry Tufnell said: “It’s tough out there, there’s a cost-of-living crisis; next week we have a fantastic opportunity for change, I want Pembrokeshire to be at the forefront of that change.”

In a submitted statement, James Purchase said his party was “the only party talking about the climate crisis”.

A question about “the crisis in social care” as a “consequence of generational underfunding,” by the Rev Neil Hook, who later said the biggest crisis was around the elderly, but also included the vulnerable in society, was asked.

Alistair Cameron said: “The biggest challenge faced by the council is how to pay for it, and treat people with dignity. Pembrokeshire is an aging county, I think it’s beyond the county, it needs Welsh Government and UK Government support.”

Vusi Siphika, a carer himself, said: “I have been through every step of the crisis,” saying there was a need for “a radical approach”.

“We’re battling to ensure dignity, it’s on a wing and a prayer at the moment,” adding: “We have to fight tooth and nail for our elderly and give them back their dignity.”

Henry Tufnell said the Conservatives had “played fast and loose with public services,” adding: “We’re struggling with where the money comes because of what Liz Truss did; this is one of the greatest issues we face.”

Stephen Crabb reacted to Mr Tufnell’s comments: “It’s an enormous challenge, there’s threadbare social care and a lot of loneliness with people retiring here without family support.

“It trivialises the importance to say three months of Liz Truss led to these consequences, for decades the government in Cardiff has failed.

“Until we take party politics out of this, we can’t have a grown-up decision.”

Stuart Marchant said the system needs serious reform, adding: “It’s not fit for purpose”.

“What Reform would do is restructure a dedicated department, partially through tax reform, making things less bureaucratic, throwing money at a broken system will never work.”

Cris Tomos said there was a need for greater resources, with a reform of capital gains.

“The money is there but we’ve got to be brave to go after the money and care for our elderly people and give them a quality of life as they get older in Pembrokeshire.”

The candidates were also asked what they would do to address housing in rural areas, “other than just building social housing”.

Cris Tomos said Plaid would ensure there was a bill of rights, adding: “Everyone deserves a first home”.

Mr Marchant said: “I have the pleasure of renting a few homes around Carmarthenshire which are affordable, I try to keep the rents as low as possible.

“Developers need to be making full use of brownfield sites; we need to reform planning laws to allow people to build on brownfield sites.”

On a supplementary question on the issue of tourism vs local housing, he said: “Both are very important to Pembrokeshire; a lot of farms are diversifying to have a holiday home, I think that’s something we should be encouraging, tourism is very important to Pembrokeshire.”

He said there was “a balance to be had” over second homes and holiday homes.

Mr Crabb said: “Unfortunately we need to build more homes, there’s not normally like enough one and two-bed starter home in Pembrokeshire.”

He said there was a need for shared equity schemes and local covenants; with one of the major issue on housing the number of empty properties.

On a supplementary question on absentee landlord, he said he had “some sympathy” in closing down “second homes loopholes,” adding there were powers with local authorities to require landlord to keep properties in good order.

Vusi Siphika said: “The private sector has control; councils need to use the powers they have in planning law for the benefit of people.

“We can’t be in a society where house prices are rocketing.”

Henry Tufnell said: “It’s important to acknowledge there is a housing crisis.

“The second homes council tax and the 182 days rule, both of these are steps in the right direction; Broad Haven and Little Haven are both hollowed-out communities; it does really come down to supply, you need to build more affordable housing.

“It’s really positive the council is starting to build council housing again, really huge. Get that aspiration back, homelessness is not acceptable.”

Candidates were also quizzed on funding for green energy projects.

Vusi Siphika said there was a need for cross-party agreement to present a strong case to Westminster for renewables.

Cris Tomos said it was “vitally important” to address the issue, with an opportunity to devolve the crown estates in Wales, with revenue opportunities in Pembrokeshire.

Stuart Marchant said a cheaper option than renewables would be “small nuclear reactors built near cities around our country, adding: “We believe that is actually the right way to go, and funding jobs around our country; we don’t believe our children should pay for our mistakes and believe we should be nuclear.”

Alistair Cameron said off-shore green energy had “a massive potential for Pembrokeshire,” with a potential to power a third of the households in the UK, adding: “If it’s going to be successful it’s got to have the support of UK Government.”

Mr Tufnell said: “We need Pembrokeshire to be at the forefront of this.”

He said he would be “cheer-leading from the front” over green energy.

Mr Crabb said: “We don’t get many big individual opportunities like this, it’s a once in a 30-year opportunity; we’ve got to do everything we can to seize it with both hands.”

The general election is being held today, Thursday, July 4.

