Today is the U.K. by-elections and for the Welsh, it feels pretty significant.

Many don’t want to admit that the U.K. is divided and dividing up and unless central powers in Westminister get their act together, things could look radically different.

So I cast my vote.

I won’t share the party, but I will share the values I was looking for. I’m not partisan to a party and I’ll happily swing depending on their manifesto and the time we are in and the challenges we face.

I voted for someone who came across as genuine, honest and worked at grassroots levels. I voted for someone who is optimistic and has plans that are ambitious and engage in possibility. I voted for someone who appears fresh in what is otherwise a system that has left many disenfranchised.

I voted for a party that puts education and healthcare at the heart of it’s policies as well as looking to take progressive action to tackle climate change.

For the first time, I felt like I was voting for something optimistic. How I wish the process of voting could be more optimistic and if we can look at new representative systems such as ranked voting which in turn, replaces first past the post, we may achieve that.

It was also great that 16-17 year olds were able to have a say. They’ve been massively affected by decisions which they have had no voice to say otherwise.

I’m fed up of parties and people slandering each other and everything being a rat race. What I want is for the narrative to be based on ‘we’ and for everyone to work as cooperatively as possible.

It’s been a tumultuous few years and as we go forward beyond this pandemic, let’s hope things can change for the better.