Latest news with #Rhymney
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- General
- Daily Mail
Man, 20, found dead next to overturned quadbike with burned out BMW discovered in nearby town: Police arrest five amid murder probe
Five men have been arrested amid a murder probe following the death of a 20-year-old man who was found next to an overturned quad bike. Ethan Powell of Brynmawr, was found deceased on the A465, between Rhymney and Downlais, south Wales in the early hours of May 31 following a fatal crash. Officers also believe a white BMW which was found 'burnt out' miles away from the collision in the Downlais area, may have been involved. The police force have made five arrests in connection with the incident, which includes two men, aged 43 and 34, were arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice and assisting an offender and are currently in police custody. A 41-year-old man from was also arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice and assisting an offender. He was released on conditional bail but he was recalled to prison in connection with an unrelated enquiry. A 40-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder and driving whilst unfit through drink and driving while unfit through drugs. A 37-year-old was arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice and assisting an offender. Both were later released on conditional bail as enquiries continue. Mr Powell's heartbroken family have since paid a touching tribute to the 'adventurous' and 'forever loved' youngster, who was 'the kindest of souls'. 'Ethan had the kindest of souls, the biggest of hearts and enough love to give to absolutely anyone he came across in life,' his family said. 'He was the funniest of characters and always managed to light up a room. He will forever live on through his sisters Eleanor and Isabella with our family remembering him every second of every day. 'Our family is truly heartbroken at the news, a young life taken far too soon with so much ahead of him. 'We would like to thank everyone for the overwhelming support which we have had since Saturday. 'It brings a bit of comfort to see how loved and well thought of he really was, but we would now like to ask for privacy and space to grieve following this unimaginable loss to our family. Ethan; forever 20, forever loved.' Others online described Ethan as 'a kind boy' who 'could light up a room with his character' while others dubbed him a 'sweet lad who always had a smile on his face.' Officers investigating the tragedy on the main A465 on the Heads of the Valleys road in South Wales found a burnt-out BMW in the Dowlais area of Merthyr Tydfil. Detective Chief Inspector Matthew Edwards, the senior investigating officer, said: 'We're keen to speak to anyone who was travelling along the A465 between the hours of 2am and 5am on Saturday morning, especially motorists with dashcam, as they could have details that might assist our enquiries. 'It is still our view that a second vehicle – a white BMW that was found burnt out in the Dowlais area – may have been involved in the collision. 'If you have any information about this car, then please get in touch.' Anyone with information has been urged to call 101, or contact the force via their website quoting reference 2500171434. Alternatively, you can contact Crimestoppers anonymously with information by calling 0800 555 111 or going to their website to report online in confidence.
BBC News
31-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Man dies in A465 Heads of the Valleys crash
A man has died after a quadbike was found overturned on a major road. Police were called to a crash on the A465 westbound, between Rhymney, Caerphilly, and Dowlais, Merthyr Tydfil, at around 04:50 BST on Saturday.A quadbike was found overturned in the road and a man found next to it was pronounced dead at the scene, Gwent Police was fully completed on the A465 – also known as the Heads of the Valleys road – on Friday after a £2bn upgrade that started in said they would like to speak to anyone who was travelling on the A465 westbound between Rhymney and Dowlais between 01:30 and 04:50 on Saturday.
