Cover image: Kirstie Kopetzki, the Common Ground candidate.
A former paediatric nurse is challenging Welsh Labour in the Grangetown council by-election today, Thursday 25th April.
Kirstie Kopetzki is running for the Common Ground Alliance, with Plaid Cymru and The Greens fielding a single unity candidate, on a platform against cuts to public services and Labour’s support for the Israeli bombardment of Gaza.
The ward sits in the Senedd constituency currently held by Vaughan Gething, the new Labour First Minister who has been mired in controversy over a £200,000 campaign donation he received from a firm convicted of environmental offences.
Kopetzki, herself a member of the Green Party and who for over 5 years worked as a paediatric intensive care nurse, says she is the ideal candidate to highlight the war on public services, which has been administered by the Labour Party in both Cardiff and Wales.
“Our public services are in complete ruin. All of them – our healthcare services, our transport services, our policing forces, our schools, our mental health services,” said Ms Kopetzki.
“We have seen cuts to every single one of our public services, we’ve seen inflation soar to higher levels than most people can now afford. Young people are not living, they’re surviving, and we have seen the pockets of the super rich overflowing.”
The candidate has also made a direct attack on Vaughan Gething over his support for cuts to the National Museum Cardiff.
“A vote for us is a vote for funding and restoring our heritage sights,” Ms Kopetzki said. “With respect to our National Museum, Vaughan Gething has openly admitted he will not step in to save it, and has defended the cuts made to an institution of immense educational importance, that is open to all the people of Wales. This is just further proof that Labour no longer represent the working class.”
In February, the popular Labour Councillor and Shopkeeper Abdul Sattar passed away suddenly at the age of 53. His untimely death left one of four council seats vacant, triggering a vote that carries significance beyond the ward itself. The Labour candidate is Waheeda Sattar, the widow of Mr Sattar.
Whilst the three other Councillors are Labour and the party has maintained a strong grip on the area since the 2008 elections, there is also real anger at the party’s support for the Israeli assault on Gaza which has claimed over 33,000 Palestinian lives, the vast majority women and children.
Party leader Keir Starmer backed Israel cutting off food, water and energy to the Gaza strip, a stance many have said gave licence for the country to commit genocide against the imprisoned population.
When Mr Starmer visited a Mosque in the Cardiff South constituency shortly afterwards, he was heavily criticised for posing for photos with community figures whilst backing Israel’s bombing of a majority Muslim population.
Roughly one third of eligible voters in the by-election are Muslim, but polling has consistently shown that anger over Gaza goes well beyond one group.
Ms Kopetzki has sought to bring the issue of Gaza and the failure of political leaders to listen to voters’ concerns to the fore.
“We have all stood by and watched innocent people – children – being murdered with weapons that were supplied by our country’s “leaders.” Both the Tory and Labour party ignored our cries, and then tried to silence our worries,” she said.
“They continue to try and convince us that their actions – and that the killing of innocents – is justified. We are being fed information we know to be unreliable and reflects howtoday’s elite politics has been built on disinformation and propaganda. It’s all beyond a joke now. Now is the time to do something about it.”
This is not the first time that Plaid Cymru have teamed up with the Green Party as part of the ‘Common Ground’ coalition. They also ran a joint campaign in 2022 on the back of a People’s Manifesto. The two political parties have consistently called for a ceasefire in Gaza from the outset, with Plaid Cymru taking a successful motion to the Senedd and ensuring that Wales was one of the first European parliament to back a ceasefire.
Polling will take place on Thursday 25th April, voters do not need to bring Photo ID. A full list of candidates and polling stations can be found via the Cardiff Council website.
