How a young politician's journey took her from poverty to Team GB gymnast

She attended one of the most elite schools in Wales through a bursary and became a Team GB gymnast, but grew up without a place to call home.

Now, Zaynub Akbar is one of Plaid Cymru's new Members of the Senedd (MS), and said she plans to use her mandate to even out some of the stark inequality she witnessed first hand growing up.

As one of three MSs for Caerdydd Ffynon Taf, the 28-year-old said she wanted to address poverty in Wales and focus on building "cohesive communities" in light of the "dangerous rhetoric taking over politics at the moment".

"The reason I'm there is because of those experiences I've had... I have a duty to highlight those issues," she told BBC Radio Wales' Sunday Supplement.

Akbar described her childhood as "very complicated" with "lots of positives, lots of negatives to it".

She said her grandfather emigrated to Wales from India in 1939 and became one of the city's first taxi drivers.

Her father, born in Cardiff's docks in an area with high levels of deprivation, also became a taxi driver, she said.

But in her teens, Akbar said she found herself without stable accommodation. She declined to expand on her situation, but said her father wanted her to have a good education and give her opportunities he never had.

"My dad really made a conscious effort to make sure we were doing anything and everything, from the minute we woke up to the minute we went to sleep," she said.

"He made a really conscious effort to essentially do the complete opposite of what he experienced."

She said she received a bursary to attend fee-paying Howell's girls school after taking an entrance exam, describing teachers there as very supportive.

She said most girls at her school did not know about her circumstances at home, other than her closest friends who allowed her to stay with them when necessary.

"I don't think anyone has really known the scale of it until I started talking about it in the last few months," she said.

Being confronted with the wealth gap between herself and more affluent school friends shaped her politics, she said.

"Going through those really formative years, it would be really tricky at times.

"I would go to these huge houses... parties with pools in the back and infinite amounts of money and privilege, and then go home and not know where I'm sleeping or where my next meal is coming from.

"At some point, not knowing what sofa I was going to sleep on that night.

"So it was really difficult under those circumstances and I don't think I'd really processed a lot of that until I turned into an adult."

Akbar said that from a young age she spent large amounts of time at local leisure centres to train in gymnastics, which also meant she had a place to wash.

But she was adamant her dad should not be "penalised or blamed for wider societal problems".

"There are so many families and parents who are really struggling, and that doesn't mean they shouldn't have children, as so many people think," she added.

She said gymnastics became pivotal to her upbringing and a social leveller.

By age 10 she was competing for Wales and by the time she was 16 she was representing Great Britain.

"Gymnastics really saved me, because I had something that money couldn't buy," she said.

"And I was able to always come back to that and that sense of purpose in my life."

Mentally and physically, gymnastics at a young age at elite level requires a lot of energy, she said, but it also gave her a clear focus.

"It was a full-time job on the side as a child."

She said she gave up the sport because she felt like she had "exhausted all avenues".

Akbar said her interest in politics was sparked by her experiences growing up.

After a brief stint in journalism, she decided she did not just want to scrutinise politics from the sidelines and moved into policy and public affairs, working at Sport Wales.

She then moved into party politics and stood as a candidate for Plaid Cymru at the May Senedd election.

Earlier this week, she was among members of the Senedd who left the chamber during a speech by a Reform MS in which he joked that Welsh students are unable to read, and said Indian nurses were taking Welsh jobs.