The Sun
22-05-2025
- Health
- The Sun
Inside UK benefits capital where jobless locals live off ‘PIP trips' and vodka-swigging teens torch bins
ITS rolling valleys and picturesque countryside attract more than half a million tourists a year. But despite its rich heritage as a coal and steel-mining area, pockets of deprivation have earned this borough the title of the most anxious place in the UK. 10 The dubious accolade comes as new figures reveal Blaenau Gwent in south Wales is home to the highest number of people who claim the state's disability benefit, PIP (Personal Independence Payment), due to anxiety or depression. One in 30 people in the local government district in the county of Caerphilly claim PIP due to mental health problems, the statistics show. In the small town of Rhymney, residents say they are overwhelmed by the sheer number of social residents being moved there, as the High Street's shops close their shutters and buildings are developed into HMOs (houses in multiple occupation) where at least three individuals are housed, sharing a bathroom and kitchen. Rhymney's residents say drug dealing, anti-social behaviour and high levels of deprivation have transformed the town into a no-go area at night which is "doomed". Walking through woods on the sunny day The Sun visited, a lone woman sat on a step in the woods guzzling beer from a can and smoking cannabis, while on the main road out of town, free roaming sheep dodged traffic. On the High Street many of the shops are shut down, although a newsagents, fish and chip shop, barber and two Helping Hands charity shops remain open. Many of the people on the main social housing estate next to the town centre admit they have lost hope and don't see a future for themselves. Kirstie Cavender, 38, suffers with her mental health and collects the benefits, dubbed "going on a PIP trip". She said: 'I never used to suffer from anxiety but had a bad time in a past relationship and it's been the same since then. 'I've claimed Universal Credit since I was 21, and have been claiming disability for three years because of my mental health. Our town is so depraved it has the same life expectancy in war-torn Syria "It's hard but I've become good at budgeting because I have to budget really carefully. 'I've got a 14-year-old and a seven-year-old and even if I could work there's no employment round here unless you can drive, and I don't drive. 'Rhymney used to be nice, but it's not like it used to be. There's a lot of drug abuse and drug dealing going on, so you can't go out on the streets at night, and I don't let my kids out on their own, it's just not safe. 'We need more parks and places for the kids, but we just get forgotten about, nobody who lives here has any hope. Most of the shops are shut. It's depressing.' Rhymney used to be nice, but it's not like it used to be. There's a lot of drug abuse and drug dealing going on, so you can't go out on the streets at night, and I don't let my kids out on their own, it's just not safe Kirstie Cavender Another resident who wished to remain anonymous said: 'I'm on benefits for anxiety and have been for three years since I left prison. 'I also have ADHD so my mental health is not good, and I don't leave the house unless I really have to. I know loads of people here, but I just prefer to be left alone and there's not anything here to go out for.' 'We're doomed' A total of 2,289 people in the constituency are in the same position. Pub landlord Andrew Roberts of the Royal Arms Hotel in the High Street has just one customer cradling a pint of beer when we pay a visit. He says the only reason he's able to stay open is because he has other pubs outside of Rhymney which keep the business afloat. 'Everywhere was thriving until the coal mining and steelworks were shut down by Maggie Thatcher. 10 10 'Now it's a very, very poor area and there's no money about here. I can understand why everyone is depressed and down. 'They turn to drink and drugs to cope. Somewhere the bubble's going to burst. "There's not a great deal of industry around here, with job losses in the area too there'll only be more people in the same boat. 'The only reason I keep this pub open is for the few people who come in here in the summer. 'I close most nights. The country is a mess and Wales has been forgotten. "Ffos-y-fran opencast coal mine in Merthyr Tydfil was the last in the UK and it closed in 2023 with nothing to replace the jobs that were lost. 'The Government brought in an emergency bill to save Scunthorpe steelworks – but nobody lifted a finger to help Port Talbot's Tata Steelworks last year. I feel like we're doomed.' What is PIP? Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is a welfare benefit that can help with extra living costs. A person can claim it if they have either a long-term physical or mental health condition or disability, or if they have a difficulty doing certain everyday tasks or getting around because of their condition. PIP payouts to people who suffer from anxiety or mental health disorders have more than doubled over the past five years. In 2020 it cost the economy £1.2billion, while today that figure is £2.6billion. Each person gets a standard rate of £73.90 per week, with a further mobility support payment of £29.20. 'Overwhelmed' Of the residents we spoke to in Rhymney town centre, many were fiercely protective of their heritage and community spirit, but agreed there are too many people in social housing in the town. Local resident and former charity worker Kathy Rist, 69, said: 'Rhymney is an ex heavy-mining town, but it also had Rhymney Brewery, established in 1856, that kept the whole of south Wales and beyond in good quality beer. 'It was a thriving, working class town where everybody knew each other, and that is still the case. Families go back for generations. 