The North Wales constituency of Clwyd South has only ever been represented by Labour in the Senedd.

The seat has most recently been held by Labour cabinet member Ken Skates MS whose majority has been 13% in the last two elections.

However in the 2019 General Election, Conservative Simon Baynes was elected, ousting Susan Elan Jones as MP after her vote share fell from 50.7% to 41.3%.

These are the 2021 candidates standing in Clwyd South:

Jeanette Bassford-Barton, UKIP

Leena Sarah Farhat, Welsh Liberal Democrats

Llyr Huws Gruffydd, Plaid Cymru

Jonathon Andrew Harrington, Abolish the Welsh Assembly

Barbara Ann Hughes, Welsh Conservative Party

Mandy Jones, Reform UK

Ken Skates, Welsh Labour

Candidates are welcome to submit their biographies to ruth.mosalski@walesonline.co.uk.

Assembly Election result Clwyd South in 2016

The candidates:

Leena Farhat - Liberal Democrats

Leena Sarah Farhat
Leena Sarah Farhat

I am of mixed heritage, my mother being from Mauritius and my father being from Lebanon. I moved to Wales to study for my undergraduate degree and have decided to settle here. I am working towards a Masters in Language Technologies at Bangor University while also working at Technocamps at Glyndwr University, working in STEM outreach across Wrexham and Flintshire. I chose to join the Liberal Democrats as I know I am a Welsh liberal.

I believe in further devolution of powers to Wales while working in a strong and equal partnership of nations here in the UK. I believe in localism and that power should be exercised at the lowest levels.

I am a passionate campaigner for a range of issues and will fight for my constituency to have everything it needs.

What is the most important thing you think the Senedd should do in the next five years?

The Senedd and the people elected to it need to create a proper relationship with Wales. Our political system needs to be demystified in order for people to want to engage with it. The Senedd needs to engage with north Wales and border communities to show people the role it plays in their lives. Only then will people put their trust in it truely. Our Senedd needs to devolve more powers to itself to ensure a strong recovery.

What will you do for your constituency if elected?

I will fight for proper fit-for-purpose flood infrastructure as well as campaign on climate change topics to change the face of north Wales. I want to encourage and help deliver a more connected active travel network as well as work with stakeholders to look at how we can make Clwyd South greener.

Our local businesses are on economic life support and we need to redress the balance. If I am elected, I will be linking up with industries and showing them the possibilities north east Wales has.

We need jobs to ensure our young people return to Wales as well as attract people to settle here. I want to create a cosmopolitan Clwyd South where there is an opportunity for everyone to thrive. I will fight for better health care in our area. I believe that we must create a step-change in our approach to mental health, providing parity of esteem with physical health.

Llyr Gruffydd - Plaid Cymru


Llyr Gruffydd
Llyr Gruffydd

I have represented the North Wales Region in the Senedd since 2011. In that time, I have served as Plaid Cymru's Shadow Minister for Education and most recently as Shadow Minister for the Environment and Rural Affairs. I also chair the Senedd's influential Finance Committee.

I have a strong campaigning track record. On health alone I successfully blocked plans to force our nurses to work additional hours without additional pay, I put a stop to proposals for privatising dialysis services in the north and exposed the scandal of our health board spending £2m a month on temporary staff including the infamous “Marbella Man”, a consultant being paid £2,000 a day to work from his holiday home in Spain.

Having felt for a long time that the north of Wales doesn’t get its fair share of investment and jobs I set up and now chair the Senedd’s Cross Party Group for North Wales.

What is the most important thing you think the Senedd should do in the next five years?

The Senedd's priority in the coming years has to be to tackle the climate and biodiversity emergency we face. The pace and scale of response from the previous Government has been woefully inadequate and this has to change. As we emerge from the Covid pandemic we have a rare opportunity to re-cast the way we live our lives and the next Welsh Government has to lead the charge from the front.

We also need a Government that fights for all of Wales - ensuring equitable investment and access to services wherever you live.

What will you do for your constituency if elected?

