The Welsh Conservatives have selected their candidate for the Vale of Glamorgan in next year’s Senedd elections.
Matt Smith, said "I am delighted to have been chosen, and will start campaigning straight away for a better deal for Vale residents and an end to failing Welsh Government policies.
"As a solicitor I will put my valuable legal experience to good use. I fight hard for my clients. I will be a powerful voice for constituents. Commercial awareness gained in legal practice will help me win investment in opportunities for communities in Barry and across the Vale.
“Having worked at the Welsh Government NHS and Transport Directorates and for public sector clients including NHS Trusts, I will champion delivery. I will bring forensic legal skills to Senedd Committees.
"My list of priorities includes better transport, more regeneration funding and fighting overdevelopment.
"I will put my shoulder to the wheel for better transport including the Dinas Powys Bypass, a new train station for St Athan, more rail services west of Barry, better bus services and safer roads.
"I will lobby for more regeneration funds. I will lobby for business rate free zones for Barry, Llantwit Major and Dinas Powys, and lower rates for firms and traders across the rural Vale.
"And I will fight for local communities against top-down big government from both Cardiff Bay and Holton Road, that together favour the overdevelopment of our communities, the destructive M4-A48 link road that would devastate Pendoylan, the Barry incinerator, the loss of rural schools and merger of the Vale with unsympathetic authorities in Cardiff and Bridgend.
"I will also win more investment to safeguard the Royal Glamorgan Hospital’ A&E department and Barry Hospital’s Sam Davies Ward, and campaigning for a fair deal for pupils in the Vale.
"The underfunding of schools in the Vale must end. The Welsh Government is letting our young people down. I will fight for more funds and make sure the money reaches the front line. It is vital that we do everything we can to support our teachers.
"I have volunteered with charities and assisted at Legal Advice Centres and as an MS for the Vale of Glamorgan I would draw on these experience.
"I am a member of Cadw and Friends of the National Museum of Wales and I chair the Welsh Conservative History Society. I will protect our public spaces and local heritage from those who would try to rewrite the past."