'We are a town where our basic ethos is looking after people who are in a bit of trouble or down at heel. "Because of that we have people placed here who are vulnerable in the type of housing where they are not looked after. 'They may have drug and drink issues, and we're not against people who are vulnerable living our communities, but the town is overwhelmed by the amount of people. Youngsters sometimes like to congregate here, which is fine... But then they've got bottles of vodka, which they're smashing on the ground, and then they set fire to the bins because they're cold. There's nothing else for them to do Kathy Rist "The bank, two of the chapels, the old doctor's surgery and several large houses have been turned into HMOs, which are basic. 'Youngsters sometimes like to congregate here, which is fine. They get off the train and hang around in the park. 'But then they've got bottles of vodka, which they're smashing on the ground, and then they set fire to the bins because they're cold. There's nothing else for them to do. 'Rhymney is a nice town full of good, honest, hard-working people. But there's nothing here for entertainment, activity, enrichment or going out with friends in an evening. That's what it's lacking. 'Thatcher tore the guts out of this town by the closure of the pits, which was followed by the closure of the brewery. 'The brewery building was turned into a gym which was the heart of the community; everyone went to the gym whether you were fit or not. It was gut-wrenching to lose that when it shut in 2024. 'The council in their wisdom are putting council-owned housing there, but also a vulnerable children's home next to a railway which is becoming a metro system and will have four trains an hour when it's upgraded. It's a recipe for disaster because of county lines." 'Lack of purpose' The Rhymney line is undergoing a major upgrade as part of the South Wales Metro project, with an eight-month engineering programme currently underway to electrify the line, meaning more frequent trains. Yvonne Pugh, 80, said: 'Although on some parts you'd think life was harder during the mining years, it was also easier. "We had things on our doorstep like socials; I think that's the kind of thing which enriches the little valleys. 'Anxiety comes from a lack of purpose in your life. You can have bouts of anxiety because of bereavement, or awful things happening to you. But it doesn't have to be permanent, if there are things around you to helping you out of that. The council in their wisdom are putting council-owned housing there, but also a vulnerable children's home next to a railway which is becoming a metro system and will have four trains an hour when it's upgraded. It's a recipe for disaster because of county lines Yvonne Pugh 'When the bigger industries have gone from the valley, we haven't had enough replacements or training. 'If you're on a low income there's nothing to help you out anymore. It's not that people haven't got the incentive, there's just not enough round here to help them. 'The town needs a facelift, but there are a few littles groups trying to help, but we need our share of redevelopment and that would help us. "It needs to have a little bit back of what it had before, more groups and things made easier for youngsters to do. 'The lack of employment here now is difficult, not everyone has the luxury of jumping in a car to get to work.' No hope Lyndsey Thomas, 51, an EOTAS (Education Otherwise Than At School) tutor supporting children who aren't in mainstream education, said: 'It's systemic. We can be quick to see anxiety as an internal thing, but it's systemic. "It's ok providing housing and shelter, but that's the bottom of the pyramid. 'To allow people to thrive it needs to be about food and warmth, but on top of that we need to look at how to address the problem. 'Young people are making their own entertainment around here because there's nothing for them to do. We've never had a leisure centre here, I remember kids asking if we'd ever have a swimming pool. 'Hope is what is lacking here. When you ask young people, 'What are your aspirations?' a lot of young people, particularly in an area of deprivation, their only experience is of going to the local Asda on a weekly shop, you might know of a hairdresser, a nail bar. Hope is what is lacking here. When you ask young people, 'What are your aspirations?' a lot of young people, particularly in an area of deprivation, their only experience is of going to the local Asda on a weekly shop Lyndsey Thomas 'Even though they might learn of Neil Armstrong at school, or hear, 'My dad's a doctor', there's a real sense of people thinking, 'I'm not good enough for that'. 'It's very easy to see 'scroungers', but they've all got a story. There's no investment for a future. They can't tell you want they want to do because they can't see a future for themselves.' Alison Jones, 77, spearheaded a campaign to save the old brewery building in a bid to improve the town's wellbeing and economic future. "With imagination it could be a place for training, especially in the growth industries like hospitality," she said. "It's in a prime position next to the train line, it could have been used as a heritage destination or lots of different things to bring money into Rhymney, which could stay in Rhymney. 'But instead, the council have decided to use that for further social housing. We're not against social housing at all, but we want to make sure the town has places people can go to, to help everyone. 'The local authority is inundating Rhymney and the local community with the people that need help, and yet they're taking away the structures that could help them.' The Sun has reached out to the local council for comment.
