Caerphilly County Borough Councillors Rhianon Passmore and Hefin David have been selected as the Labour Party candidates for Islwyn and Caerphilly in the upcoming Assembly Election.
The candidates were elected at a joint meeting of the Caerphilly and Islwyn Constituency Labour parties.
Cllr Passmore, who is the Cabinet Member for Education, will stand in Islwyn after Gwyn Price decided to stand down.
Meanwhile, Cllr David, who is a senior lecturer and holds a PhD in small business employment, will try and retain the Caerphilly seat following Jeff Cuthbert’s decision to leave the assembly after the election in May.
Cllr David, who represents the St Cattwg ward, said: “Caerphilly is my community, it’s where I was born and brought up and I’ve always lived here.
“I want to make a difference and do my best for everyone who lives here.”
Cllr Passmore, who represents Risca East, said: “I am delighted and very honoured to have been selected as the Labour and Co-Operative candidate for Islwyn.
“I wish to thank all our members who came out to support me. Now the hard work to put forward a loud and clear Labour message really begins.”
Both candidates were welcomed by the local MPs.
Wayne David, MP for Caerphilly, said: “I am delighted that Hefin has been selected. He is a bright, dedicated and enthusiastic young man who will be a brilliant candidate for Labour and a superb Assembly Member for the Caerphilly constituency.
“He is a local man and will bring to the Welsh Assembly a wealth of knowledge and experience. I will be working closely with Hefin in his election campaign and I very much hope to be working with him as the Assembly Member for Caerphilly.
“Our current Assembly Member is of course Jeff Cuthbert and he is a tremendous representative. Hefin will have a hard act to follow, but I could not think of anyone better to fulfil the role.”
Chris Evans, MP for Islwyn, said: “Rhianon has been active in local politics for many years and has been a fantastic champion not only for the people of Risca, but for Islwyn and Caerphilly as a whole.
“She is an excellent choice and would be a superb representative for Islwyn in the National Assembly. I look forward to working with her during her election campaign and beyond.”
Departing AM Jeff Cuthbert also welcomed the selection of Hefin David.
Mr Cuthbert said: “I’m absolutely delighted that Hefin has been selected and by such an overwhelming vote of party members.
“I have known Hefin for many years and I have complete confidence in his ability and in his commitment to social justice. As a local man Hefin knows the constituency very well. He will hit the ground running.
“However, we do not take the voters of this constituency for granted. We will be working very hard between now and the election in May to make sure that people understand what Welsh Labour will offer and why we need a Labour Government in Cardiff Bay.”
Hefin David is the best thig that will happen to Caerphilly when he is elected next May as the residents representative in the Welsh Assembly. There is no doubt that he has been a fine representative of the voters of Caerphilly on Caerphilly council, he comes from a family steeped in the best public service traditions spread over many years.
Hefin was educated locally, lives locally and has been involved in fighting poverty, locally, and as I understand it, from friends and relatives, that he is also a supporter of open and accountable government, and involving Trade Unions in that process, representing their members at differnt levals of local government.
At last we have a true, modern, inclusive, public representative who will represent all citizens of Caerphilly without favour. I for one am very grateful to all those labour members who decided to accept Hefin and his young wife and family`s offer to stand to represent me and my family in the Assembly.
I now look forward to hearing more from him in the months to come in respect to how he proposes to do that.
How can you say that when Hefin was strongly against cutting the pay of their chief executive by £21,000. he was also involved in pushing forward 10p increase at pay and display car parks, the introduction of parking charges on a Sunday which thankfully was over ruled, personally he stands for everything that is wrong in Wales, A 1980’s MP stuck in the millenium
I am sure he is a nice guy but I do not like what he stands for.
Dean, perhaps we will hear about that in coming months? I sincerely hope so.
Surely he will tow the party line?
Yes, he will have to toe the party line if elected. I like Hefin David but I do not like the assumption that he will be elected, come what may.
We are holding a democratic vote next year and it is up to the people to decide. It may be Hefin, it may be someone else. Events in Europe, particularly the way Greece has been treated by the EU, may well have implications for the way votes are cast next year.
Richard is quite right, Labour should not assume they will retain the Caerphilly Seat, or any other seat in Wales for that matter, but, Hefin David is best place to do so, he is NOT part of the Labour `Elite`, either on the Caerphilly Council, or in any other Labour roles. At least, so far as I can see.
He represents his constituents on the Council, not the Council to his constituents, he has recently, I notice from a recent Council on line meeting broadcast, led a campaign against poverty, in the Council chamber, he had some very interesting things to say in that debate, which he led, and has said, and this is not often said by Councillors who are usually puppets of senior officers, that “he will hold officers to account for delivering the council`s fight against child poverty and all other poverty indicators in the borough”. Perhaps this is one of the reasons he is NOT part of the Local Labour Elite, and having read this article again I see he was selected by members of the Labour Party, and not as it was done previously when `labour selected candidates` to put before us to vote for or not, were selected by senior, stale, and string pulling dogma promoting has beens. I think he will give them no quarter.
I think, and this appears to me, to be a new and fresh opportunity to vote for a young, energetic, local boy made good, who will, if elected, prove to be a potential leader in Wales. Look out all those stagnant, stale, sitting on thier hands AM`s in the Assembly if Hefin is elected by citizens of Caerphilly.
I wonder what their thoughts are on their fellow boss’s Chief executive Anthony O’Sullivan, his deputy Nigel Barnett and Daniel Perkins, the authority’s head of legal services, who are suspended on full pay as they await trial facing misconduct charges.