By way of an introduction my name is Mark Griffiths.

Full statement

I am 57 years old and I have lived in South Wales for most of my working life, where I also share eight children with my wonderful partner of ten years. Born and raised in Blackmill, nr Bridgend, to a large family of four sisters and one twin brother, it was expected that I would find work as a coal miner. However, by the time I had left school, the coal industry was closing down, leaving the area in which I was living, socially and economically decimated.

I eventually found work in a local engineering factory in Bridgend, where I stayed for over twenty years until 2003, when I was unfortunately made redundant. The closures this time were due to EU incentives given to factory owners to re-locate elsewhere in Europe, again without a single thought for the economic decimation of up to three generations of workers these decisions would cause.

A new work opportunity, however, eventually brought me to the town of Neath, to work for the community ambulance service as a driver, followed by work for a homeless charity which I did for the next ten years. For the last six years I have worked in a local garage as a fitter. This work brought me in line with one of my great sporting passions, namely motorcycle racing. In the last 30 or so years that I have been involved in the sport and as well as helping my twin brother to win multiple times, I have also achieved many titles myself, which include Welsh Hill Climb Champion, Ultimate Street Bike Champion, Welsh Sprint Champion, Sidecar Champion and Fastest Welshman. I also hold three British land speed records conducted at Pendine Sands. I enjoy the camaraderie of the race paddock where I am proud to call all the people involved our ‘extended family’.

I want to give the constituents of Aberafan and Maesteg the opportunity to vote for Reform UK in this General Election and I want to do this because I believe the political classes have betrayed the electorate. I for one did not vote for mass uncontrolled immigration and neither did my friends, family, nor many of the people I speak to whilst out and about. In 2016 we won the referendum for a full EU exit but it’s like it has not happened. The knock on effect of uncontrolled immigration has had on our local services, housing and general quality of life has been devastating while our local politicians obsess over achieving net zero carbon instead. I feel for the first time our children will have a poorer quality of life than we had. I believe only the Reform UK party can begin to fix this by giving the power back to the people who understand what's going on in the real world.