We are likely to see a new AM in May, as North Wales Conservative AM Antoinette Sandbach has this week won the selection to be a parliamentary candidate in a safe Conservative seat of Eddisbury in Cheshire. If successful in the General Election, she will stand down from the Assembly, and the next person on the Conservative regional list for North Wales will take her seat. This will be Janet Haworth, a Conwy councillor who owns a guest house in Llandudno and has previously worked in the Assembly office of Conservative AM Janet Finch-Saunders.
Roger Lewis was announced as the new Chair of the publicly-owned Cardiff Airport. He takes over from Lord Rowe Beddoe at a critical time for the airport, as investment in infrastructure and attracting airlines seems to see it turn a corner. The next few years will need careful handling to consolidate growth in a changing market.
Mr Lewis has clearly impressed Carwyn Jones and Edwina Hart with his handling of the cross-party Yes for Wales campaign, and his energy in pressing forward the Cardiff Capital Region activity. Following this new appointment, it remains unclear clear how the city regions will move forward. The Welsh Government has a number of major infrastructure projects in its sights, with limits to its powers to raise significant borrowing or leveraging direct inward investment, and a new model of delivery may be required to move these projects forward.
Ahead of today’s general election campaign launch Plaid Cymru’s campaign coordinator Lord Dafydd Wigley has expressed concern that the party will be limited in its influence on any post-election negotiations if its sister party, the SNP, wins as many seats as is currently being projected by the polls. Next week, the Assembly is in Easter recess, and politicians will turn their attention to campaigning ahead of the General Election. The political Look will be launching their manifestos for Wales shortly, and we can expect to see on Tuesday what Plaid Cymu and the Liberal Democrats will promise to electors, if either form part of a post-election deal.