AHEAD of the July 4 general election, Ceredigion Preseli general election hopefuls have outlined what they will do the support farming and the countryside.

As part of constituency changes, bits of north Pembrokeshire – including St Davids and– are joining the new Mid and South Pembrokeshire constituency.

Other parts of the north of the county are now in the new Ceredigion Preseli constituency; which extends up past Aberystwyth and also includes Cilgerran, Crymych, St Dogmaels, Fishguard and Llanrhian.

There’s now a 15-candidate battle for the two seats, eight in Mid and South Pembrokeshire and seven in Ceredigion Preseli.

With a July 4 date set for the general election, candidates for the new Ceredigion Preseli seat are: Ben Lake for Plaid Cymru, Liberal Democrat Mark Williams, Welsh Labour’s Jackie Jones, Conservative Aled Thomas, Tomos Barlow for the Green Party, Karl Robert Pollard for Reform UK, and Taghrid Al-Mawed for the Workers Party of Britain.

In the run-up to the election, all candidates were asked: “The seat is quite rural in nature; what will you do to help farming and the countryside?”

Plaid Cymru candidate Ben Lake said: “Farming plays an extremely important role in both the economic and social fabric of our rural communities.

“At a time of growing global instability, it is more important than ever that the strategic importance of farming’s contribution to our food security is recognised, safeguarded, and promoted by Government.

“I would ensure that domestic producers are not undermined by any new international trade deals between the UK Government and countries such as Australia and New Zealand and I would fight for fairer regulation of the grocery supply chain, so that farmers and producers are treated fairly by the large food retailers who dominate the UK food system.

“I will continue to work with farmers, farming unions and my colleagues in the Senedd to ensure that our family farms are not put at any risk.”

Liberal Democrat candidate Mark Williams said: “Farming is critical to the economies of Ceredigion and Preseli. While much of the farming agenda is devolved, much isn’t.

“The hastily drawn up Australia and New Zealand  trade agreements must be renegotiated in line with our own health, environmental and animal welfare standards. We need to strengthen the Grocery Code Adjudicator to protect consumers from unfair price rises and to support farmers.

“At the time of Brexit, farmers were told there would be no loss of financial resources for the farming sector and yet estimates suggest that Wales has been short-changed by £250m. We urgently need that funding.

“Welsh Labour have paused their dangerous SFS. We must ensure that the worst aspects of it do not return, and the industry supported, not threatened.”

Gren Party candidate Tomos Barlow said: “I recognise the hard work that farmers do to put food on our plates, but we also recognise agricultures contribution to the environment as the greatest driver in nature loss and pollution in rivers.

“To tackle this, we want to triple financial support (through the increasing funding to the Senedd) to farmers not only to make farming more job secure but also to help the transition to nature-friendly farming.

“I’d also look for ways to encourage apprenticeship schemes to encourage more young people to enter the agricultural sector.”

Workers Party candidate Taghrid Al-Mawed said: “Workers Party sees farmers as vital to our country, they are the backbone of society, without them, we starve… No farmers, no food.

“We want to ensure our nation is more self-sufficient and less reliant on food imports. Food from local farms going into local shops reduces the food miles and stops the farce of seeing things like New Zealand lamb on the shelves of Welsh supermarkets.

“Farmers are not just there for a photo opportunity with the local MP at the local mart, they need proper support from a government that puts them and their survival first, not corporate profits.”

Jackie Jones, Labour candidate said: “Our rural communities are a cornerstone of this constituency. They must be protected and nurtured. Labour has a plan for our rural communities:  food security is a top priority and farmers are vital.

“I will help to build on our successful agricultural cooperatives – doubling their size to provide small family farmers opportunities to work together. This will create the environment for greater resilience to stand up  to large supermarket pricing, providing solutions to agricultural supply, dairy, crop and horticulture.

“Labour will provide business support for start-ups, financial support for FE colleges and innovation in practice as well as transport, good housing, broadband and relieving poverty.”

Conservative candidate Aled Thomas said: “On rural issues this election is personal to me. I run my family farm with my brother and my dad and know first-hand the challenges that farmers face, and how badly they have been let down by the Welsh Government.

“As a young farmer and agronomist, I will use my extensive experience of the countryside to be a strong rural voice in parliament and fight for a brighter future for the future of the agricultural industry.

“Farmers are the best custodians of nature and wildlife there are, and I hope I can use my voice to enhance this further.”

All candidates were contacted.

THE WELSH Government promised to introduce a law banning lying politicians before the next Senedd election after striking a last-minute deal to avert defeat.

Mick Antoniw, who is counsel general, the Welsh Government’s chief legal adviser, reached an agreement with Adam Price just before a key vote on creating an offence of deception.