I will be a strong voice for north Wales in the Senedd, constantly ensuring we are not neglected or left behind. I will also drive a relentless focus on tackling poverty - especially child poverty. As a father of four I'm determined that every young person is given the best opportunity in life.

Barbara Hughes - Conservatives

I'm Barbara, I am married to Derek. I have three children and five grandchildren. I was born and bred in Clwyd South, in Corwen.

I am a Welsh speaker and also a first generation farmer from a non-farming background, but it was my passion to become a farmer. I worked hard to achieve my dream. Now my husband and I are proud owners of a 220-acre dairy farm on the Clwyd South border. I diversified into PYO pumpkins ten years ago and into PYO strawberries last year. I was inspired to go into politics by my late friend and MS Brynle Williams. He was a people person, just like me, and called a spade a spade.

What is the most important thing you think the Senedd should do in the next five years?

It is vital that everything possible is done to help Wales recover from the pandemic – and to get the country moving again. Businesses need support so that they can survive and flourish. We also need to encourage new business start-ups. The Senedd should concentrate on helping to create new jobs, as more jobs mean a stronger economy and better services.

There also needs to be a focus on improving the education system. Our children have endured unprecedented disruption to their learning and we need to make sure everything possible is done to improve standards in schools and give our young people a good start in life.

What will you do for your constituency if elected?

Clwyd South is a beautiful place – but I want to make it even better. The constituency thrives on tourism and hospitality and I want to protect and encourage both industries. I also want to encourage farming and horticulture and get back to growing local and seasonal vegetables, as well as local meat and poultry. Food tastes so much better when it is grown locally. It is also better for the environment.

With the shift towards more home working, it is really important that digital connectivity is improved. On health, we need to ensure that Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board does not go into special measures again – investment needs to be increased and waiting times reduced. We need top class hospitals we can all be proud of.

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Ken Skates - Labour

Ken Skates
Ken Skates

I have had the honour of representing our area since 2011. There are many, many aspects of the job which I love, but among my favourites is visiting local schools and meeting young people. It’s also very fulfilling seeing the tangible benefits of campaigns I have worked on alongside local people – things like new health centres being built; improvements at our railway stations and crucial Welsh Labour Government investment in key community buildings.

I worked as a journalist after leaving university and later got into politics largely because of my experience of growing up in the 80s and 90s. I had a very strong feeling that too many young people ended up having their future prescribed – their destiny set for them – based on where they came from rather than how much hard work they put in.

Away from politics and my family, I’m a keen runner and also love getting out in the beautiful North Wales countryside with my cocker spaniel Thumper.

2. What is the most important thing you think the Senedd should do in the next five years?

I truly believe we need a Welsh Labour Government.

Thatcherism wreaked havoc on large parts of Wales and it was that era that galvanised calls for Welsh devolution. At such an uncertain time, we cannot allow politics of division to take hold again as it has threatened to in recent years.

I believe one of our priorities must be creating jobs to boost our economy post-pandemic. We also have a proud record of creating a cleaner, greener Wales and that is certainly something we will look to build on – both to create jobs and to ensure we continue to preserve our country and its wonderful natural landscape for future generations.

Now more than ever, I think people realise how lucky we are to have a National Health Service. A Welsh Labour Government would continue to invest huge sums in our NHS to ensure its heroic workforce can continue to rise to the challenges it will inevitably face in the aftermath of Covid-19.

3. What will you do for your constituency if elected?

During my 10 years as MS for Clwyd South, we have achieved a great deal together locally. Despite what has been achieved by us working together in Clwyd South, the job is not over.

Great strides have been made in local health provision in recent years. I want to build on that and have already pledged to help deliver further improvements. A key local campaign I have been involved with is for a new health centre for Cefn Mawr, and we have made tangible progress even throughout the pandemic. It’s now closer than it’s ever been.

Our local transport network still needs a radical overhaul, and the current Welsh Government has plans in place for that.

More than anything, as a proud North Walian, I will continue to put Clwyd South first and stand up for and champion our area.

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