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Wales has “drifted” and needs “ambitious” leadership to unlock the nation’s economy, according to Mike Hamilton, the Welsh Liberal Democrats’ lead candidate for the Casnewydd Islwyn constituency.

The Lib Dems are among the parties calling for change at the upcoming Senedd election, and are focusing their campaign on improving healthcare, education and prosperity.

Dr Hamilton said he wants to “bring back adult leadership” and policies based on long-term strategies.

Quoting a campaign strategist to Bill Clinton, the Lib Dem candidate insists the priority issue for this election and beyond is “the economy, stupid”.

“The fact is, if your economy is booming, you can do a huge amount but you need that income, you need that revenue,” he said. “We want a better NHS, we want better transport, we want to help the worst off in our society – but we do need that tax income coming in, and we probably only get the kind of levels we want if the Welsh economy is booming.”

But what happens if there isn’t enough money immediately available? 

The Lib Dems’ manifesto includes proposals to raise the Welsh rate of income tax for an “emergency period” if it cannot otherwise invest in social care.

Dr Hamilton said a tax rise is “not inevitable” but would be “an emergency option if there is no other money to be found”.

He points to government spending on Cardiff Airport and Transport for Wales as examples of investments that could have been managed better.

“Whatever we do, we can’t keep on doing this short-term planning,” he said, adding that areas like Islwyn are still recovering from the loss of Wales’ heavy industries.

“We really need to give some vision to what we want in the Welsh economy – linked to that we also need training and education, because employers will come to places that have a skilled workforce,” he said.

“We need to put emphasis on apprenticeships, on college training, and also on more young people going to university.”

Dr Hamilton said the Lib Dems want to invest heavily in health and social care, to end bed-blocking and queues of ambulances waiting outside hospitals.

Meanwhile, he believes Wales should take more advantage of the potential “gold mine” of tourism which, he said, was far behind efforts in Scotland and parts of England.

“We’ve got all the heritage, we’ve got all the environment, we’ve got all the landscapes,” he said. “Imagine the tax they would bring in, and all the visitors. We’ve got to make much more of our tourism and our heritage – we’re just losing money by not doing it.”

On transport, he advocates lower fares as a way of encouraging more people to take the train, backs investment in the rail network around Newport, and said bus services must be made “reliable, regular and above all cheap”.

While Dr Hamilton would have “probably” supported the M4 relief road before it was shelved, he now believes it is too late for the project – but said something has to be done to tackle “disaster” journeys between Newport and Cardiff.

“I just don’t think we can go back and forth all the time,” he said of the relief road. “It took two decades of shilly-shallying to get where we are, and I just don’t think we can do it now.”

Recent opinion polls suggest the Lib Dems face tough competition in a crowded field, but those forecasts also indicate no party will win an overall majority of seats under the new electoral system – leaving the door open for coalitions or alliances.

The Lib Dems may well have a role to play in those talks, and Dr Hamilton said that while he is not privy to any party discussions, he doesn’t believe “we could ever work with Reform” – and if Plaid Cymru wanted to spend money on “independence-type stuff” that would be “a deal-breaker”.

He said he was “broadly in agreement with” his party’s anti-independence stance, because “we should be sorting out the big issues that affect most people, which are the economy, education and the health service”.

“We have so many crises – do we really want to go down the rabbit hole of spending three years discussing independence?” he asked. “I want to sort out the stuff that affects real people.”

Mike Hamilton’s pitch to the voters of Casnewydd Islwyn

“We believe in Wales. We want a better Wales, a fairer Wales, a more prosperous Wales, a healthier Wales, a cleaner Wales and a safer Wales. We want a Welsh NHS [in which] we do not wait years for operations. Safe maternity wards, better access to local GPs.

“Part of the problem we have in Wales is that the Welsh Government has not decided what it is. Is it a super local authority interfering in all the Welsh councils, leaving them very little autonomy? Or is it a real government, making the big strategic decisions and leaving it to the regulators to see if councils and health boards are compliant within the laws?”

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