Under the elections bill, Mr Price proposed a four-year disqualification for Senedd members, ministers or candidates found guilty of deliberate lying.

Mr Antoniw stopped short of supporting criminalisation as he invited the Senedd’s standards committee, which is holding an inquiry on accountability, to make proposals.

He said: “The Welsh Government will bring forward legislation before 2026 for the disqualification of members and candidates found guilty of deception through an independent judicial process.”

In return, Plaid Cymru’s 12 members and Rhys ab Owen, who sits as an independent, abstained – with Labour winning the vote to remove clause 64 from the bill, 26-13.

Without the deal, Welsh ministers would likely have suffered defeat because the Senedd’s speaker is required to use her casting vote against amendments in the event of a tie.

Mr Antoniw, who attended his first Tory group meeting that day to try to sway its members, joked that the 11th-hour deal spared the Senedd from a 30-page speech he had prepared.

Mr Price, who represents Carmarthen East and Dinefwr, said: “What has just been announced by the counsel general is truly historic, in fact it is globally pioneering.

“We now have a commitment from the government that our democracy will be the first – the first in the world to introduce a general prohibition on deliberate deception by politicians.”

He added: “For it to have public trust, it has to sit outside the political process – you can’t have politicians pointing the finger at each other and being judge and jury.”

Mr Price, who served as Plaid Cymru leader from 2018 to 2023, said a collapse in trust in politics poses an existential threat to democracies worldwide.

He said: “Democracy starts to break down if the electors can’t trust what the elected say.”

The former MP warned existing measures – such as standards committees, commissioners and Westminster’s recall system – have all failed to solve the credibility problem.

Mr Price said a small minority of politicians deliberately distort the truth for their own gain but they poison the well for everyone else.

Labour’s Lee Waters said there is consensus across the chamber that deliberate lying undermines public trust in politics and needs to be rooted out.

He said: “I was elected in 2016 – before the Brexit referendum, before Donald Trump … before Boris Johnson lied his way to Downing Street then lied his way out again. There’s no doubt politics in this country has become darker … and I worry we’re adjusting to it.”

The former minister said he has witnessed lying, manipulation, racist abuse, arson and mobs whipped up by the far-right descending on his Llanelli constituency over the past year.

“It’s been an awful, upsetting experience seeing this ugliness becoming quietly normalised,” said Mr Waters, who abstained in an earlier vote to allow further debate on the issue.

He reiterated support for a criminal offence of deception because it would set a high bar and the courts are independent. “People don’t trust politicians to regulate themselves,” he said.

Peter Fox gave the Conservatives’ backing for Mr Price’s plan, pressing ahead in voting against the Welsh Government’s amendment despite the announcement.

He said: “I’m anxious .. that the way forward that may be proposed may not give the parliamentary time to enable things to go forward whereas the current course would.”

Alun Davies, a Labour backbencher, denounced a tweet by Andrew RT Davies, leader of the Conservative group, posted on the morning of the debate on July 2.

The Blaenau Gwent MS said: “A single message ‘Labour wants to pay illegal immigrants £1,600 a month’ – something we know which is completely untrue … no basis of truth at all.”

He argued against bringing the criminal justice system into politics, saying: “A parliament shouldn’t be subject to judicial oversight … [it] should be able to govern its own affairs.”

James Evans sympathised with Mr Price’s proposal, saying he thought it would go some way to rebuilding public confidence in politicians.

But he cautioned the plan could do “real democratic damage” as he raised risks to parliamentary privilege – legal immunities which allow politicians to speak freely.

Mr Evans suggested Senedd members could face a flurry of defamation lawsuits. “I don’t want to be looking over my shoulder every time I say something,” he said.

The Tory MS for Brecon and Radnorshire told the Senedd: “I don’t think it is right that someone’s personal views could be challenged in court.”

Caerphilly’s Labour MS Hefin David agreed on privilege, adding that the far-right or hard-left politicians might use “criminalisation of their views” as a “badge of honour”. 

Jane Dodds said political dishonesty is corroding public trust, warning that protections in Cardiff Bay and Westminster are woefully inadequate.

Warning that lying flourishes because politicians can get away with it, Ms Dodds told the chamber: “We have to do more – there is no excuse.” 

The Lib Dems’ leader in Wales raised a “shocking” survey which revealed 45% of people rarely, if ever, trust governments to prioritise national interests over party politics.

Ms Dodds, who represents Mid and West Wales, said: “Truth in our society is fragile and vulnerable. Our goal is straightforward: it is to stop politicians … from calculated lying.

“That is an act that can have a deep, often traumatic consequence to people’s lives. And let’s be clear here: freedom of speech is not freedom to lie.”