Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr candidates say what they will do as MP to tackle cost of living crisis

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: Cost of living is up, mortgages are up, food prices are up, energy costs are up, rent is up – all with inflation still increasing. What can you practically do as an MP to help people in Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr in the future?

One of the biggest costs, especially for those on lowest incomes, is rent. The Green Party proposes to bring in rent controls so that local authorities could control rents to prevent excessive rises.
In addition, energy costs are spiralling out of control. The Green Party would roll out a programme of energy efficiency improvements in housing, both owner/occupier and rental, to bring down energy costs and make energy bills more affordable. This would also have the benefit of creating thousands of new well-paid skilled retrofit jobs in the growing green industries, and would also ease pressure on the NHS by reducing the health issues of living in damp cold housing.
We would also push to increase the minimum wage up to £15 per hour. Inequality is growing in the UK and there is a need to address this unfairness in society.

The Conservatives have badly mismanaged the economy and recklessly damaged the public finances, grinding economic growth to a halt and adding billions to the cost of servicing our debt. Liz Truss’ kamikaze budget has left us all paying a high price.
The Liberal Democrats will provide long-term help with the cost of living by cutting energy bills through an emergency Home Energy Upgrade programme and tackling rising food prices through a National Food Strategy.
We will also invest in green infrastructure, innovation and skills to boost economic growth and create good jobs. We will repair the broken relationship with Europe, which acts as a brake on the economy and costs the UK investment, jobs and is particularly harming small businesses which are facing mountains of extra red tape.

At a UK level, I have outlined above the difference a UK Labour Government can make to people’s lives after 14 years of Tory austerity.
But with a Labour MP, Labour MS, Labour Senedd and a UK Labour Government, I can work in a joined-up way to attract investment into the constituency.
I have no political ambitions beyond being a back-bencher which will allow me to work tirelessly with all community groups, local businesses and trade unions to develop a strong network of support and investment in our constituency.
I will also look to create a Development Trust to actively support enterprise trusts to enhance the lives of ordinary people in our communities.

Response – much of the cost of living crisis is due to the austerity agenda pursued by the Tories and the bonkers budget implemented by Liz Truss when Prime Minister. That cost £36 bn and cost billions to pension funds and wrecked the economy. The main lesson is don’t pursue such a economic policy as the Tories have done !

Reactive, small-scale initiatives on a local level are sticking plasters on the real problem. The reason we have a cost of living crisis is that our electricity is so expensive – more than three times as much as what the French pay for theirs. This feeds into all of our industries’ costs, and producers pass these costs on to consumers. The UK Government is solely responsible for the mess they have made of our electricity supply, with their obsession with electricity generation from unreliable wind and solar. We have to get back to reliable base supply, and to reintegrate our electricity industry as a vertically integrated, publicly-owned monopoly. Reform is committed to reversing electricity privatisation, properly, and ensuring we manage the cost of electricity down for consumers.

No response to our Q&A has been received.

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

Note: Unlike some publications Wrexham.com does not accept any political advertising. Our election pages also should be devoid of any advertising. All candidate promotion on this site has been provided for free with the same offer to every candidate. Anyone who wishes to use our election coverage content (text, video or images) please feel free, all we ask is a link back to this site if it is used online, or an equivalent prominent credit if in print or other mediums. We would also request that you use it without misrepresenting the context of candidate answers.