Support quality, independent, local journalism…that matters

From just £1 a month you can help fund our work – and use our website without adverts. Become a member today

Wales has been underserved by devolution and should make changes to climate and sex education policies, according to Mike Ford, the Heritage Party’s candidate for the Casnewydd Islwyn constituency.

The Heritage Party is a relatively new movement hoping to win its first seats in the Senedd this May.

Describing itself as a “socially conservative” party, one of its main aims is ending the teaching of sex education in schools – a practice Mr Ford called “pervasive” and “totally age-inappropriate”.

He said Wales is doing “pretty badly” and on the performance of various government departments, he said “I don’t think devolution has served us well”.

“We’ve had some pretty rotten exam results over the last few years, haven’t we?” he said. “We’ve had up to a two-year wait for operations.”

He added: “They did say that they’d sell devolution to us by saying they’d bring power closer to the people. But people complained about 20 miles an hour and they completely ignored us.”

Mr Ford said the Heritage Party is a “challenger” to others, and would want to see the lowering of Wales’ default speed limits overturned.

When asked if devolution could be improved, he said he would prefer to see it “done away with”.

The former Abolish the Welsh Assembly candidate – who has also previously campaigned for UKIP – believes there is “still support for getting rid of it” in the Newport area, which in 1997 voted against the creation of a devolved legislature.

“We never actually voted for devolution, so I wouldn’t really expect much opposition to it,” he explained. “And certainly when I’ve been out in town campaigning over the years, by and large I don’t think the opinion in Newport really has changed.”

On his priorities for Casnewydd Islwyn, if elected, he said he would prefer to consider national issues, but did say traffic in Newport was a problem.

“We didn’t need any help to bring Newport to a standstill,” he said of 20mph speed limits. “There’s one incident on the motorway and [traffic is] crawling. And obviously, we do need to look into this M4 relief road.”

The proposals for a new motorway bypassing Newport were abandoned in 2019 after a lengthy inquiry, but several parties have talked of reviving the project in the run-up to this Senedd election.

Mr Ford said his support for a relief road would “depend on which version they go for” – with the so-called ‘Blue Route’ based around the existing A48 Southern Distributor Road a “far more viable” and “cheaper” option than the ‘Black Route’ plan for an entirely new road.

The Heritage Party’s environmental policies include opposition to net-zero emissions targets, which it would scrap, an end to more wind turbines, and the re-opening of coal power stations.

The party would also “open new and existing coal mines” and repeal climate emergencies.

“I don’t want to be cold, I don’t want to be hungry,” said Mr Ford. “That seems to be the way that net zero is going.”

He added: “I think it’s just a ridiculous target. I think it’s totally unachievable and it’s costing us millions.”

Studies have forecast Newport could be at risk of rising sea levels linked to climate change – but Mr Ford suggested making Wales’ contributions to global emissions net-zero was unlikely to make a wider difference.

He said: “As a nation, what do we contribute to man-made climate change? If we brought [emissions] down to net-zero, we’re still not going to be doing anything about what China is doing.”

Another of the party’s policies is a focus on what it calls family values. Its Welsh manifesto calls for adoption to be limited to husband and wife couples only, and prohibiting non-heterosexual “propaganda” to children.

Asked whether he was concerned such policies may make some people feel targeted or threatened, Mr Ford’s response was “no”.

Looking ahead to election day, recent polling suggests parties may struggle to win an overall majority of seats in the expanded Senedd, opening up possibilities for coalitions or other partnerships.

Mr Ford said Heritage has “some friends in Reform” despite having had “some issues” with the party.

“I think we could work with Reform… but not with the others,” he added.

Mike Ford’s pitch to the voters of Casnewydd Islwyn

“In the Heritage Party, the main thing that we are campaigning against is something called relationships and sex education in schools. This has taken away parents’ rights. You do not have the right to withdraw your child from these lessons, and they are being taught age-inappropriate grotesque acts. You need to look into this, and you need to get rid of it, and in order to get rid of it, you need to vote for us.”

Full list of candidates in Casnewydd Islwyn

Welsh Conservatives (six candidates)

• 1. Natasha Asghar
• 2. Toby Jones
• 3. Jake Enea
• 4. Georgie Webb
• 5. Adam Morris
• 6. Rebecca Mamhende

Green Party (six candidates)

• 1. Lauren James
• 2. Philip Davies
• 3. Zaynab Greengrass
• 4. Kerry Vosper
• 5. David Mayer
• 6. Andrew Were

Heritage Party (one candidate)

• 1. Mike Ford

Open Party (two candidates)

• 1. Justna Muhith
• 2. John Horan

Plaid Cymru (six candidates)

• 1. Peredur Owen Griffiths
• 2. Lyn Ackerman
• 3. Rhys Mills
• 4. Joshua Rawcliffe
• 5. Jonathan Clark
• 6. Sarah Henton

Reform UK (six candidates)

• 1. Dan Thomas
• 2. Art Wright
• 3. Marie-Claire Lea
• 4. Nick Jones
• 5. Rebecca Senior
• 6. Tomos Llewelyn

Welsh Labour (seven candidates)

• 1. Jayne Bryant
• 2. Rhianon Passmore
• 3. Chris Carter
• 4. Rhian Howells
• 5. Julie Sangani
• 6. Stephen Marshall
• 7. David Chinnick

Welsh Liberal Democrats (six candidates)

• 1. Mike Hamilton
• 2. John Miller
• 3. Nurul Islam
• 4. Harun Rashid
• 5. Mary Lloyd
• 6. Jeff Evans

Individual candidates (one)

• Taran Clayton