A majority of small business owners in Carmarthenshire support Plaid Cymru's policies for regenerating town centres, according to a recent survey carried out by Cefin Campbell MS's office.
According to the survey by the Member of the Senedd, 58.5% of the county's business owners predict a negative future for their town centres, with only 25.2% citing a positive future.
One policy in particular that Mr. Campbell wanted to ask about was reforming the way business rates are calculated so that small businesses on the high street pay less and larger out of town companies pay more.
According to the survey, over two thirds (67.8%) of respondents believe that business rate levels are too high, with a similar figure - 71.6% - seeing them as an obstacle to growing their businesses. As a result, 85.6% of respondents supported Plaid Cymru's policy to reform the business rates system.
In response, Cefin Campbell MS said:
"I’m very much aware from speaking to small business owners, not only in Carmarthenshire but across Wales, of the difficult challenges they are facing, and that unfair business rates are part of the problem. This of course adds to the many other problems they face, from the cost-of-living crisis to competition from on-line companies.
"If we want to give our high streets and town centres a new lease of life, and give our small, Welsh businesses a level playing field, then we must ease this burden on them."
There was also strong support for other Plaid Cymru policies, including reversing the increases in national insurance contributions by the Labour Westminster Government (78.6%) and making it easier to convert spaces above shops into residential units (69.2%).