Tory candidate ‘telling voters he went to university but not that he didn’t graduate’

Martin Shipton

A Deputy Mayor who is standing as a Conservative Senedd candidate has been criticised for giving the impression that he is a university graduate when in fact he dropped out in his second year.

Jeremy Kent, who is a member of Wrexham council, is his party’s number two candidate in the super constituency of Fflint Wrecsam.

A source who contacted Nation.Cymru said: “Online and for some time now, he’s been telling people he attended the University of Hertfordshire, which is true, but he did not graduate. He dropped out in his second year.

“Telling voters you went to university clearly implies that you graduated and hold a degree of some description. He’s been doing this since 2021 when he first stood for the Senedd.”

Cllr Kent appears on the North East Wales Conservative website. His profile states:

* Local councillor for Gresford on Wrexham County Borough.

* Welsh Parliamentary Candidate 2026.

* Lives in Wrexham having settled there following University

* Volunteer youth worker with over 20 years experience.

* Trustee for a local charity and Governor at two Wrexham Schools.

* Works providing social mobility opportunities for school children across the North West.

Cllr Kent’s CV distributed to the media during the current election campaign states: “He studied business at the University of Hertfordshire before returning to north Wales, where he has built a career across the private, public and voluntary sectors.”

When we called him and told him that concern had been expressed that he was giving the impression he was a university graduate when he isn’t, he said: “I have never claimed to be a graduate or hidden the fact that I left university to work in the hospitality industry.”

Asked why biographical details about him on election material mentioned that he had attended university, but did not say he left without a degree, Cllr Kent said: “When I speak about my education, I tell people that I did not graduate. University is not for everyone.”

Opinion poll

The latest YouGov opinion poll suggests it is unlikely that Cllr Kent will be elected to the Senedd. In the Fflint Wrecsam constituency, the prediction is that three seats will be won by Reform, two by Plaid Cymru and one by Labour.

The Conservatives are expected to get 10% of the vote, several percentage points behind what they would need to get a seat.

At the last Senedd election in 2021, however, Cllr Kent was just six percentage points behind Labour MS Lesley Griffiths in a first-past-the-post election. She got 8452 votes (37%) while he got 7102 (31%).