THE Welsh Conservatives have announced their candidates for the South Wales East region ahead of the upcoming Senedd elections.

First on the list is current South Wales East MS Laura Jones, who was appointed to the role last year, following the death of Mohammad Asghar, who had represented the region from 2003 until 2007.

Mr Asghar's daughter Natasha, is second on the list. She has twice stood for the Newport East Westminster seat, in 2015 and 2017, in both cases coming second to Labour's Jessica Morden.

Third is former leader of Newport City Council Cllr Matthew Evans. Cllr Evans has run for election for both the Parliament and the Senedd multiple times, most recently for Newport West in 2019's by-election, and later the same year in the snap General Election. In both cases he came second to Labour's Ruth Jones, but narrowed the gap in both cases, cutting the majority to 2.3 per cent in the second.

Nick Evans,the fourth name on the list, is a local councillor and former volunteer police officer from the Chepstow area.

Ms Jones, who is currently the Welsh Conservatives' shadow minister for equalities, children and young people, said: “It’s really great to have been endorsed by the membership of the region that I live in, have grown up in and care deeply for.

“We have a fantastic team in South Wales East, and I look forward to working hard with all of them to ensure that we get as many Conservative candidates as possible from our region in the Senedd.”

Regional candidates are elected through a system through which votes are cast for parties rather than candidates. If one party wins 25 per cent of the vote, their first candidate is elected, and so on if they win 50, 75, or 100 per cent of the vote.

South Wales East is currently represented by Ms Jones, Plaid Cymru's Delyth Jewell, Mark Reckless of the Abolish the Welsh Assembly Party, and David Rowlands of the Independent Alliance For Reform