Welsh elections financial help for disabled candidates
This follows the duty of Welsh ministers under the Elections and Elected Bodies (Wales) Act 2024 to create such a scheme.
The initiative was supported by members last Tuesday.
Disabled candidates often face unavoidable costs like accessible transport, specialist equipment, or personal support.
The scheme, in line with the Draft Disabled People's Rights Plan for 2025 to 2035, aims to remove these barriers and promote equal opportunity.
Disability Wales will independently administer the scheme, ensuring impartiality and confidentiality.
Following the social model of disability, the scheme focuses on removing barriers rather than defining limitations.
It will offer comprehensive support, from identifying needs to funding approved adjustments, throughout the election period.
The scheme will be open for applications on September 1, 2025, and includes help identifying necessary support, assistance with completing applications, fair assessment of requests, and provision of approved funding or services.
This initiative reflects a shared commitment to breaking down barriers and ensuring everyone has the opportunity to participate fully in public life.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
5 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Water regulator Ofwat to pour £75million of taxpayers' cash into telling households how to save water... while billions of litres wasted daily due to leaky pipes
Water regulator Ofwat is to splurge up to £75 million of bill-payers' cash telling households how to save water – despite billions of litres being wasted every day due to leaky pipes. The watchdog, which ministers have vowed to scrap, is set to launch the multi-million-pound advertising and information campaign to reduce water usage by homes and businesses. Ofwat said the campaign will be funded by water bills – which are already set to rise by an average of £123 this year. Meanwhile, an average of three billion litres of water – equivalent to 1,200 Olympic sized swimming pools – is being wasted daily in England and Wales due to leaky pipes, research by the House of Commons Library for the Liberal Democrats found this year. Government figures also show that household water use is already falling – down by an average of four litres per person per day over the past two years. Ofwat chief executive David Black, who was paid £250,000 including pension last year, told MPs that the campaign would be 'cheaper than the alternative of building major new sources of supply' if it succeeds. But John O'Connell, of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: 'Taxpayers won't miss this lecturing regulator once it's abolished. For decades, Ofwat has failed to balance the competing priorities of keeping bills low and ensuring investment, while also being slow to some of the excesses of water executives.' An Ofwat spokesman insisted customers would only pay a small amount on their bills as a result of the campaign. They said: 'The campaign is part of a much larger strategy to deliver 30 new reservoirs and water supply projects, along with the roll-out of a further 10 million smart meters and water labelling. 'The average customer will only pay 62p per year for the delivery of the campaign, during which time leakage is set to reduce by a further 17 per cent.' The campaign will be funded by up to £75 million over five years, and will support 'a large-scale campaign on efficient water use covering England and Wales and both household and business sectors', documents revealed. Environment Secretary Steve Reed announced last month that regulator Ofwat would be scrapped, as part of measures to pull overlapping water regulation by four different bodies into one 'single powerful' regulator responsible for the whole sector. Shadow environment secretary Victoria Atkins said: 'Labour and Ofwat need to learn how to turn off the tap of wasteful spending on lecturing the public and instead focus on mending.'
Daily Mail
5 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Britain's new immigration hotspots mapped: Up to one in 20 residents in some boroughs are migrants who came here last year - so what is the figure in YOUR area?
