WELSH secretary Christina Rees gave the keynote speech on the second day of the Welsh Labour conference, in which she pledged her support to all the party’s candidates for May’s council elections.

Ms Rees, who was elected to Parliament as MP for Neath for the first time in May 2015 and appointed to Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet in February, said she understood the challenge involved in being a local government representative.

"You deliver public services in a climate where the UK Tory Government has slashed the Welsh Assembly’s block grant," she said.

"In spite of brutal Tory cuts from Westminster, our Labour councils have a proud record of delivery across Wales."

She added: "Councillors are dedicated, hard-working servants to our fantastic people of Wales.

"The forthcoming elections will be tough, but I am positive about them and will be doing all I can to ensure we return hardworking Labour councillors and create Labour-led local authorities."

She also called for more to be done to battle inequality in Wales, saying: “It doesn’t matter where you are from, what school you went to or didn’t, how much you earn or don’t earn, your gender or transgender, sexuality, race or religion.

“We are all equal and should all be given equal opportunities.”

On Brexit, Ms Rees said, while she had campaigned for a Remain vote, she recognised voters had chosen to leave.

But she added she remained convinced Labour MPs should have a say on the ultimate deal reached with the EU before the UK leaves the union.

“We need full and unfettered access to the Single Market so that we can export and import goods without our businesses having to face extra costs on top of production costs, which will ultimately be passed down to the consumers,”she said.

Ms Rees closed her speech by calling for the party to "work together for a fair deal for the people of Wales".

Today also included a debate on achieving gender equality within the party, during which leader of Newport City Council Cllr Debbie Wilcox, who is the only female head of a Labour-led local authority in Wales, said more much be done to increase the representation of women in politics.

“Our politics is fundamentally weakened when we do not see women in public life,” she said.

The final day of the conference also saw a speech by former first minister Alun Michael and a debate on health and social care.

For full coverage of the two day event pick up a copy of Monday’s Argus.