Daily Mail
11-05-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE 'They don't deserve it!': Locals in Britain's most depressed town slam benefit scroungers for claiming sickness cash for 'anxiety'
A once proud town in the Welsh valleys has been damned by a new statistic - it has the highest rate of people in the UK claiming sickness benefits for anxiety. With its tree-lined high street, rich history and the Brecon Beacons National Park just a short hike away, Rhymney should be a great place to live. But even those born and bred in the town say it's drab and depressing and they're not surprised they are at the top of the anxiety sick note list. One-in-30 people in Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney say they are suffering from anxiety to get benefits - a total of 2,289 claimants in total. It's 40 years since the Miners' Strike but Margaret Thatcher still gets blamed for closing the pits and destroying the spirit that once glued this community together. Many young people in the town have never had a job because they grew up without ever seeing their parents head off to work every morning. Former Labour councillor Richard Pugh, 46, who works for MacMillan Cancer Support, said: 'It's a generational thing, parents are unemployed and their kids end up the same. 'The closure of the pits was 40 years ago but we have never recovered, we have never replaced that industry. 'All the health issues, including mental health and depression have stemmed from that. Many young people in the town have never had a job because they grew up without ever seeing their parents head off to work every morning. 'I'm not surprised about people claiming for anxiety here, sadly we're top of all the leagues you don't want to be top of.' But there's a feeling in the town that some benefits claimants are malingering and claiming anxiety because the condition is hard to prove or disprove. Retired transport engineer Alan Davies, 61, said: 'It's not like you have a spinal problem or mobility issues - anyone can say they've got anxiety. 'Some cases are genuine but there's a lot that aren't and the country can't afford to pay people benefits they don't deserve. 'There's nothing about Rhymney that would cause anyone anxiety, it's not a bad town. But people need jobs to feel valued and good about themselves.' Paul Thomas, 66, manager of the Helping Hands charity chop in the town said the community was 'stagnant'. 'A lot of people here have a lot of knowledge about the benefits system,' he added. 'You are not going to go out to work for a basic wage when you can get just as much money for not working. 'But there's nothing here, the pits went, we had a brewery employing a thousand men, a factory making military equipment, a hydraulic machinery factory, all gone. 'The town is stagnant, a lot of the South Wales valleys towns are in a similar situation. There's not a lot here for youngsters, we have a drug problem, anti-social behaviour and people don't have a lot of hope.' An ex-miner, 75, who didn't want to be named, said: 'After the pits closed the area has just gone downhill, it's got rougher and rougher. 'They promised us well paid jobs when coal mining finished but it never happened. 'The community spirit has gone and they are placing people here, anti-social people with problems. It's become a dumping ground for all sorts. 'I can remember times when you would see someone in the street and you would know their parents and their grandparents. 'You could leave your doors open night and day, all that has gone now.' Charity shop volunteer Pauline Bowman, 75, said: 'You see the kids going up and down the street on electric bikes and that's enough to put your blood pressure up. 'I've only lived here for a year but there's nothing to be anxious about although there aren't many opportunities for younger people. 