In the run-up to next week's 2021 Senedd Election, Nub News will be profiling the candidates running for the Vale of Glamorgan.

For our first installation, we tagged along with the Welsh Labour candidate Jane Hutt as she canvassed in Barry..

When we met Jane yesterday, she had just left the last cabinet meeting before the Senedd dissolved ahead of Thursday's upcoming election.

"There's no Senedd Members anymore, we're all candidates now," she said.

Since winning the seat in 1999, Jane has been re-elected in every subsequent election. But that doesn't mean she takes her position for granted.

"I wouldn't ever take for granted that every vote is a privilege," said Jane.

"You have to win trust and respect. You have to deserve to be re-elected and work as you can.

"I try to show people it's worth having a Senedd because this is devolution in action.

"Every moment of every day counts to get the message across. On 6 May we'll see what happens."

Jane is also grateful that she can still canvass in person, after the pandemic has seen most of the year spent inside.

"It's been such a relief really for an election because you need to see people face to face," she said.

"You've actually got a chance to get feedback, about you personally, about the party, and about the manifesto commitments.

"I do enjoy campaigning. You get very different views on the doorstep and that's the nature of it."

Joining Jane and her team as they canvassed were a pair of under 18s voting in their first Senedd election.

"The Vale of Glamorgan has had a high rate of 16- and 17-year-olds register to vote," said Jane.

"Campaigning is more intergenerational. I went to one went to one home where they said they were going to have a family conference about voting to keep everyone informed."

The parts of her manifesto Jane felt appealed most to young voters was commitments to mental health, education, and the environment.

"We're putting more money into schools to help pupils catch up, which we did last September as well," said Jane.

"Alongside that is the guarantee for education for all under 25's, whether it's further or higher education or an apprenticeship job.

"We're going to abolish single-use plastics and create a national forest for Wales. In fact, we're going to do a lot of funding into community gardens and green spaces."

At the top of Welsh Labour's manifesto is recovery.

"Health and wellbeing are top of the list, followed by social care," said Jane.

"That means not just putting funding into the NHS, but actually supporting the NHS to start addressing some of the issues like waiting lists for operations.

"We're also going to pay the real living wage. We've made two payments to care workers: £500 last summer, and then £750 in March."

The party is also promising to invest in a new generation of integrated health and social care centres and the roll-out of new technology that supports fast and effective advice and treatments.

What about the key issues for Barry?

"There's lots of great development going on in Barry, particularly around the waterfront, but we are working with residents to ensure that the infrastructure is in place to properly support it," said Jane.

"We're committed to putting more money into town centres, so in terms of Barry Town Centre we need to support the council and businesses."

Jane has also been working to improve equality in the Vale and across the country, having been responsible in the Welsh Government for the Violence Against Women domestic abuse, policy and legislation.

"Equality is something that is very linked to the pandemic. There's been a big issue about the impact on black Asian minority ethnic people, and disabled people and women," said Jane.

"Key workers and low paid workers have also lost their jobs. It's a socio-economic issue as well."

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