Plaid Cymru Ceredigion Your representatives in Ceredigion

Plaid Cymru has pledged to create a publicly-owned Welsh Broadband Infrastructure Company to guarantee access to full-fibre broadband to every home and business in Wales by 2025.

Ben Lake, Plaid Cymru’s candidate in Ceredigion, said that the current lack of connectivity is “restraining the rural economy in Wales, perhaps more than anything else”.

Ben Lake, Plaid Cymru’s candidate for Ceredigion in the upcoming general election on December 12^th has extended his support to Friends of the Earth’s pledge to fight the climate breakdown should he be re-elected to Parliament later this month.

The pledge calls on politicians to vote to support measures that would cut greenhouse gas emissions and build a fairer and greener society. 

A recent comprehensive poll by respected opinion pollsters YouGov has delivered a major boost to Ben Lake and Plaid Cymru ahead of the upcoming General Election.

The poll was based on more than 100,000 interviews over seven days and puts Ben Lake ahead of all his rivals, with his support having increased to 32%. 

Boosting funding for Mental Health Services provided by the NHS is a vital step that Plaid Cymru is committed to delivering, according to the party’s Parliamentary candidate for Ceredigion, Ben Lake.

The party’s manifesto outlines plans to increase mental health expenditure by 5% annually for the next ten years, doubling the amount spent on a cumulative basis during that time.  The party has also pledged to create a 24-hour Welsh Mental Health Crisis service in conjunction with emergency services for people with severe distress.

Although health and social care provision is a devolved matter, Plaid Cymru argues that funding decisions made in Westminster by the Tories directly affect what funding is available to be spent by Welsh Government.

Plaid Cymru have reaffirmed their support for Women Against State Pension Injustice (WASPI) and have confirmed they would provide compensation to those women who have lost out because of the policy.

Plaid Cymru's parliamentary candidate for Ceredigion, Ben Lake, said that the women of Wales had been 'let down' by Westminster because of the pensions scandal and that the consequences of 'poor implementation and communication' meant that thousands of women were now struggling to make ends meet.

Approximately 195,000 women in Wales have been impacted including five thousand in Ceredigion alone.

Ahead of the general election on 12 December 2019, Ben Lake, Plaid Cymru candidate for Ceredigion has outlined a commitment to continue to fight for the devolution of policing to Wales.

Between 2010 and 2018, the number of police officers in Wales fell by 9% - with rural Wales particularly hit due to the unfair funding formula used by the UK Government.

Plaid Cymru have announced that they will create a new £50m crime prevention fund to recruit 1,600 extra police officers through the devolution of policing. The proposals would see a greater police presence locally, and helping to root officers in their communities, rather than being stretched over large geographical areas with little resources.

The General Election on 12 December will undoubtedly focus on the UK’s exit from the EU, but the real battle on trade and how it will affect Welsh farming is yet to come, says Ben Lake, Plaid Cymru’s parliamentary candidate in Ceredigion.

As a member of the EU, the UK abides by a set of regulatory standards – a series of sanitary and phytosanitary measures – on issues affecting farming, food production and processing.

This regulatory alignment facilitates trade between EU Member States by removing non-tariff barriers. Divergence from these standards could therefore introduce greater friction to our trade with EU partners, and given they are currently the destination for over 80% of Welsh red meat exports, such a development would have significant consequences for our continued access to such an important market.

Ben Lake has emphasised his determination to use the recently-announced General Election to highlight the everyday issues that matter to people in Ceredigion.

He warned that the divisions over Brexit which have blighted the current Parliament may not be solved by another snap election, but pledged to campaign positively on key issues where he has made an impact in Westminster, including rural banking, improving digital connectivity, and a fair deal for public services in the area.

Ben Lake was elected as Ceredigion’s new MP in 2017, and since that time has earned a reputation as an energetic local campaigner who is willing to work across party lines to deliver for his constituency. He was named ‘Politician to Watch’ in ITV awards in 2017, and this year was nominated for MP of the Year.

The UK Government has been accused of suppressing voters’ rights with the potential disenfranchisement of tens of thousands of people after plans to introduce compulsory photo ID for voters were leaked.

Ministers are planning to introduce a legal requirement for voters to produce photographic ID, in order to safeguard against electoral fraud. The proposals, reportedly contained in a new electoral integrity bill, will also limit the number of relatives for whom anyone can act as a proxy.

The Electoral Reform Society has claimed that out of millions of votes cast in the UK last year, there were just eight allegations of impersonation fraud – the type of fraud that voter ID is meant to prevent.

BBC Radio 4's Farming Today program came to Lampeter recently to look at the impact of bank closures on rural communities and small businesses.

Many thanks to Sarah Ward, owner of Y Stiwdio Brint and Sian Jones, owner of Gwili Jones for their outstanding contributions.