IT’S not uncommon to hear politicians claim they have the party they represent in their blood.

But Hefin David, who was elected as Labour’s AM for Caerphilly last May, has a genuine reason for the claim.

His mother is related to Alan Rogers, who later became MP for the Rhondda from 1983 until 2001. Mr David's parents also met through the Labour Party’s Young Socialists group.

Mr David said: “I kind of exist as a result of the Labour Party.

“When people say I wasn’t born into the Labour Party – I was.”

Born in Caerphilly District Miners’ Hospital in 1977 and growing up in Hengoed, Mr David has always stayed close to home, and today represents the people of Caerphilly in the Senedd.

Working as a university lecturer, he was elected to Caerphilly County Borough Council as member for St Cattwg in 2007 alongside his father Wynne, who had been elected to the same ward three years earlier.

“In 2007 (Independent St Cattwg ward member) Keith Derrick, who was a very good friend of mine, passed away and there was a vacancy to stand in my home ward,” he said.

“I thought here’s an opportunity to do something for this community in which I grew up.”

He added: “Keith always said to me ‘When I stand down I want you to stand in my place as a Labour councillor.

“Tragically he died and I thought, well, it’s what Keith wanted.

“It wasn’t the whole motivation but it felt appropriate.”

Mr David’s counterpart in Parliament having the same surname as him does often cause confusion among some, and he often has to explain to people he is no relation.

“A lot of people think Wayne David is my dad, but he’s not,” he said.

After 10 years on the council Mr David is stepping down this year to focus on his role as Caerphilly AM.

“I’m really sad to do so but I have to,” he said.

“I don’t think you can do both jobs effectively.

“You are either a councillor or an AM – they are two very different jobs.”

He said he had also been forced to take attention away from his career as a university lecturer.

“I’ve got a separate career in academia, which is something I loved,” he said.

“I adore teaching and I adore research.

“For ten years after I was elected to the council in 2007 I was doing politics and academia at the same time.

“There had to come a point where I had to make a decision, did I want to be full time in politics or full time in academia?

“When Jeff Cuthbert stood down as Caerphilly AM there was an opportunity to make that choice and to represent my home community again at a bigger level.

“I took that opportunity and I was elected.

“If I hadn’t been selected as Labour candidate or elected to the Assembly then I equally would have been as happy making my career in a different way in academia.”

Mr David, a father-of-one with another child due to arrive within weeks, said he believed it is as an AM that he could make the most difference to the lives of people in Caerphilly.

“People say to me ‘One day you might want to be an MP’,” he said.

“Well, no, it’s a different thing.

“The Assembly is the Welsh Parliament and there’s so much devolved now that that’s where the decision making is.

“I see it not as the Welsh Assembly - it’s the Welsh Parliament.

“That’s where I want to be.”

Caerphilly is home to some of the most impoverished areas of Wales, and Mr David said one of his top priorities is to make sure this is tackled.

Although he said the £1.2 billion Cardiff Capital Region City Deal, which Caerphilly is one of the 10 local authorities signed up to, could make a difference, he said it was important the less urban areas falling under the scheme benefitted.

“The Cardiff Capital Region City Deal is a huge thing, particularly the Metro,” she said.

“But it won’t be a benefit if it’s just a funnel into Cardiff. If we are just funnelling a small number of people from the Valleys into jobs in Cardiff that’s not going to be enough.

“What we’ve got to do is look at what we need in the northern Valleys, connections from Rhondda Cynon Taff, through Merthyr and Caerphilly to Torfaen and Blaenau Gwent.

“Historically they haven’t connected very well since the 1950s.

“If we have the opportunity to build these connections we can build short, agile, effective supply chains.

“What that means is businesses feeding each other and small businesses working cooperatively.

“Small businesses don’t compete with each other the way big businesses do. They feed off each other and they work together to build networks of supply.”

He added he was especially keen to see smaller locally-owned businesses benefit from the scheme.

“If the City Deal is about anything I think it isn’t about necessarily bringing big businesses into the northern Valley, but growing those small businesses which are here already,” he said.

“I want to see indigenous business grow.

“That’s the kind of connections I am talking about.

“That will do a lot more than trying to bring in big things from outside which might not stay.

“A supermarket opening is a good thing because it provides jobs. But the problem with that is all the money that is spent there is sucked up to head office.

“What they can do is source their supplies locally. If you can do that - that’s a good thing.”

He added: “There is no reason to say there can't be some kind of interaction where a locally-based supermarket can bring people in to use it who will then see a town centre and think well go there and do some extra stuff.”

As part of this, Mr David said he was keen to utilise the tourism potential of the area.

“One of the things which has been massively underplayed here in Caerphilly is the tourism sector,” he said.

“I think it can be be boosted and can be better.

“We’ve got massive potential - if you look at the castle it’s a huge attraction and what we should be doing is looking at how we can boost that and how we can maximise it.

“I’ve had discussions with local residents and local businesses to talk about what we can do.”

But he said he was under no illusion about the challenges posed by the UK Government’s austerity programme and its impact in Caerphilly.

“Austerity has had a huge impact, and I think the health service particularly has been damaged by the lack of investment UK-wide,” he said.

“But alongside that you’ve also got social care.

“Adult and child social care are going to be massive, massive things in the years ahead and we’ve got to get to grips with improving adult and child social care alongside the direct primary health care.

“You can’t have one without the other.

“Maybe we need a national social care service alongside the NHS, maybe we need to look at how we deploy social care.

“The Welsh Government has tried this and are looking at this in a way the UK Government hasn’t, developing and improving social care to keep people out of hospital so people are treated and looked after in their home communities and not having to travel miles to hospitals.”

And he said the current devolution settlement made some work difficult.

“The Welsh Government approached the UK Government in 2011 to get more trains and they said no,” he said.

“If you had left that to the Welsh Government to do they would have done it and there would be more trains. The Welsh Government knew there was a shortage of diesel stock, the UK Government didn’t and said everything would be electrified.

“The Welsh Government were more sceptical and said we needed more short-term diesel trains.”

He added: “I think decisions need to be taken at the level most appropriate for those decisions.

“The needs of Wales, south east Wales and north Wales are very different than the needs of the south of England.”

Looking forward to what he hopes to achieve during his time in office, Mr David said he had a number of priorities.

“In the short term I want to get the railway improved,” he said.

“And I want to see people using the high streets and using local business.

“In the long term I want to see the elimination of poverty. I want to see people being able to afford good quality services, access to education and good quality healthcare.

“In Caerphilly, I want to see people on lower incomes to see those rise, but also those who are currently in work no longer suffer in-work poverty.

“That’s a huge thing.

“I want people to have meaningful, good jobs.

“I want my community to be as good as it can be.

“And it can be great.

“I’ve grown up here and I never left.”