Six women bid to take over from Carwyn
THE process of choosing who Labour want to succeed Carwyn Jones as Bridgend’s Assembly Member has now begun.
Mr Jones, who stood down as First Minister last year, has said he planned to vacate the seat which he has held for Welsh Labour since 1999.
The next Welsh Assembly elections are due to be in 2021.
There are currently six people with their names in the running to get the candidacy for Labour.
Its list is an all-female affair and features a leave voter, a mum-of-five and a former Thai boxing champ.
A final shortlist will be announced next month before party members cast their votes – with a winner announced on October 20.
Nicole Burnett
Born and bred in Bridgend, now 46, she lives in the town centre with her two teenage sons.
Her decision to stand was, she admits, “fairly last minute”.
“I’m a councillor and I’m studying a full-time PhD at Cardiff University in teaching. Because I had a lot on my plate, everybody kept asking me whether I was going to stand and I kept saying I was too busy but it just struck me that it was a once in a lifetime opportunity and if I didn’t stand I would really regret it.
“Because it’s an all women’s shortlist, we have got fantastic candidates and we’re all Labour friends together and I think Bridgend deserves to have the best selection.
“I have loved being a councillor, it’s been the best two years.
“I’ve been consort to the mayor and with politics, the more you do, the more you get into it.”
She is a councillor for Bridgend county council and Bridgend town centre.
A leave voter, she says Brexit has split her town.
“During the 2016 referendum I was an ordinary resident of Bridgend, I wasn’t a Labour Party member. I listened to the words of Tony Benn and looked to Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party for direction, and there was little.
“I voted to leave the EU – I have never hidden this fact and as a result, I have been insulted and derided within my own party and I know that it will be used as a reason for me not to selected as a candidate for AM.
“However, I fully back the Labour Party line today and call for a second referendum.” Neelo Farr
Born in Pakistan, she is a mum to five boys – mainly as a single parent.
“As a single parent for many years I know what poverty is, not being able to buy essentials for my children and to be dependent on the state.”
She has worked as a social worker, union representative and school governor.
Ms Farr has campaigned on local, regional and national Labour campaigns, most recently council byelections and is a campaigner for Bridgend for Europe, fighting for a people’s vote.
Currently a manager of a mental health team, she says a priority is to see mental health services improved, and says that as a BAME [Black, Asian and minority ethnic] woman she has had to “work harder to prove that I do have the skills and knowledge to be a good enough worker, mother and a person”.
Jane Gebbie
A councillor for Pyle, Jane Gebbie was born in Singapore and spent her childhood travelling with a forces family before settling in Wales.
She is a mum of two boys and a girl, and a grandmother to five.
She returned to education after having her children and achieved qualifications in counselling and psychotherapy.
She has been a full-time trade union officer and is branch secretary of Unison’s Neath Port Talbot branch.
“I believe fiercely in fighting for those less able to do so for themselves and I’m passionate about equality and social justice.
“I am able to build positive working relationships with people from all walks of life.”
Asked why she decided to stand, she said: “I have dedicated my whole life to public service. I had a difficult start in life and I just want to continue to represent Bridgend in the best possible capacity.”
She previously tried to become the Labour candidate for the Vale of Glamorgan and said that experience has spurred her on.
“I really enjoyed the whole experience,” she said.
Kerry-Lynne Pyke
A charity worker, Kerry Lynne-Pyke, 34, is standing for the first time. She’s lived in Bridgend since 2007 when she was a reporter on the Glamorgan Gazette.
She now lives in Coity with her husband, two children and their cat.
Away from her day job she runs a small charity helping children who would otherwise go hungry in school holidays. She is also involved in the Coity and Litchard branch of the Labour party.
“For me, it’s about trying to make a difference and a better Bridgend.
“Making a difference is something I’ve always cared about from when I went into journalism as my first job and now I’ve worked in the charity sector for the last decade.
“It’s issues like making a stronger economy and trying to secure the future for the Bridgend Ford workers.
“As well as that, I want to reduce the impact of food poverty and welfare reform.”
She’s been a Labour supporter for a number of years and recently became a party member.
Sarah Murphy
A former Labour staff member, 32-year-old Sarah Murphy is standing for selection for the first time.
Her family are from Bridgend and she now lives with her partner near the town centre.
A Reading University and Cardiff University student, she’s worked with a number of Labour politicians on campaigns, including Lee Waters and being office manager to Anna McMorrin after her 2017 General Election win.
She says her roots within Labour come from her dad – a former councillor. But she says the devolution campaign was when she personally got the bug.
Ms Murphy said she never expected to put her name forward for election. But she says she changed her mind during the Labour leadership hustings.
“I didn’t know then it was an all women’s shortlist, but I thought you just have to be in it to win it.”
She said she believes the next years are “crucial” for Bridgend.
“This is a wonderful opportunity. The next 20 years are going to be crucial. It’s either a slump and be beaten about and devastated that Ford goes or we’re going to fight for this.”
Her biggest priority is social care, she said.
“I know it’s a massive task but unless you or a loved one has gone through it I don’t think you have any idea. It can be that you go into hospital and don’t go home – the system is so complex. We need to get a handle on it”.
Lu Thomas
A mum-of-two, she’s the former chair of Pride Cymru, a former Thai boxing champion, public sector consultant, who lives in Cardiff.
She describes Bridgend as somewhere she has “deeply personal” connections to and where she “spent so much of her childhood”.
She joined Labour in 2010 and is “determined to use my life experiences, my professional knowledge of creating and shaping public policy to ensure that whatever start you have in life does not determine your future”.
Ms Thomas, 39, has run a company, Cognition Associates, which is a public sector consultancy firm, as well as been involved in Vaughan Gething’s campaign to be Welsh Labour leader and involved in a campaign for a people’s vote.
She has previously been a candidate in a Cardiff council election and attempted to be the candidate for selection for Cardiff Central.
Asked why she has chosen to stand now, she said: “I’m young enough to think I can change the world but old enough to have an idea how to do it.
“There is still a naivety to thinking that you can rebuild what the Tories are destroying but it’s knowing the system and how the levers of power work as well as the drivers in a community and how to run a campaign. Now I have all of those.”