Up to one in 20 residents in parts of England and Wales are immigrants who moved here last year, new analysis suggests. It comes after Government statistics last week revealed that the total population of the two nations shot up by 700,000 in 2023/24. Immigration fuelled the surge – the second largest since WW2. The Daily Mail can reveal that net international migration – defined as the difference between the number of people entering the country and leaving – was positive in all but one of 318 councils. Newham, home to roughly 374,000 people, saw an influx of 17,200 immigrants in the year to mid-2024. That suggests new migrants arriving from abroad in the last year now account for 4.6 per cent of the London borough's total population – roughly one in 20 people. Luton (4.3 per cent) and Coventry (4.2 per cent) had similarly high figures, according to estimates published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Experts say current immigration levels, which have hit all-time highs, are piling even greater pressure upon on housing, schools and the NHS. Our postcode search tool - available to use below - shows how the situation in your area has changed over the last 12 months, tracking births and deaths as well as net international migration. Robert Bates, research director at the Centre for Migration Control, said mass migration is 'changing the very fabric of Britain'. He said: 'Assimilation has been made impossible by the sheer scale of mass migration and our national culture is damaged as a result. 'Stretched public services - from the NHS and GP surgeries to public transport and schools - are being further eroded by a low wage, low-skill immigration system. 'Politicians have ignored the concerns of voters due to a misguided belief that open borders benefit the economy. 'We fast need a government which rejects this dogma and starts work to scrap a whole raft of failed visa routes, end foreign nationals' access to the welfare system, and invests in skills for the British workforce.' There were an estimated 61.8m people in England and Wales in mid-2024, up from 61.1m in mid-2023, according to the ONS' estimates. That increase, of 706,881 people, was eclipsed only by the 821,210 population rise in the 12 months to mid-2023, with growth in both years driven almost wholly by record rises in the number of migrants. Some 1.1m people are thought to have immigrated in the last 12 months, countered by the 450,000 believed to have emigrated. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage yesterday claimed the figures were' disastrous for the quality of life for everyone in the country'. There were slightly more births (596,012) than deaths (566,030) in the year to mid-2024, which added just 29,982 to the population. In terms of raw numbers, the biggest local authorities, such as Birmingham (38,700) had the most international migrants arriving. Given the West Midlands city has a population of 1.2million, however, the effects of international migration aren't as stark as they are in Newham. The City of London technically had the highest share of its current population down to international migration in 2024 (10.8 per cent) – although it is home to only 15,000 people. Only one local authority, South Holland in Lincolnshire, experienced a negative sum, due to more international migrants leaving than arriving. The ONS said it had 557 arrivals from abroad last year, but 695 people emigrated. Movement around the UK – known as internal migration – is recorded separately. Alp Mehmet, chairman of Migration Watch UK, said: 'The latest ONS figures are another eye-opener. 'While there is no breakdown of migration into nationality, sex, age or immigration status - as the ONS should do in the future - overall, the population of England and Wales increased by over 700,000 (the equivalent of Newcastle.) 'Just 30,000 of this was from births exceeding deaths.' Mr Mehmet also branded the government's response to the rising rates as 'complacent'. He said: 'Most worrying, these latest figures show that the speed with which the nature of our society is changing has not let up, and that the ethnic minority proportion of our population will become the majority in 30-35 years. 'The government must take decisive action to stem the immigration tsunami if we are not to become the island of strangers the Prime Minister referred to a few months ago.' The ONS cautions there might be some overlap in the data, although it is unclear by how much because of the difficulties in examining population flow. For example, the same person could be classed as both an international immigrant and internal emigrant. They could also die, further confusing the picture. Tory shadow Home Office minister Katie Lam said the data showed the population is rising at 'an unsustainable pace'. She said: 'This isn't about numbers on a spreadsheet, it's about pressure on housing, NHS waiting lists, school places, wages and it's about community and our culture. 'Britain simply cannot plan or build fast enough to keep up. 'We must secure our borders and deliver a fair and sustainable immigration system that works for the British people.' However Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said yesterday the figures 'confirm the truth of the Tory legacy on immigration'. She added: 'Their failed open borders experiment resulted in net migration quadrupling to a peak of almost a million per year in 2023 even as they promised it would fall. 'Since the election, net migration has come steeply down, and as part of the Government's Plan for Change we have set out new measures in the Immigration White Paper and have already changed immigration rules to bring net migration down further. 'To be successful, effective and fair, our immigration system must be properly controlled and managed. Out of the chaos and failure of the Tory past, that is what this Government will deliver.' Keir Starmer unveiled a crackdown on immigration in May, warning that failure to control the system risked turning Britain into an 'island of strangers'. Downing Street was forced to deny angry comparisons from MPs that it was an echo of Enoch Powell's infamous 'Rivers of Blood' speech. Scrambling to blunt the threat of Reform, Sir Keir has vowed to give voters what they had 'asked for time and time again' as he announced a package to 'take back control of our borders'. However, the month after the speech Sir Keir went on to say he 'deeply regretted' it, despite polling showing most Brits had no problem with the language used. His package of long-awaited policies to curb immigration involved a hiking of the skills threshold for immigrants and a toughening of the rules on fluency in English. Migrants will also be required to wait 10 years for citizenship rather than the current five and face deportation for even lower-level crimes. Policymakers estimate the Government's package will bring down annual inflows by around 100,000. It comes after Sir Keir signed a deal with French president Emmanuel Macron in a desperate attempt to solve the small boat Channel crisis. The Prime Minister and his French equivalent announced a 'one in, one out' migrant swap deal, although it was far less ambitious than expected.
