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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Travel
Hannah Waldram

Interview: The safest Welsh seat?

jenny willott
Jenny Willott MP (Lib Dem) Photograph: David Levene

Jenny Willott's seat as MP for Cardiff Central is considered the safest for the Lib Dems in Wales...but she's not so sure.

Speaking to her in the constituency office on Woodville Road, Cathays, Willott shrugs off the accolade pointing out the changing demographic which makes up her constituents.

Cardiff Central is made up of key wards – covering the city centre, through Cathays, Plasnewydd, and Adamsdown down to Llanishen.

Winning with a landslide majority of 5,593 votes (48.9 per cent) at the 2005 election Willott took up her first term as an MP and at the ripe age of 31, and she has plenty to stay in government for.

She sits on the select committee for work and pensions, as well as public administration and she has been cabinet office spokeswoman for the Liberal Democrats since 2009. She firmly believes campaigning on small single issues is the way to make any change in Parliament.

"I loved being on the work and pensions committee. It's nice to have something you work on in parliament which is a really interesting challenge and can cause a meaningful change. I have been particularly interested in the benefits system. It's nice to see what we have changed through working with the committee. If you pitch your subjects carefully and hammer away as a back bencher you will make a difference."

Willott has also campaigned against the draining of the Llanishen reservoir, Allied Steel and Wire Pensions, and on behalf of the small group of Cardiff residents who became infected with HIV, Hepatitis C and Haemophilia after receiving contaminated blood products - an area she said she is beginning to see change occurring.

She recently attracted the attention of national media after posing questions in parliament relating to the the Cardiff office of UK Borders Agency. The whistle-blower had contacted her directly about abusive behaviour she had seen towards asylum applications in the office.

Councillors for her constituency are also Lib Dem (she has monthly meetings with leader of the council Rodney Berman), Willott says she is able to pass on local gripes about rubbish, dog poo and noise. "I hope we can show that we run the council and what the council has done to deliver services locally," she said.

But with the changing student community seeing her constituents moving out of Cardiff inbetween terms in office, she has a constant battle to keep her seat against Labour rival Jon Owen Jones.

So what are the current concerns of the people she represents in Westminster? Willott thinks the answer may be surprising since most people think students are only worried about rent and the price of alcohol. Contrary to this misconception, says Willott, the students send her letters worrying about climate change, the environment, Iraq, and third world poverty.

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