Tomos Barlow is a 23-year-old student who, while originally is from Ynys Môn, came to Ceredigion in 2019 to study Geography and is now studying for a Master’s in Human Geography.

Full statement

He’s passionate about Green politics and joined the Green Party when he was 17 after feeling that politics had become stale in Wales and a breadth of fresh air was needed. He has worked a summer job in an ice cream parlour since he was 15 and really came to understand the insecurity many people face in their working lives, particularly as he saw the gentrification of his local village into one where a lot of his peers and a lot of his colleagues would’ve struggled to stay and live in. He saw a lot of poverty around the island due to lacking investment and believed that none of the parties who kept advocating for these large projects (such as a new nuclear plant) never had any intention of implementing them and even when they did it wouldn’t solve the long decay in which his home area was facing. What was needed was radical thinking which served long-term purpose and the Green party was the only party promising (and delivering in other parts of the country) real hope and real change, and this is the message he’s standing on. As someone who has worked in the tourism sector and his great-grandfather was a butcher who had to close his butchers shop in the 1970’s, he’s realised the economic character of the UK as a whole has changed to one that devalues smaller communities and shut up shop for a lot of smaller businesses, which is why the promise of investment in the green sector as well as a UBI could benefit smaller communities as well as encouraging a better business environment for small business to be able to survive. As a geography student, he knows climate change is imminent and implementing measures at all levels is massively key, which is why we need to be hitting net zero before 2050 through decarbonising our energy, moving to renewables which with the devolution of the Crown Estate can bring in investment to Ceredigion Preseli while also saving a lot of worry for farmers and people in our coastal communities. He wants to see direct investments into our towns and villages to help them become more locally centric again and to help them become more attractive to stay in, not go along dodgy schemes such as the freeport scheme down in Pembrokeshire Dock which effects everyone in the Preseli area and raises issues around tax dodging and corruption. Finally, he wants to see more investment into local services and to Wales in general because the cuts to public services have been immense, and as someone who has seen the wealth generated by some tourists who have come in, he understands that those who have the most need to pay the most because that is what a fair society looks like. That means equalising capital gains tax and income tax, introducing a tax on the wealthiest by putting 1% tax on all assets above £10 million and 2% on all assets above £1 billion. He believes no one should be denied or be living a quality of life below a level where the choice should be between home, heat or food and a vote for him is a vote to ensure a better Ceredigion Preseli for all and a voice for young people in Ceredigion Preseli.