There have been some extraordinary claims by parties during this election campaign!
This Thursday, 5th December, Splott will be asked to elect a third councillor following the sad death of Splott Councillor, and Right Honourable Lord Mayor of Cardiff, Jane Henshaw.
Inksplott has been running a series of interviews with candidates to give people an insight into the candidates (all candidates are welcome to give an interview – so far only Labour, Green Party, Plaid Cymru and Welsh Liberal Democrats have taken up the opportunity and you can find their interviews in the news feed of this website. To see a full list of candidates, click here).
However, there have been MANY leaflets posted through our doors and some of them make very bold claims that, it turns out, aren’t true. Which is a shame, because politicians should be about putting the people they represent, or want to represent, first and foremost. And what I want, as a voter, is honesty. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want mud-slinging – I want to know what the candidates will do for me and my fellow Splott residents if they are elected.
Inksplott has looked at the claims on the flyers and done some research (if anyone has information to the contrary, please let me know and I will update the article):
Lib Dems
In a leaflet from the Lib Dems, it claims that it’s a two horse race and that ‘Only local Liberal Democrat Cadan ap Tomos can beat Labour here.’
In the general election earlier this year, the Lib Dems polled lowest on the list. It was the Green Party who came in second in our electoral ward (remember this is for the general election).
So, to the last local councillor elections. In 2022, Splott elected Jane Henshaw, Ed Stubbs and Huw Thomas, all Labour Councillors, to represent us. The interesting thing here is that, again, it was the Green Party who came in second behind Labour and the Lib Dems were fourth in the list, behind the Conservative Party.
I’m not sure what information Cadan has that Inksplott doesn’t, but the claim to be the only candidate who can beat Labour here is a bold one, based on previous results.
Conservative Party
In their ‘InTouch’ flyer, the Conservatives call candidate Tomos Llewelyn a ‘Local champion’. In fact, they lead with it. Unfortunately, I’ve not had the pleasure of meeting Tomos and am unaware of his work championing us. Maybe someone local can enlighten me and I will happily amend this entry (because he has apparently also worked with our community to build a plan to secure a better future for us all. Now, I know I’m not ubiquitous, but I am pretty linked in locally and haven’t once been engaged in a workshop or meeting to build a plan to secure a better future for us all.)
One of the ‘My Plan’ promises is to ‘never vote to pave over Splott Park, Moorland Park, Tremorfa Park or Pengam Green’. Moorland Park is already permanently protected by Fields in Trust and is not in any danger. There is no current threat to any of the parks. In fact, Splott Play Park is in line for an upgrade to its play park as part of the Council’s Neighbourhood Renewal Scheme Programme. This kind of scaremongering about a non-existent threat to our parks is not welcome.
Plaid Cymru
In their leaflet, Plaid claim that one of their priorities is to ‘Invest in our communities and youth facilities to create a safer Splott and a better future’. They go on to say ‘Across Cardiff we’ve seen too many services closed by the Labour Cardiff Council, our communities have been let down and young people set up to fail.’ Now, I wholeheartedly agree that there should be a tonne more money pumped into youth services, because they make a real difference, but, just to be clear. Yes, there have been massive cuts to youth services in Cardiff, and across Wales, but Splott has one of the only four remaining youth clubs in Cardiff (Eastmoors Youth Centre on Sanquhar Street) which does amazing work.
To say that we have been let down locally in terms of the youth service provision is questionable when there is a physical youth provision in our ward. One of only four left in Cardiff.
Propel
The leaflet I had through my door boldly lead with the ’10 reasons not to vote Labour.’ Hang on a minute, I don’t want you to convince me not to vote Labour – I want you to convince me to vote for Propel!
And what are the reasons for not voting Labour, and how true are they? Let’s take a look:
Number 2 – No councillor surgeries are held in the community, despite both elected members taking circa £70,000 from the public purse.’
This isn’t true. Our current councillors hold surgeries on the second Wednesday of the month at 6pm at the Star Hub and the third Friday of the month at 10am at the Star Hub, plus Ed hosts Cuppa with a Councillor between 11am and 12noon at Splott Community Volunteers at the STAR Centre, Splott Road, on the first Friday of the month. The also hold regular Street Surgeries on the fourth Saturday of the month (a street surgery is where the councillors go around and knock doors to ask people what their issues are).
Number 3 – Tyndall Street Cycle Lane is hardly used, yet causes huge car congestion which pollutes the air.
I’m sorry what? There is a tiny little cycle lane on the side of the road that isn’t used. That is what I’m reading here, right? How on earth is that causing congestion? If there are no cyclists, and the cycle lane isn’t taking up a previous car lane (which it isn’t – I know this – I’ve lived here a long time), then how is it adding to congestion? Hmmmmmm, sorry, but this seems hokum to me. Let’s see some statistics please Propel.
Number 6 – ‘There is no money for important services, yet Labour has just spent £40 million on Churchill Way and an unwanted cycle track on Roath Rec. Circa £300 million is being spent on the new arena in Cardiff Bay. Why?’
There has been local investment in Splott (that’s not to say that there has been enough or that there couldn’t be more). The council is currently building a £40 million new Willows High School on Lewis Road. They have just opened new classrooms and Flying Start at Moorland Primary which amounts to £7 million. The recent build of Ysgol Glan Morfa, a state of the art Welsh Primary School on Lewis Road, new classrooms at St Albans and new kitchens at Baden Powell are a few examples of investment in the area. Maltings Park was a huge, multi-million pound local transformation and Splott Play Park is in line for an upgrade under the Council’s Neighbourhood Renewal Scheme Programme, which takes forward improvement schemes suggested by local councillors.
So, to the reasons for voting Propel:
Number 4 – ‘A Propel Councillor will restore unused cycle lanes for car use to reduce congestion and air pollution’. See comment above. What cycle lanes in Splott are they talking about? There aren’t many, and no car lanes have been taken out to give over to cyclists.
Number 10 – “Propel’s Cllr Neil McEvoy voted against the incinerator & was vocal in his opposition to it. Unlike Labour councillors, Neil did not change his mind.’ – Neil McEvoy, Propel leader, was Deputy Leader of the Council when the project to incinerate waste was initiated, and when planning for the incinerator in Splott was given Planning Permission. In 2012, whilst Neil was still Deputy Leader, Cardiff Council was found guilty of Maladministration for failing to consult residents properly about the incinerator. I can’t find any evidence of Neil’s opposition to the scheme until many years later.
The thing I get from the Propel flyer is that they are very cross at Labour at a Westminster level. What about Splott level? I’d like to hear more.
Reform
Wow, these make very bold claims. According to their leaflet, they will ‘Freeze Immigration and stop the boats’ and ‘Restore Winter Fuel Allowance’, but unfortunately there’s nothing on their flyer about Splott. And the people on their flyer are from the Vale of Glamorgan and Bridgend, so I’m not entirely sure how to ask then about their audacious claims, because they’re not here.
I know this isn’t a full on investigative report on the election – I’ll leave that to Wales Online – but what I’ve tried to do is shine a light on some of the questionable claims this election, because I’m so very cross with people taking the absolute mickey out of us. Stop lying, stop gaslighting, stop trying to convince us that your truth is our truth. I will continue to shout out any untruths that come through my door.
As far as I’m aware, Labour or Greens so far haven’t made any dubious claims but happy to update this article if proven wrong.
If you would like to contribute to this article, please email me at hello@inksplott.co.uk