'The Government in London doesn't know where Wales is, never mind Rhymney.' The town's branch of Lloyds Bank has shut and is being turned into flats, shops have been boarded up or turned into takeaways and there is the inevitable Turkish barber, waiting for customers. The only two customers in the bar of the Royal Arms Hotel at lunchtime were discussing the town's new label as the anxiety capital of the UK. A man, sipping a half of lager, told Mail Online: 'I've got anxiety myself but figures like this don't help us, they damage Rhymney's reputation.' Retired English teacher Sam Hickman, 77, said: 'It's a very deprived area, it doesn't surprise me. If you walk down the high street you get a sense of a lack of anything going on. There's nothing happening here, it's a bit dead. The town's main High Street appeared almost empty. The town's branch of Lloyds Bank has shut and is being turned into flats, shops have been boarded up or turned into takeaways and there is the inevitable Turkish barber, waiting for customers 'There's hardly any work for young people, there's no entertainment, they just sit outside the chip shop all day.' Two of the women in Cloe's beauty parlour on the high street said they had been diagnosed with anxiety but had never claimed benefits for it. Eyelash technician Rhianwen Murray, 24, said: 'I think a lot of people here are playing on the anxiety thing. A lot of it is put on, you can't tell if someone genuinely has it. 'I have it at times but working helps me, keeping busy and meeting people. 'But there's a lot of people not working in Rhymney but you see them out drinking in the daytime. If they really had anxiety I don't think they'd be doing that.' Cheerful and smiling chip shop owner Helen Jones, 51, also believes that working can be an antidote to anxiety and depression. She said: 'I've been running the chippie for 27 years now, I haven't got time to suffer from anxiety. I'm too busy.' The Government is seeking to slash Britain's stratospheric welfare spending, with the benefits bill for working age people having skyrocketed to nearly £118billion a year. The colossal amount represents a real-terms increase of 46 per cent over the last five years alone. Liz Kendal, work and pensions secretary, is looking to slash the expenditure by honing in on the Personal Independence Payment - or PIP - which she fears has been awarded to people too easily. The benefit is given to those aged 16 and over with long-term health conditions or disabilities, and is intended to assist people who experience difficulties with daily living or mobility with their costs. Sir Keir Starmer's Government is determined to find £5billion worth of savings. However, in truth there is no quick fix to the problem. Simply removing people's access to PIP will not solve the plethora of woes facing those who live in the constituency of Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney. In the town's deserted high street, the only real clientele appear to be the flock of sheep who - seemingly so unaccustomed to seeing people out and about - graze freely on grass verges, unabashed. Some behind closed doors, some locals plead for the community to rally, to work, to volunteer - to do anything but sit inside, rotting. But the malaise within Rhymney runs so deeply, that even this modest ambition seems almost impossible. The Government's Get Britain Working white paper, revealed last year, aims to address this, to a degree. With a £240million package of personalised services for jobseekers and souped-up job centres - as well as planned improvements to the NHS - it's hoped this will give people the kick-start needed to get into work. But for isolated communities like Rhymney, where the 'stagnation' has lasted for decades, only time will tell to see if these plans will work - or if the town continues down its path of steady, depressing decline.
