In the run-up to the upcoming 2021 Senedd Election, Nub News will be profiling the candidates running for Cardiff South and Penarth.

Today, we join Leighton Rowlands as he drums up support in Llandough.

While a student at Barry Comprehensive School, young Leighton Rowlands sat down with all the political party manifestos and assigned a tick to the policies he agreed with.

He had just completed a "disappointing" internship with Labour's Vale of Glamorgan MS Jane Hutt and was politically unmoored.

"I decided that the party wasn't for me. They didn't want me to get too involved with the day-to-day running of things," he recalls to Nub News as we join him on a leaflet-dropping drive in Llandough.

"So, after that, I didn't know which way I was swaying. But then looking at the manifestos it turned out I liked more of the Conservatives' policies than the other parties'."

Leighton went on to study history at Swansea University before beginning down an unconventional path into politics.

"The first job I had was to empty sanitary bins," he continues. "It was awful, but it gave me money at the end of the day.

"I originally wanted to be a historian, but when I helped out Alan Cairns as an intern, I discovered that I quite like the policy-making aspect.

"What really struck me though is helping the community. When someone comes to you and wants a problem sorted out - be it homelessness or potholes - it feels good to help them.

"I'm a problem solver at the end of the day. Yes, I am a Conservative councillor, but first and foremost I'm here to help and serve the community."

Leighton was elected Vale of Glamorgan councillor in 2017 after suffering election defeats in 2011 and 2012.

He cites the scaling back of his office's hospitality functions while serving as Mayor of the Vale of Glamorgan Council as his proudest political achievement to date.

Leighton is now standing as your Conservative Party candidate for Cardiff South and Penarth in the 2021 Senedd elections.

"This is the most important election for the Senedd because we're coming out of a pandemic and it's all to play for," he says.

COVID-recovery is the focus of Leighton's campaign. How does he plan on helping Penarth bounce back?

"The major one is more help for businesses," he says. "Due to the pandemic, the hospitality sector is almost on its knees.

"We need to cut business rates and create business zones."

In their manifesto, the Conservatives have also pledged to restore Right-To-Buy, the controversial policy that allows council tenants to buy their council home at a discount.

"But also, Help-To-Buy," continues Leighton. "My parents were very privileged to be able to buy their own home when they were younger, much younger than I am now, thanks to Conservative policies.

"Unfortunately, I am not in a position where I can buy my own home because it's much more difficult. We're also going to freeze council tax for three years."

Once an aspiring historian, Leighton will know that he and his party are up against it.

The Cardiff South and Penarth constituency has elected a Labour candidate in every election since the Welsh Assembly's creation.

In the 2016 election, Labour received 43.8% of the vote - more than doubling the Conservative Party's total.

Leighton says he is confident in his ability to reverse this trend.

"In Penarth, there is a strong base of conservatives who tend to vote for other parties.

What we're trying to tell them is that if they vote for these other parties, they are letting Labour in for another five years. If you vote to abolish the Assembly, that again is a wasted vote.

"Conservatives naturally don't like to come out and vote for Senedd elections, but they should because the stakes couldn't be higher."

Leighton isn't just running against a highly popular local Labour Party. He is also taking on one of the UK's most media-exposed politicians of the pandemic, Welsh Health Minister Vaughan Gething.

Leighton says this helps, rather than hinders, his cause.

"Labour's handling of the pandemic is worse than the UK government's, much, much worse and unfortunately Vaughan Gething is at the helm," he says.

"A lot of the time people don't even know who their MS is and once I tell them they say" 'Oh Christ, I don't like him' because of the Welsh Government's record of handling the pandemic.

"The fact that England opened up their pubs and hospitality weeks ago just shows that everything here is overcautious.

"People have got pandemic fatigue and want to get back to normal and unfortunately the Welsh Government here are dragging their feet and even electioneering maybe.

"People want change and we're the only ones offering it."

The 2021 Senedd Election will take place on Tuesday 6 May.

Read the Conservative Party's Manifesto HERE.