Cllr Joel James has been chosen to fight for the Pontypridd seat in next May’s Welsh Parliament elections.

Joel – the Group Leader of the Conservatives on Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council – is a long-standing county borough councillor and strong community campaigner, and has been involved within the constituency for more than a decade. He has twice before contested the Pontypridd constituency.

He said that his main priorities are education and health, adding:

“Education in Wales continues to lag behind the rest of the United Kingdom, and it is vital that these standards are raised.

“Like education, healthcare in Wales also compares quite badly with its United Kingdom counterparts, and though the NHS' response to the coronavirus pandemic has received much coverage, we should not forget that ambulance waiting times, A&E and hospital waiting times, and cancer treatment times are some of the worst in western Europe.”

A seasoned campaigner, Joel said:

“My direct participation in politics in my community has led me to lead a number of campaigns, most notably against the residential development of the south of the constituency and the impact that it would have on local services and the environment.

“I have also been involved with school reorganisation campaigns, highway improvement and safety campaigns, and am actively involved in my community's response to the coronavirus pandemic.”

The elections to the Welsh Parliament take place on May 6, 2020.