Labour choose candidate to take on Plaid leader Price in Senedd seat

Local Labour members have selected Rob James to be Welsh Labour’s candidate in Carmarthen East and Dinefwr at the next Senedd elections in May 2021.

Cllr James, who lives in Carmarthenshire, and is the leader of the Labour group on Carmarthenshire Council, will contest the seat that’s been held by Plaid Cymru continuously since 1999, currently held by the Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price.

Rob James would be standing on a commitment to bringing a fresh start to the towns and villages of the constituency.

He said that he would “help deliver real change Carmarthenshire that it so desperately needs”, after “decades of Plaid Cymru neglect”.

Rob said: “I am delighted to have been selected by local Welsh Labour members in Carmarthen East and Dinefwr to be their candidate at next year’s Senedd elections.

“The seat has been held by Plaid Cymru ever since the Senedd was established in 1999. Their MSs have failed to be the strong voice Carmarthenshire needs and they have failed to deliver for this area time and time again. They have neglected our towns and our villages.

“My message is – enough is enough. Carmarthenshire needs a real change. So, it’s time for a fresh start. By putting their trust in me and in Welsh Labour, people will be sending a strong voice to the Senedd to deliver that change, and to deliver on their priorities.”

 

‘Wales first’

Adam Price won the 2016 election with 48.5% of the vote to 19.2% for the Labour candidate, a swing of 3.6% towards Plaid.

Labour also had a tough 2019 General Election in the seat, coming in third behind the Conservatives for the first time since the constituency was created.

Rob James, however, said that next year’s election would be a choice between a Welsh Labour Government, or a Welsh Conservative-led Government hell-bent on destroying Wales by dismantling devolution.

“In Carmarthenshire, Adam Price’s party have cut Council services to the bone, failed to deliver the necessary changes to tackle climate change, oversaw the decline of our town centres and threatening to close rural schools that are at the heart of our communities,” he said.

“Welsh Labour is the only party capable of forming a government in Wales that has and always will put Wales first. By electing a Welsh Labour Member of the Senedd, the people of Carmarthen East and Dinefwr will be safe in the knowledge they are voting in favour of securing Wales’ future.”