THE Labour candidate for the Vale of Glamorgan might not be as well-known as his Tory rival Alun Cairns, but he certainly packs as big a punch.
Kanishka Narayan didn’t pull any of those punches in how he thinks the Tories have conducted themselves in engaging with the people of the Vale during this election.
“I believe in basic integrity and decency in politics," said Narayan. "When you see Rishi Sunak coming to the Vale only to host a private meeting with VOG brewery then get whisked away, or running off from respecting Veterans at D-Day, people don’t believe a word the Prime Minister says.”
That’s an explosive start to what feels like could be an explosive interview.
We met Narayan at Academy Expresso in Barry and the first thing I wanted to find out was the background of the man who grew up in Cardiff and spent weekends on Barry Island as his mum and dad worked in hospitality in the Vale.
“The Vale was the best of my childhood and an opportunity for my parents,” explained Narayan.
He joined the Labour Party at 18 wanting to fight what he described as the Tory’s ‘mismanagement’ of South Wales.
Narayan’s lived in Barry 18 months on the Waterfront and that’s where we jump in.
Lots has been reported about the Waterfront Development’s troubles in getting completed – the hiatus being the Labour led Vale Council threatening to take the developers to court to get communal areas finished.
“I have felt the issues at the Waterfront personally,” said Narayan. “I live on the Waterfront and have seen the issues with housing, the way developers engage with residents, I hear it again and again and feel it because it is happening on my doorstep.”
It’s a fair point from Narayan, however one of the main players pointed at as at fault for all the issues isn’t the developers, but the Vale Council.
When the council held a public meeting at Academy Expresso in September 2023, furious residents asked why they had not done more sooner.
And then there’s the issue of social housing – a provision overseen by the Labour led Vale Council and something B&D has spoken to many people about, incredulous with how long they have had to wait, or stuck in the wrong type pf accommodation (the latest summary of social housing in the Vale by one member of the public was, ‘social housing? Non-existent’).
“I’m excited about what we can do with a Labour government in Westminster on this question,” said Narayan. “I want to make seismic change in Barry.”
And what does he think about how the often-derided Vale Council have preformed under Labour leader Lis Burnett?
“What I have seen with Lis in the past is she came down here, stood up and said she would fight the developers,” said Narayan. “Her legal threat made the developers take action.
“I know the pace of engagement with the council has been frustrating, but remember this council has had a hammer blow to their budget by Liz Truss’ inflation. The question now is what will we be able to do to support the council with a stable economy.”
A stable-economy, this is a phrase Narayan keeps repeating in our conversation and it’s something he uses to try and explain the fundamental difference between a Tory Government and Labour Government (something voters can often find difficult to distinguish between).
“Liz Truss came in, made a bunch of completely unfunded commitments, crashed the markets, house prices, pensions came to the brink of collapse, and what we have seen in the last few weeks from Sunak is continuing to do this,” said Narayan.
“The difference with Labour is a rigorous, fully funded, costed spending plan, driven by Rachel Reeves, an experienced economist who has worked with the Bank of England.”
So why is the Tories promising tax cuts and Labour haven’t committed to any reductions yet?
“They are unfunded promises,” said Narayan, “Sunak is coming up with ideas unworked, unfunded and undeliverable. We have all been harmed by Tory economic chaos.”
One thing Narayan is proud of in his new age of ‘basic integrity politics without the need for Facebook videos’ is the amount of people he has spoken to door to door. If that’s so then one of the complaints he must often here is cost of living.
Narayan explained how he met a young family the other day who told him they were struggling to pay for their car and feed their kids.
He pointed to sky high energy prices – something that has decimated high street business – and food costs.
“Labour has the GB Energy plan that could cut £300 off energy bills a year and on food costs, the Tories have decimated parts of British farming. I want to back our farmers in the Vale and help people eat healthy and eat local."
And on the high street – which by the way in England Tory business rates cuts are 75 per cent while in Wales, the Labour led administration is running them at around 40 per cent.
“We have to tackle one of the underlying issues affecting the high street which is people choosing to stay at home and buy online,” said Narayan. “We need to find a way to support independent shops and I am pleased Labour is willing to hold a review for how we level the playing field for the high street against online giants.”
The General Election takes place on July 4. To see the list of candidates standing in the Vale, click here.
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