Hefin David is the Labour Senedd Member for the Caerphilly constituency.

Residents want to send a message on Thursday May 5.

I’ve spent much of my free time campaigning for the election lately and as I’ve spoken to residents, two things have become very clear.

The cost of living is high on the agenda, and so is the anger at Boris Johnson and his Conservative Government. The public are looking for leadership and in Mark Drakeford, they have found somebody who has always been brave to make the tough decisions when it came to guiding Wales through the pandemic. The same can also be said about the Labour-controlled Caerphilly County Borough Council. 

Fantastic things have been achieved by the Labour administration in Caerphilly throughout coronavirus. The huge effort to deliver free school meals right to the doors of residents – nearly £2m in total; the support for businesses, with more than £55m administered across the county.

I was also part of the Buddy Scheme, which was introduced by the council to support more than 2,500 vulnerable people and an additional £4.5m welfare benefits were claimed for eligible residents.

The squeeze on living standards has not been made any easier by the rise in National Insurance, arguably at one of the worst possible times. Local authorities across Wales do not have the power to completely insulate the public from decisions made in Westminster, but they can expect councils to do whatever they can to improve the lives of people locally with their own plans.

The Labour manifesto promises to build and re-build more schools, pay care workers the Living Wage, lobby for publicly-owned transport, build new council homes and head towards net-zero carbon by 2030. These are all realistic and fully achievable pledges.

The best way to send a message to Boris Johnson on Thursday May 5 is to vote Welsh Labour.