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

Next up is Sally Stephenson, the Welsh Liberal Democrat candidate, who we joined while leafletting around Cowbridge.

We met Sally at her stationery and school uniform shop The Pencil Case in the heart of Cowbridge.

After leaving customers in the capable hands of Jane and Maddie-Jo, Sally swapped her fleece for her bright yellow 'campaigning coat', and we were off.

"The reaction has been really good," said Sally.

"Welsh Liberal Democrats have not been that active the in the Vale in recent years, and people tell me it's nice to see us campaigning here again. We've seen a good improvement."

Back in 2019, Sally had been the Lib Dem general election candidate but was stood down under the Unite to Remain pact between her party, the Green Party and Plaid Cymru.

Now, she's standing to represent the Vale of Glamorgan, and on the regional ballot for South Wales Central.

"I don't consider myself a politician," said Sally.

"A lot of people say politicians aren't in the real world. That they don't know what it's really like to work, look after kids, look after your parents, try to do shopping, get back and pick the kids up and go to after-school activities.

"That's exactly what I have to deal with. I'm just a normal person, trying to represent myself to voters to bring a sense of normality into the Senedd."

So what issues is Sally looking to address?

"The whole umbrella position is put recovery first. That is what we have to focus on," she said.

"After the year we've had that's unashamedly got to be number one."

Sally is also the small business spokesperson for the party, and has pledged to help small businesses pick up on the digital revolution and support the high street.

"We want to support small businesses and help them become medium businesses, to help them develop and employ more people," said Sally.

"I have first-hand experience of what it's like to be a business owner in Wales, and i've felt the impact of Brexit and Coronavirus.

"At the moment business rates are so high they deter business-owners from expanding.

"That's why we're going to freeze business rates for the life of the next Senedd and in the long-term, replace business rates with a fairer, more supportive system."

As well as her experience as a business-owner, Sally has helped her children negotiate a year of learning at home and understands the struggles faced by parents and pupils alike.

The party's manifesto promises to end digital exclusion at all levels of education and continue to invest in early years education through the Pupil Development Grant.

"We want pupils to get their confidence back, after being out of school for so long," said Sally.

The party's plans to build 30,000 affordable houses a year are also designed to help young people get onto the property ladder.

"Those houses would be fully insulated and built in an environmentally-friendly way," explained Sally.

"Tackling the Climate Crisis is like a thread that goes through everything that we want to do.

"Politicians choose where to spend money, so instead of spending on transport routes, why not spend on environmentally friendly transport routes?"

Next under the recovery umbrella is healthcare: the Welsh Liberal Democrats are focussed on physical and mental health.

"The pandemic has really shone a spotlight on how important mental health is," said Sally.

"That's why we'll put in place a 24/7 mental health system, so that in the same way if you needed medical treatment in the middle of the night you'd go to A&E, if you had a mental health crisis you could use these facilities."

Sally described how their recovery-focussed manifesto had been created:

"We haven't developed it in a bubble. We got out there and spoke to people and organizations," she said.

"And if we are elected, on the first day we'd pick up the phone or go meet in person, professionals, experts and those actually working in the sectors to say 'you tell us what you need to solve this problem and we'll support you'."

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