I’m not standing on a promise of hope alone. I’m standing on a track record of winning change alongside workers, community leaders, parents, nurses, employers and refugees.
My time as a Community Organiser in South Wales, and my campaigning roles on the Real Living Wage and refugee resettlement, mean that in every part of the constituency I can point to positive change that would not have happened without me.
That includes thousands of workers who have been lifted out of in-work poverty because of the Real Living Wage campaign (which I led in Wales for a decade), and dozens of refugee families from Ukraine, Syria and Afghanistan who came to the UK under a refugee community sponsorship scheme that I designed. That’s not to mention many smaller local campaigns I helped local residents to run along the way.
Here’s a timeline of tangible change I have helped to make across Bridgend and the Vale in the last decade:
2023 – Bridgend & Porthcawl – Cwm Taf Morgannwg Health Board accredits as a Real Living Wage employer.
2022 – Bridgend & Porthcawl – South Wales Police and Bridgend County Council accredit as Living Wage employers.
2021 – Cowbridge & Llantwit Major – Community Sponsorship Groups welcome Syrian refugee families.
2020-21 – Porthcawl – Careworkers meet the First Minister as part of the successful campaign for a Real Living Wage in Social Care.
2020 – Barry & the Vale – Cardiff and Vale Health Board becomes an accredited Living Wage employer.
2019 – Peterston-Super-Ely – Primary school pupils campaign successfully for a 20mph speed limit in their village.
2019 – Bridgend – Shimmer my Zimmer campaign pilots first dementia-friendly walking aids, in partnership with a Bridgend supplier.
2018 – Rhoose – Campaign for a Real Living Wage at Cardiff Airport lifts the wages of over 100 workers by 20%.
2017 – St Athan – Walking Bus Action secures safe route to school for 42 children on the Eglwys Brewis estate near St Athan.
2017 – Barry Island – I bring Andy Haldane, Chief Economist of the Bank of England, to Barry Island for a listening tour.
2017 – Barry & the Vale – Working with workers, Unison and community leaders we successfully secure a Real Living Wage payrise for over 1,000 employees.
2016 – Barry and Porthcawl – Syrian refugee families welcomed by the local communities.
Jonathan Cox for Pen-y-bont Bro Morgannwg Bridgend and the Vale 