Essential services like GPs, pharmacies and childcare are ‘twice as hard’ to access for people in Monmouthshire than in other parts of Wales, a Senedd Member has told his own leader.

Plaid Cymru’s Matthew Jones MS asked the First Minister, Rhun ap Iowerth MS, what his government can do to improve the reliability of and access to local services for people in rural and semi-rural communities.

However, the pair found themselves calling for Westminster to also help deal with the issue by treating Wales in the same way as England and Scotland.

“We are focussed on making services better in every part of Wales,” the First Minister said in the Senedd last Tuesday.

“We recognise that delivering effective public services in rural Wales means responding to the particular challenges that rural communities face.”

Meanwhile, the UK Government’s Rural Fuel Duty Relief Scheme has seen fuel costs subsidised in some hard-to-reach parts of England and Scotland. But it has not been rolled out anywhere in Wales.

Plaid Cymru’s ‘rural-proofing duty’ will force the Welsh Government and other public bodies to formally measure the impact their decisions have on rural life.

While this has been backed by farming unions, political opponents have said it will not deliver the immediate results people in the countryside are looking for.

Welsh Labour has criticised the policy as being overly focussed on reviews and administrative processes, saying it won’t deliver results quickly enough.

Nonetheless, Mr Jones said he was pleased the Welsh Government was acting to make life in rural communities easier for those who live there.

“Welsh rural communities, like many of those in Monmouthshire, face particular challenges accessing essential services and I’m pleased to hear the Plaid Cymru government is acting to ensure this must be taken into account,” he said.

“It's completely unjust that the UK government provides fuel relief to some rural areas of England and Scotland, but not to Wales. It's unfortunate that we have come to expect this from Westminster. It's disappointing but not surprising.”