Telegraph
06-05-2025
- Health
- Telegraph
The Welsh town at the centre of Britain's anxiety epidemic
A willowy blonde woman is pushing a buggy along Rhymney High Street, past boarded up shops, the now defunct solicitor's office, the closed bank branch. Sheep are incongruously grazing on a nearby verge – but this is no rural idyll. 'I hate this place so much, I just want out,' says Lisa Jones, 36, vehemently. 'My daughter Charli is seven months old and this is not a safe environment to bring up a child because of the drugs, the parties and the antisocial behaviour of people living off benefits they have no right to claim. 'I'm not well. I suffer from arthritis, hip dysplasia and lupus, but I am having to go to a tribunal to get enough money to live on, while neighbours on my street milk the system and make our lives a misery.' Like every other town here in the South Wales Valleys, regimented terraces of former miners' cottages slope downwards off the main road. And beyond them rise up the hills which were once an economic powerhouse of rich coal seams, iron works and steel mills. But they are gone, as is, it seems, the community spirit and the life – some would say soul – of once-bustling Rhymney. In their wake all that remains is worklessness, addiction – and the unsettling label of the most anxious place not just in Wales but in Britain. According to official figures, here in the constituency of Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney one in 30 people – some 2,289 in total – is claiming benefits for anxiety. As the Government seeks to slash the UK's stratospheric welfare spending – the benefits bill for people of working age has soared to almost £118 billion each year, a real-terms increase of 46 per cent over the last five years alone – Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall has homed in on the Personal Independence Payment, known as PiP, which she believes has been awarded too freely. The benefit is awarded to those aged 16 and above with long-term health conditions or disabilities, and is intended to assist those who experience difficulties with daily living or mobility with their costs. (The standard rate is £73.90 per week for living expenses, and £29.20 for mobility support.) Alongside claimants suffering from debilitating conditions such as epilepsy and multiple sclerosis, there are a great many others citing more nebulous 'depression' and 'anxiety' as grounds to receive such support. While PiP can be received by those in work, the vast majority of claimants are jobless. Figures show mental ill health is now the most common cause of work-limiting conditions among those aged 44 years and younger. 'There's actually a phrase round here; 'off on a Pip trip', to describe when someone gets their money and goes on a minibreak,' says Robert Andrew, 75, a company director and owner of various businesses in the hospitality sector. 'Claiming benefits is easier than working and they get more money for it – apart from factory work there are no jobs around here. Maybe that's why people say they are suffering from anxiety?' It's a weekday lunchtime and Andrew stands behind the bar of his Royal Arms Hotel, where a pint of Carling costs £3.20; the average price in the UK is nudging £5. The only drinkers are a man who pays for his pint of Strongbow with carefully-counted small change and a tiny baby being fed a bottle by his mother, who just came in to pass the time. 'This is a dying trade,' says Andrew. 'I close most nights. The country is a mess and Wales has been forgotten. Ffos-y-fran opencast coal mine in Merthyr Tydfil was the last in the UK and it closed in 2023 with nothing to replace the jobs that were lost. The Government brought in an emergency bill to save Scunthorpe steelworks – but nobody lifted a finger to help Port Talbot's Tata Steelworks last year. I feel like we're doomed.' He's not the only one. Strolling down the street in the sunshine with friends, factory worker Libby Lewis, 18, is determined to escape. 'I'm working to get some money together but ultimately I'm joining the army to get away from Rhymney,' she says. 'I want to make something of myself and this is not the place to do it.' As we speak, the musky scent of cannabis drifts across the air from a passing car. One of Lewis's friends, aged 17, agrees that the only way to succeed is to leave. 'I am an optimistic person, I kept applying for job after job until I got one,' says the teenager, who works part time while studying for the Welsh Baccalaureate. 'Rhymney is depressing now; when I was little there was a cake shop and a butcher's on the high street. Today there's nothing; it's the hottest day of the year and the streets and parks are empty. People – even those my age – just sit at home being depressed and anxious because they can't see a future. 'Those who do leave the house only want to cause trouble; windows get egged or smashed, bins get stolen. Not so long ago a bus broke down near the community centre and a 14-year-old jumped on board and drove it off.' After that incident in 2023, residents met with police. Patrols were increased, dispersal orders issued and pledges made to clamp down on antisocial behaviour. But locals say the situation is no better. Living in an atmosphere of low level lawlessness would certainly constitute a worry by any standards. 'I wouldn't dream of walking down the high street at night,' says Julie Williams, 61, a retired civil servant. 