Cost of living is key worry for Llan people, says Labour candidate

* Becky Gittins, Labour candidate for Clwyd East, out canvassing at Pengwern.

The cost of living crisis looms large in the concerns of Llangollen people, according to the woman who aims to be the area’s next MP.

Becky Gittins, who will carry the Welsh Labour standard in the fight for the new Clwyd East constituency – which includes Llangollen – when the general election comes, was in town last Friday evening canvassing for her party in the Pengwern area.

Before heading off to knock on the doors of voters she spent a few minutes chatting to llanblogger.

Ms Gittins, who works as an industrial officer for the PCS public services union, was born and raised in Bagillt, Flintshire and for the past four years has been a city councillor in Coventry where she lives.

She says that she has plans to move to the new constituency which has been modelled by the Boundary Commission and includes a large swathe of north Wales, including areas such as Ruthin and Llanarmon-lal/Llandegla as well as parts of Flintshire such as Leeswood, Northop, Mostyn, Caerwys and Ffynongrow, Mold and Prestatyn.      

Apart from issues such as the provision of services like buses and the perennial problem of parking, Ms Gittins says that people have been telling her on her visits to the town that the cost of living crisis is a key issue for them.

“People in Llangollen are massively raising this issue, which mirrors the situation across the country,” she said.

“They are also concerned about issues such as the affordability of local housing.

“I think these things are for a Labour government to tackle – to deal with the cost of living, the cost of energy. It’s about how we achieve the good life for people and we must make sure that we have a functioning, strong economy.

“I’ve also found that Llangollen people are very optimistic and very proud of their local culture and it’s about making sure that we respect the community while we’re having all these cultural celebrations.”

Asked whether she had found that the people of Llangollen, like others across the UK, might be suffering from political fatigue as a result of events nationally over the past couple of years, she said: “I can completely empathise with local people who don’t feel that the political system resonates with them at the moment.

“I can understand how people at times feel unheard and didn’t know who the Prime Minister was from week to week at the end of last year. I can understand how people felt disenfranchised and that the priorities of the government in Westminster were not reflecting things that really mattered to them. But a lot of people felt energised by this and got involved in politics for the first time.

“For me, the way you deal with the fatigue that some people are feeling is by making sure that we get localism right. And three times a week I am out knocking on people’s doors because it is important to make people feel heard and to ask them about the issues that matter to them.

“I am a firm believer that you must listen to the community that you want to serve. You cannot speak for a community until you have spoken to it.”