Candidates state top issue for Wrexham and their position on it – General Election 2024

Candidates looking for your support have been invited to share their views on a range of issues.

As part of our election coverage ahead of the poll on Thursday we asked all candidates a range of questions, with a theme based collection from all candidates below. You can also read individual answers to all the questions here on our Election 24 page, plus links to party manifesto, supplied bios for candidates and links to find out where exactly your polling station is!

Question: What is the top issue you feel the people of Wrexham will want you to represent them on, and what is your position on it?

The single top issue? Expectations are all wrong.

The people of Wrexham, of Wales, and of the UK, should be entitled to expect a decent level of warmth, comfort, food, education, income, public service, and happiness.

But, the system is not providing that level of expectation.

The Green Party has a fully costed manifesto that shows how everyone – yes everyone – could be in a better and fairer place. The size of the problems are huge, and so The Green Party are proposing ambitious investments, paid for only by the super-rich, that will address all of those problems.

Life for many right now is hard, through no fault of the individual. Society deserves to be more hopeful. Wrexham should be entitled to expect better.

If, like me, you believe that the people of Wrexham are worthy of ambition then please let the incoming Government know, by voting for The Green Party.

I think the state of the NHS is probably the number one issue that comes up on the doorstep. While health is devolved to the Welsh Government, we have suffered locally from a poorly managed health board coupled with inadequate funding. As Wrexham’s MP, I would press for increased funding for the NHS across the UK while seeking to hold the Welsh Government to account for the poor management of the health board and press for rapid improvements to waiting times.

Since January 2023 I have been visiting and listening to thousands of residents across the new Wrexham constituency to learn about their lives, aspirations, and concerns. Without doubt the top issue that they tell me about consistently has been the cost-of-living crisis – stagnating wages and rising bills – and the challenges that brings to their daily lives. The feeling that the UK economy is broken and does not work properly for everyone whilst public services have been stretched to breaking point – is one that has been conveyed to me repeatedly and consistently for the past 18 months. When I ask people the question “Are you, your family and your community better off after 14 years of Conservative government?”, the answer is always “No!”.
The key to tackling this is bringing the stability and growth to our economy so that we can then invest in our public services, our infrastructure and businesses will have more confidence to invest too – creating the skilled jobs of the future. This will lead to greater productivity and improved pay. We need to fix our broken housing market so that having a home is truly affordable for everyone and that we provide the homes to buy and rent that people need. I will work both in Parliament and locally to ensure that this is brought about – working to bring communities, businesses, the third sector and elected representatives together to deliver for the people of Wrexham.

I feel the main issue for people are surrounding the NHS and social care: Lack of accessibility to GPs, long waiting lists, cancellations for treatments and excessive waits in A & E. Not to mention a lack of support once discharged that inevitably ends with repeated re-admissions.
In my role as a county councillor I have advocated for people struggling with getting appointments and the care they need but this is merely fire fighting.
The entire NHS here in Wales needs a complete overhaul.
Plaid Cymru’s plan is to hire, and train 500 GPs to ensure accessible appointments, an uplift in pay for NHS workers to encourage retention and a more integrated health and social care system meaning better care within our communities.
Addressing the lack of community social care – whether in your own home or in community hospitals – frees up hospital beds and staff and that, in turn, releases ambulances from queuing outside the Maelor.
More accessibility to GPs means fewer people going to A & E and fewer people needing hospital admissions. Although health is devolved under Labour here in Wales, there is also a massive issue with privatisation in England. Underfunding the NHS over the past 14 years is down to Westminster so we need an MP that will fight for fairer funding for Wales in order to make the changes needed.

No response to our Q&A has been received.

No response to this specific question.

The economy, we need to stop waging war on poor people and wage a war on the causes of poverty.
Nearly 8000 (7853) children in Wrexham are living in poverty, that equates to 26.7% of youngsters in the county.

You can read more Q&A answers here on our Election 24 page along with more election information – remember to GO VOTE ON THURSDAY!

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