SOCIALIST candidate Beth Winter, who is standing as an independent in the Senedd election, said today that she is winning voters back from Reform UK.

She told the Morning Star that people who were considering voting for Reform in protest had said they would cast their ballot for her when they found out she was standing.

“If they want a strong socialist candidate, then they should be voting for me, and that’s the message that I’m getting out there,” Ms Winter said.

“We’ve got to engage and harness that socialist tradition that is still in our communities, in the valleys and the working class.

“It’s incumbent on us to offer that socialist alternative, which is what people really want in our valleys.

“They want better pay, they want enough money to put food on the table for their kids. They don’t want bills rising, they want wealth created and kept in our communities.”

Ms Winter is standing in the new Senedd super-constituency of Pontypridd Cynon Merthyr and she said the new De Hondt electoral system was unfair to small parties and independent candidates.

“I’ve got serious concerns around the implications of the revised boundary and the electoral system that’s being used, because it distances people and candidates even more,” she said. 

“There are about 150,000 people in the constituency and not even the mainstream political parties are going to get around and knock every single door.”

Ms Winter explained that some people didn’t know there was a Senedd election, while some thought it was a local election, which “really does expose the fact that politics has got to change.”

Her campaign is being largely funded by individual donations, with Ms Winter close to raising the £10,000 that her campaign needs.