The UK general election is now in its final stages and while the union-wide result hardly seems in doubt, each constituency and candidate has a story to tell.

Here at the Hiraeth Pod we are recording a series of short interviews with new candidates who are contesting constituencies across Wales. These are new faces on the national scene and will no doubt feature in the 2026 Senedd campaign even if unsuccessful this time around.

We plan to speak to each of the main parties in Wales, which we consider to be the ones standing in every constituency at the start of the campaign (though since then some have fallen away, as you are no doubt aware). So we will be sharing interviews with Conservative, Plaid Cymru, Green, Reform, Liberal Democrat, and Labour candidates as we try to uphold the values of public service broadcasting in the digital age.

In this pod we speak with Cllr Aled Thomas who is standing for the Conservatives - specifically the Welsh Conservatives - in Ceredigion Preseli. Familiar to viewers/listeners of Welsh language current affairs coverage, Aled comes from an agricultural background and is bringing a distinctly Welsh flavour to his campaign.

You can find Aled here: https://twitter.com/CllrAledT

The candidates in Ceredigion Preseli are:

Conservative and Unionist Party: Aled Thomas

England and Wales Green Party: Tomos Barlow

Liberal Democrats: Mark Williams

Plaid Cymru: Ben Lake

Reform UK: Karl Robert Pollard

UK Labour: Jackie Jones

Workers Party of Britain: Taghrid Al-Mawed

As always, you can find the latest from us @hiraethpod on most social media, including Twitter/X here: twitter.com/HiraethPod

We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks.

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