Elin Jones AM and Ben Lake MP’s offices have been working together to ensure that Ceredigion is prioritised in the funding of Broadband by the Welsh and UK Governments. This week saw a long awaited statement from the Welsh Government Minister responsible for Broadband in Wales, Julie James AM, outlining the next steps in rollout of Superfast Broadband.

Plaid Cymru Assembly Members and Members of Parliament in West Wales have issued a statement following the flooding across the region this weekend.

The local representatives will this week seek to urge both Welsh and UK Governments to provide funding for local councils to undertake urgent assessments and repair works for public infrastructure, as well as providing support to individuals affected by the flooding.

Ben Lake MP and Jonathan Edwards MP will be urging Westminster government ministers to take advantage of the financial support available via the EU's Solidarity Fund.

In the National Assembly for Wales, Assembly Members Adam Price, Helen Mary Jones and Elin Jones will be seeking assurances that the Welsh Government will be assisting local authorities via the Emergency Financial Assistance Scheme.

Ceredigion MP and Plaid Cymru Defra Spokesperson Ben Lake has called for new systems to ensure Wales has a say on farm funding post-Brexit. He made the call during the Second Reading of Westminster’s Agriculture Bill.

Despite agriculture policy largely being the preserve of the Welsh Government, the overall level of funding for farm payments is decided in Westminster. Mr Lake called for the governments of all four nations to have a role in deciding the funding for farm payments going forward.

The Bill was also criticised for taking devolved powers away from Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and centralising them in Westminster.

A week on from his election as Plaid Cymru’s new leader, Adam Price has said that investing in young people will be at the heart of the party’s economic policy going forward.

Adam Price said that the lack of economic opportunities for young people in Wales's rural communities was creating a “brain-drain” in Wales - a crisis that will only become worse after Brexit unless action is taken.

The Plaid Cymru leader was visiting the Crwst bakery in Cardigan with Ceredigion MP Ben Lake ahead of the party’s annual autumn conference in the town over the weekend.

Ben Lake the MP for Ceredigion is calling on the climate Minister to take action now to get the UK’s carbon budgets on track for zero emissions by 2050.  As a signatory to the Paris Agreement on climate change, the UK has a responsibility to play its part in cutting carbon emissions sufficiently to limit global warming to 1.5 °C. This means reaching zero carbon by 2050. However, at the moment the UK’s carbon budgets are aiming for just 80% cuts by 2050—and it is forecast to exceed those targets from 2023 onwards.

Are you between 4 and 11 years old?

Want to take part in Ben Lake MP's Christmas card competition?

Ben Lake has launched a competition aimed at primary school pupils across Ceredigion to design his 2018 Christmas card. Ben will be sending Christmas cards once again this year to Assembly Members, Members of Parliament, societies, groups and organisations he's worked with over the year to wish them a peaceful and merry Christmas.

Ben Lake MP took time out of his busy schedule recently to visit Preseli Rural Transport Association better known locally as Green Dragon Bus, who provide community transport services that enables people who live in the south of Ceredigion to access local facilities and services.

Green Dragon Bus is a not-for-profit organisation which provides door to door and scheduled services to residents across south west Wales. Their mission is to help those unable to use mainstream transport, due to their disability or age or having no access to normal public transport, to reach their destination, wherever that may be, and lead as much of an independent life as is possible, in respect of transport.

On 12 September, Ben Lake MP contributed to an Urgent Question in the House of Commons on the financial sustainability of police forces.

After shadowing Dyfed Powys Police officers at his home town of Lampeter recently, the Ceredigion MP urged the Minister for Policing to look again at the police funding formula, so that it better reflects the specific challenges of sparsely populated areas. Ben Lake MP spent a day on the beat in Lampeter as part of the #GiveADayToPolicing campaign, a scheme for Parliamentarians to better understand the challenges currently facing our police forces across the UK.

During his shift Mr Lake had the opportunity to experience a variety of aspects of local policing – from spending time with the neighbourhood policing team, attending response calls and discussing policing challenges with front-line police officers.

The UK Government has said it will give Wales an extra £23.5m towards the pay award for teachers following scrutiny and pressure from Ben Lake MP.

A pay-rise was announced by the UK's Education Secretary for teachers across both Wales and England on the 24^th of July, to be implemented from September onwards. Details on how the pay-rise would be funded in England were published but in a response to a question from Plaid Cymru MP, Jonathan Edwards, the Education Minister said that he expects the Welsh Government to pay for the increase in Wales, despite it being the responsibility of the Westminster Government. 

As a result, schools and local authorities across Wales started this academic year unclear about how much they would have to pay towards what was otherwise a welcome increase to teachers' pay, at a time of shrinking school and local government budgets.

Earlier this month Ben Lake MP travelled to the heart of the Cambrian Mountains to meet with the team of researchers at Pwllpeiran Upland Research Platform.

Pwllpeiran, part of IBERS at Aberystwyth Univeristy is the only publicly owned upland research farm in Wales and for the best part of a century it has played an important role in the development of agriculture in Wales.

80% of utilised agricultural land in Wales is classifed as ‘Less Favoured Area’, and as such a combination of altitude, soil characteristics and climatic conditions restricts most farms within these areas to extensive sheep and cattle production. Over the years, Pwllpeiran’s main aim has been to significantly improve the viability of farming in the uplands to ensure continued agricultural productivity in disadvantaged areas whilst also stemming rural depopulation.