Local News for the Vale

Hooper chosen as Plaid candidate

By Gareth Joy | Updated Monday 17th April 2023 5:04pm |  Follow us @broradio

Plaid Cymru have selected their Vale of Glamorgan candidate for the next Westminster general election.

Mark Hooper, who represents the Baruc ward as a county councillor, was chosen at a hustings event in Cowbridge.

Cllr Hooper was elected to Vale Council at last May's local elections, when Plaid doubled its tally from four seats to eight.

He is currently working on Banc Cambria, designed as the first full-service community bank in the UK.

Following the hustings, Mr Hooper said: ''I'm really pleased to have been selected; now on to the hard work of getting elected!''

''This constituency is renowned as a marginal seat, where all too often electors tend to cast their votes negatively to support their least-worst option, rather than voting positively; I hope to change that.''

Plaid say the party's election campaign, was expected to feature ''strong challenges to the status quo'', which Mr Hooper argued was ''failing Wales''.

He said: ''Irrespective as to who goes on to be the leading party at Westminster, Wales will be marginalised; inadequately funded and dealing with policies that suit someone else, somewhere else.''

''Neither of the UK-focused parties, Labour nor Conservative, offers Vale voters what they need. Their focus will be on persuading middle-England, not southern Wales.''

''We've had enough of having our wings clipped here in Wales; I'm standing alongside a strong cohort of Plaid candidates across Wales to offer hope, positivity and the policy antidote to a failing UK state.''

Plaid chose not to stand a Vale of Glamorgan candidate at the last general election in December 2019, opting instead to support a Green Party candidate as part of a pro-Remain pact, which also included the Liberal Democrats.

In 2017, Cllr Ian Johnson - who now leads the Plaid group on Vale Council - came third in a field of eight with 2,295 votes.

Businessman Geraint Evans, who will chair Mark Hooper's campaign, said: ''A competitive campaign needs a committed team. I'm working hard to ensure Mark has the best people in his corner as we take Plaid's message to every part of the community.''

''The stakes are high at this next election, because the best we should expect can't be replacing one failed government with another, insufficiently bold to succeed. We can and must demand better, and in the Vale, that means electing Mark Hooper.''

The incumbent Vale MP, Alun Cairns (Conservatives), increased his majority to 3,562 at the last general election.

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