What did we learn from the Caerphilly TV debate?

Local TV

Six of the eight candidates at the Caerphilly by-election took part in a lively TV debate on Wednesday evening, with a few heated exchanges taking the headlines.

Transcript

00:00Kevili's upcoming by-election is set to be historic, it is the final chance to vote

00:05to Senate member in under the current system, and will be a real bellwether for what exactly

00:10is going to happen at the full Senate election next year.

00:13Eight candidates are in the running from all the major parties, and all want to make their

00:17mark before May, and get a shot in the arm for the campaign in 2026.

00:22On Wednesday night, six candidates took part in the televised debate on the BBC, with some

00:26major talking points coming largely in the form of heated exchanges.

00:31The parties know what's at stake, and so do the candidates.

00:35Welsh Labour's Richard Tunnicliffe, Plaid Cymru's Lindsay Whittle, Reform UK's Cleodd Powell,

00:40Steve Aichler of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, Welsh Conservatives' Gareth Potter and Gareth

00:45Hughes of the Green Party all took part, with Gwilard's candidate Anthony Cook and UKIP's

00:50Roger Quilliam, both running but were not at the debate.

00:53Cleodd Powell, the Reform UK candidate, was possibly the one to have the biggest impact

00:57on the night, both positively and negatively.

01:00An exchange between himself and an audience member caught people's attention when she

01:04called out Reform's immigration policy, saying she now has to tell her mixed race sons to

01:09not go to certain areas since Reform rose to prominence.

01:14Much of the debate took place between butted heads and talking over one another, with Welsh

01:18Labour also taking a few hits, given they're the party in power in Wales.

01:23Immigration, although not necessarily at stake at the by-election, along with things like

01:28the NHS, the ongoing Senate annual budget, local investment and libraries were all the

01:33major talking points.

01:34Now there's about a week or so until the big day of the vote, and plenty of the parties

01:38will be keeping everything crossed.

01:40James P. Watkins, reporting for Local TV.

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