A view from Sam Rowlands – Welsh Conservative North Wales Member of the Senedd

Wrexham.com has invited the four North Wales Members of the Senedd to write a monthly column with updates on their work. You can find their updates – along with contributions from the local MPs and MSs – here.

In this month’s column, Welsh Conservative Member of the Senedd Sam Rowlands writes:

The General Election results were extremely disappointing for my party – there’s no getting away from that.

There’s a lot of soul searching for us to do, and we need to learn the lessons of this defeat in order to come back stronger for future elections in order to better serve the country we all love.

Nationally, the results were devastating and in North Wales we unfortunately lost good Conservative Members of Parliament across the region.

Those MPs had worked hard for their areas, and I am very sorry to see them go.

However, I do wish the new MPs well. No matter your party allegiance, representing people is a great honour and I wish them the best at Westminster.

I will also work with them, when needed, on a cross-party basis. That’s what I have done down in the Senedd, and it’s what parliamentarians of all stripes should strive for.

North Wales needs a United Kingdom Government and Welsh Government that both work for the interests of North Wales.

I was pleased that the previous UK Conservative Government brought in a Freeport in Anglesey, nuclear power plant at Wylfa and an investment zone in Wrexham-Flintshire in addition to committing £1 billion to upgrading the North Wales main line.

All of these things are transformative for the region, bringing significant economic benefits which will continue to for years and years to come.

That Conservative Government really delivered for North Wales, and made it a place where business and people could thrive after years of neglect by Welsh Labour Ministers.

I sincerely hope the new UK Labour Government will also commit to that £1 billion for the North Wales main line which will bring the North-West of England closer and massively improve our transport network in North Wales.

For my part, business down at the Senedd carries on. That’s my day job, representing you in the Welsh Parliament. Due to the devolution process, a great number of policy areas in Wales are dealt with down in Cardiff Bay, not at Westminster.

So whilst the UK General Election is undoubtedly very important, when you’re stuck on an NHS waiting list for years or unable to find a decent, affordable house, that’s down to the actions of the Welsh Government who have the levers and ability to change things.

I’ll keep on working to hold the Welsh Government to account. It’s been controlled by Labour since 1999 (occasionally propped up by Plaid Cymru and the Liberal Democrats), and they’ve given us the longest NHS waiting lists on record and the worst education outcomes
in the entire United Kingdom.

That simply isn’t good enough for people across Wrexham, Flintshire and the rest of Wales.

It is holding us back and making us all poorer. Wales has such great potential, but that potential is stymied by the continued failures of Labour here.

Vaughan Gething as the current First Minister hasn’t had the best of starts to his time in the top job (to put it mildly) and there is little sign of things improving for him. As a result, Labour in Cardiff won’t be focused on the people of Wales and delivering for you, but rather infighting and plotting.

Across North Wales, we have a great team of Conservative Senedd Members and we do our best to bang the drum for the North down in Cardiff Bay. Every week we champion our area, making sure that Labour Ministers can’t ignore us and the interests of North Walians.

All too often, the Welsh Labour Government like to focus on Cardiff and other parts of south Wales, instead of our patch.

This means that we don’t get the funding we deserve, and our schools and hospitals aren’t getting the support they need – not to mention creaking transport infrastructure and a cackhanded approach to agriculture and farming policy.

There is a chance for change, however. The next Senedd elections are in 2026 and provide a chance to end the Labour rule in Wales.

I’m proud to be part of the Welsh Conservatives who are working to provide a strong alternative at those elections in 2026.

As ever, if you have any queries or issues you’d like to raise with me, then you can get in touch by emailing [email protected]