'Even if my dog, Cynog, was with me. There are people hanging around I wouldn't want to go near.' But do safety concerns necessarily equate with a clinical diagnosis of anxiety? Given the air of gloom and despondency I encounter, it's genuinely hard to argue the exact point at which an 'ordinary' – which is to say, perfectly understandable emotional response to a bleak situation – tips over into a deeper sense of hopelessness. Wales has previously recorded higher levels of anxiety among its population than other parts of the UK. A study by the Mental Health Foundation charity in 2023 revealed that six in 10 adults living in the country had experienced anxiety that interfered with their daily lives in the previous two weeks. Throughout the UK, meanwhile, of the almost 11 million working-age adults who don't have a job, 2.8 million are signed off with long-term sickness. While no-one disputes that there are people who cannot and perhaps may never be able to work, when it comes to anxiety and depression, studies have shown that interventions to help people secure stable employment do improve symptoms of depression and quality of life. The link between employment and mental health was acknowledged by National Mental Health Director Claire Murdoch last year. 'As part of treating people's mental illness, the NHS supports people to achieve their goals, including getting back to work, with research showing that employment can help improve symptoms of anxiety or depression,' she said. Four out of five GPs (84 per cent) are worried that the stresses and strains of everyday life are being too readily labelled as medical problems, according to research carried out earlier this year for the Centre for Social Justice think tank. And for consultant neuropsychiatrist Alastair Santhouse, author of the recently-published No More Normal: Mental Health in an Age of Over-Diagnosis, the current trend means that if someone says they have a mental disorder, 'they will almost invariably find a professional to endorse it.' 'Anxiety I always think of as a threat event, in other words a future threat over which you don't have control, or believe that you don't have control,' says Santhouse. 'When that becomes a diagnosable anxiety disorder, it can be a complex decision. Anxiety disorders can share a boundary with normal worry, and, of course, the worries may be realistic. 'Undoubtedly in all cases individuals are suffering, but by reducing suffering to a diagnostic label, and entering a treatment pathway often involving psychotropic medication, for many people this misses the wider issues that need addressing.' By 'psychotrophic medication' he means antidepressants, mood stabilisers and anti-anxiety drugs. By 'wider issues', look no further than the shuttered desolation of Rhymney. It is not alone in its pain. Just a 12-minute drive away is the town of Ebbw Vale, which for 200 years relied on the heavy industries of coal and iron that emerged there in the late 18th century and then on its steelworks. But by the late 1990s a collapse of the international steel market led to the eventual closure of the Ebbw Vale steelworks in 2002. It had employed 14,000 people at its peak. When the works shut down, 850 jobs were lost. Those secure jobs have not been replaced and the consequences of the closure are still being felt. Sir Keir Starmer's government may be determined to find £5 billion worth of savings, but in truth there is no quick fix. Simply removing people's access to PiP will not solve the myriad problems facing those who live in the constituency of Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney. 'I think estimates that 20 per cent of GPs' time is spent dealing with anxiety is far short of the mark,' says Rowena Christmas, chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners in Wales and herself a working GP. 'People come in ostensibly with joint pain but then you discover their anxiety levels are incredibly high. It's present in patients across the board and we need to get upstream and stop it from developing, rather than just prescribing medication. Unemployment brings with it a great deal of stress and we would very much support anything that helps people take up healthier habits as a way of reducing their anxiety levels so they can get back into work again.' Resources must be channelled towards provision of group activities that get people out of the house and into social situations to boost their mood and build their confidence, Christmas argues. She cites group gardening projects, group walking and even singing as powerful ways of effecting change. 'I sing in a choir myself and I have lost count of the number of people who were on antidepressants when they joined and then, within months, are off them permanently because their mental health has improved so much,' she says. 'If we can get people to take part in voluntary work that would be great, too. Helping others has a tremendously positive effect and when they feel ready to look for paid work, they will have something to put on their CV that demonstrates their reliability.' Back in Rhymney's deserted high street even this modest ambition seems out of reach; by all accounts St David's Community Centre is crying out for helpers. The malaise here goes deeper than economic inactivity; the long term unemployed need carrots as well as sticks. The Government's Get Britain Working white paper, published at the end of last year, announced a £240 million trailblazing package of personalised services for jobseekers, souped-up job centres and improved NHS waiting times. The question is this; will a trail be blazed to the isolated towns of the South Wales Valleys, safeguarding their future? Or will the decline continue? All governments are judged on results; what happens in Rhymney will be a bellwether of Labour's commitment to genuinely radical reform.