The Guardian
8 hours ago
- The Guardian
Dining across the divide: ‘Wait a minute, you vote Reform and you read the Guardian?'
Occupation Engineering manager Voting record Generally a small-c conservative, has voted Tory in every election but 2024, when he voted Reform as a protest against the Conservative government. Doesn't see himself voting Reform in 2029 Amuse bouche Buys individual pieces of Lego to make his own creations. For his 30th birthday, his fiancee bought him the makings of a 3ft wingspan Tiger Moth biplane Occupation Retired maths teacher Voting record Labour or Lib Dem – whoever is most likely to beat the Tories Amuse bouche Spent seven years teaching in Africa, first in Kenya, then in Malawi Bernard He was very young, very smartly dressed. I wasn't scruffy, but I didn't have his polish. A nice guy; a bit diffident to start with, but we both were, really. It's a strange situation. Once we got talking, we got on fine. Michael He seemed welcoming, more than warm. Bernard I had buffalo chicken wings, followed by haddock, followed by a fantastic sticky toffee pudding. Perhaps I overdid it a bit. Michael I had pork belly to start, and then a Portuguese beef stew. Bernard We both agreed that we had to get away from fossil fuels, but his solution is nuclear. If there is an accident, they tend to be disastrous accidents – he had all kinds of arguments for why Chornobyl couldn't happen here, but even Sellafield in the early years, leaking radioactive water into the Irish Sea, was awful. Michael We should be pushing hard for nuclear, whereas Bernard leaned heavily into renewables. My reasons are the reliability of nuclear, the compactness. It's unfair to judge nuclear on Chornobyl. The causes of that disaster were largely unqualified people and political interference, rather than science. It was the politicians running it, not the engineers. Bernard The cost of Hinkley Point is immense. The French are building it, aren't they? He thinks the reason why that's happening is because the red tape in this country is so terrible. And what do you do with the waste? You bury it. But you've haven't got rid of it, you've just left it for future generations. Michael My response to the half-life issue, which he raised, is that we take very diffuse radioactive material and concentrate it – so it's not like we're creating this deadly thing; it's a natural element, or minerals rather, that's been concentrated. So it's a long problem but it's not a big problem. Sign up to Inside Saturday The only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine. Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns, delivered to your inbox every weekend. after newsletter promotion Bernard I think Brexit is a done deal and I'm pretty sure that it won't be reversed any time soon. Although I was furious about it, I do tend to think: what can we do? It's like being really cross there was an earthquake. Michael We voted opposite ways but agreed that it was time to move on. It wouldn't have happened this way were I dictator and in charge of everything, and I'm not particularly happy with the results, but we live in a democracy and you've got to accept compromise. Bernard We both felt there should be more consensus in politics. PMQs is a bit of a joke: it doesn't mean anything – it's like a tennis match. If you can make a select committee work, where people from all political parties manage to meet and agree on things, why can't you make law like that? Michael Towards the end of the evening, he mentioned Wes Streeting's new plan for the NHS. It's nice that it's a 10-year plan and is supported by the shadow health secretary. So that's almost a glimmer of hope against the normal discourse of A says this and B says, 'That's bad because A said it.' If both sides say it's a good thing, then it's probably a good thing. Bernard I certainly had an enjoyable evening. I don't think I made a friend, in so far as he's half my age. I said to him, 'Wait a minute, you vote Reform, and you read the Guardian?' It turned out his fiancee is a teacher and she encouraged him to do it. Michael We walked out of the restaurant together, chatted as we walked down the street. We didn't exchange numbers; I'll never see him again, but I very much enjoyed talking to somebody I'd never normally have crossed paths with. I almost felt guilty about how much I enjoyed it. Additional reporting: Kitty Drake Bernard and Michael ate at The Chapter House in Salisbury. Want to meet someone from across the divide? Find out how to take part
