It's tough knocking doors as a Tory, says minister
A Conservative junior minister says her party has made "a number of mistakes" at the start of the general election campaign, including Rishi Sunak’s decision to leave early from the D-Day commemoration in France.
Fay Jones, a Wales Office minister in Mr Sunak’s government, said the prime minister was correct to apologise for leaving the event in Normandy early to do a TV interview.
Ms Jones said it was "tough knocking on a door and saying you’re a Conservative candidate".
She is her party’s candidate for Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe, the new seat which includes the area covered by her old seat of Brecon and Radnorshire constituency, and the Swansea Valley.
Other candidates are David Chadwick (Liberal Democrat), Matthew Dorrance (Labour), Emily Durrant-Munro (Plaid Cymru), Adam Hill (Reform), and Amerjit Kaur-dhaliwal (Green Party).
Ms Jones told Radio Wales Breakfast on Thursday: "I think it's right the prime minister has apologised for his decision making yesterday, I don't think he got [leaving Normandy early] right.
"But that's one of the things you can expect from Rishi, throughout his time as PM he has always been clear when he can't do something, he's always apologised and been frank."
She added: "It’s been a tough start, we have made a number of mistakes.
"But the scrutiny and pressure will always be on us because we have been in government for a long time."
"Would I have liked to see this campaign to get off to a better start, absolutely."
She said "it’s tough knocking on door on a door saying you’re a Conservative candidate” but she added "I’m not getting the sense that we are all doomed in the Conservative party".
Meanwhile Labour's candidate for the area, Matthew Dorrance, denied that the Welsh first minister Vaughan Gething is being raised by voters after he lost a confidence vote this week.
He said: "What people are talking about are those kitchen table issues, the issues that are affecting family finances, and the way that people are struggling with the cost of living crisis."
Mr Dorrance, who supported Mr Gething in the leadership contest, added: "He won a democratic vote in the Labour membership.
"He lost a non-binding vote in the Senedd because Plaid Cymru, the Conservative party and the Liberal Democrats are more interested in playing political games, and serving the people of Wales."
The Welsh Liberal Democrats held the Brecon and Radnorshire from 1992 to 2015, and briefly in 2019 after a by-election.
David Chadwick, the Lib Dem candidate, said the health service was big issue for the area. Although the Welsh government ran the NHS in Wales, he said many border constituents used the health service in England.
"The key to fixing the Welsh NHS, the English NHS and the NHS across the UK is funding and the funding parameters that are set by Westminster," he said.
"We definitely need a change of government".
He said UK party leader Ed Davey was not a candidate to be prime minister but the party was trying to draw attention to the "big problems" facing the NHS across England and Wales.
The area's Reform candidate Adam Hill said the area had been represented by the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives since the 1980s and it was time to "shake up the system a bit".
Reform, he said, would "make a difference".
"We’ve got empty buildings, failing businesses and enough is enough. We are losing all our services as rural communities do – we are the first people to lose everything.
"That’s why I’m here to try and defend that so that we can keep our essential services, our doctors, our police."
The candidates for Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe are:
Conservatives - Fay Jones
Liberal Democrat - David Chadwick
Labour - Matthew Dorrance
Plaid Cymru - Emily Durrant-Munro
Reform - Adam Hill
Green Party - Amerjit Kaur-dhaliwal
