{"id":1429,"date":"2024-03-16T21:40:17","date_gmt":"2024-03-16T21:40:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/16\/vaughan-gething-what-problems-are-facing-the-new-welsh-leader\/"},"modified":"2024-03-16T21:40:17","modified_gmt":"2024-03-16T21:40:17","slug":"vaughan-gething-what-problems-are-facing-the-new-welsh-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/16\/vaughan-gething-what-problems-are-facing-the-new-welsh-leader\/","title":{"rendered":"Vaughan Gething: What problems are facing the new Welsh leader?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Vaughan<\/div>


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On a cold Wednesday night, in the shadows of the Port Talbot steelworks, a group of men is playing football under the floodlights.<\/p>\n

The game has been arranged by a local group called Marauders Men’s Health, which provides help to those struggling with mental health problems.<\/p>\n

Increasingly, the team is made up of men from the steel plant – whose jobs are under threat following significant cuts<\/a><\/strong> announced earlier this year.<\/p>\n

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<\/div>
\n Image:<\/span>
\n The football game organised by Marauders Men’s Health
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\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

As the new Welsh Labour<\/strong><\/a> leader Vaughan Gething prepares to take over<\/a><\/strong> as first minister, he doesn’t need to look much further than Port Talbot to find out what’ll be top of his in-tray.<\/p>\n

“It’s been a pretty torrid time, to be honest,” Dan Era told Sky News.<\/p>\n

The 37-year-old has worked at the plant for more than 10 years – his grandfather was a miner in South Wales<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

“If you go through the Valleys, there’s a lot of poverty already and to lose this big industry it’s going to be devastating. There’s a lot of history there.<\/p>\n

“The opportunity for my children, well-paid jobs, there’s not much industry left in South Wales. If it does go, it’s going to be awful,” he said.<\/p>\n

\n
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\n \"The\n <\/div>
\n Image:<\/span>
\n The Man of Steel sculpture in Port Talbot
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\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Mr Era’s fears are echoed by colleague and team-mate Carl Jarvis – a third generation steelworker.<\/p>\n

“Towns like this are going to die because people are going to have to leave to go to places like Cardiff or Swansea just to be able to earn a living.<\/p>\n

“I think that the priority is bringing businesses in and money back into towns,” he said.<\/p>\n

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\n \"A\n <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The future of urban industry is understandably top of the list for Port Talbot – but the new leader of Wales has battles to fight in rural areas too.<\/p>\n

In recent weeks, thousands of angry Welsh farmers have mobilised – worried about new rules allowing them to obtain post-Brexit subsidies.<\/p>\n

Requirements under consideration will mean farmers need to ensure 10% of their land is set aside for trees – which some say makes their farms unviable.<\/p>\n

One of those angry at how Wales is treating its agricultural community is Eleri Lewis from the Plaid-controlled town of Aberaeron in mid-west Wales.<\/p>\n

Her family have farmed here for decades and also run holiday lets.<\/p>\n

We meet her at her local pub the Black Lion – which incidentally held a celebration party the night Mark Drakeford announced he was stepping down.<\/p>\n

“They don’t really seem to listen to the farmers. They don’t seem to listen to people in hospitality,” she said.<\/p>\n

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\n \"The\n <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

“People are at breaking point and it’s sad to see. My son will be a fourth-generation farmer, he wants to go into regenerative farming, which is the most sustainable best way of farming possible.<\/p>\n

“Growing trees in lines is not a carbon-neutral way of sustaining things.<\/p>\n

“We do feel like we’re being hit from every angle. Financially, we feel everything is unsustainable as it is.”<\/p>\n

Laura McAllister, professor of Public Policy and Governance of Wales at Cardiff University, says she’s not surprised economic concerns are top of people’s list for the new first minister.<\/p>\n

“It’s a pretty big in-tray, being completely honest. We have quite a few job losses, not just in Port Talbot at the steelworks, but in other important industries across Wales.<\/p>\n

“We know that the Welsh economy is fragile… I’d be very surprised if any member of the public didn’t raise issues to do with job security, economic growth and sustainability.”<\/p>\n

Read more on Sky News:
Manhunt after two ‘crossbow attacks’ believed to be linked<\/a>
United Airlines flight missing plane panel on landing<\/a>
Welsh rugby player on NFL dreams<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Those worries are echoed 100 miles away from Aberaeron in the capital, Cardiff.<\/p>\n

We meet mother-of-three Annabel Hughes at a local soft play centre.<\/p>\n

She spent the last 14 years as a teacher in South Wales, but after having her children says she can’t afford to return to work.<\/p>\n

“I worked out with my husband it would cost about \u00a390 a day for before and after school club for my three children, which cancels out the thought of me going back to work.<\/p>\n

“I was absolutely devastated when I realised that I couldn’t do what I knew I was passionate about and I just hope that whoever is elected can hear the views of me and all the people like me and act on it.”<\/p>\n

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\n \"Welsh\n <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

As Wales prepares for a new leader, a general election also looms for MPs in Wales. There are no Senedd<\/strong><\/a> elections until 2026.<\/p>\n

If Labour secures power in Westminster, it’ll see the party in power on both sides of the Severn Bridge for the first time in 14 years.<\/p>\n

But Professor McAllister says that it may not be plain sailing for the ruling party in Wales.<\/p>\n

“I wouldn’t take it as read that relationships have naturally improved when the UK prime minister and the first minister are from the same party.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

“I think there’s no doubt this dynamic will change for a couple of reasons; it will be less easy for Welsh Labour to blame the UK government – typically on the funding front.”<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On a cold Wednesday night, in the shadows of the Port Talbot steelworks, a group of men is playing football under the floodlights. The game has been arranged by a local group called Marauders Men’s Health, which provides help to those struggling with mental health problems. Increasingly, the team is made up of men from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1430,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/e3.365dm.com\/24\/03\/768x432\/skynews-marauders-mens-health_6491882.jpg?20240316104324","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[603],"tags":[1924,1976,1891,1217,1975,1979],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1429"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1429"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1429\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1431,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1429\/revisions\/1431"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}