Plaid Cymru is a centre-left to left-wing, Welsh nationalist political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from the United Kingdom.
Simon George Thomas is a Welsh former politician who was a member of Plaid Cymru. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Ceredigion from 2000 to 2005, and an Assembly Member in the National Assembly for Wales representing Mid and West Wales between 2011 and 2018.
Ieuan Wyn Jones is a Welsh politician who was the Deputy First Minister in the Welsh Government from 2007 to 2011. He was the Member of the Senedd for the Ynys Môn constituency from 1999 to 2013, and he was also leader of Plaid Cymru from 2000 to 2012. Jones served as Member of Parliament for Ynys Môn constituency from 1987 to 2001, when he retired to focus on his work in the Welsh Assembly. In 2007, Jones was named Wales' "Politician of the Year" by the BBC Wales am.pm programme. He resigned from the Welsh Assembly on 20 June 2013. In 2017 he unsuccessfully sought to return to the House of Commons for his former constituency.
Helen Mary Jones is a Welsh Plaid Cymru politician, who was a member of the Senedd from 1999 to 2011 and again from August 2018 until 29 April 2021.
Dafydd Wynne Wigley, Baron Wigley, is a Welsh politician. He served as Plaid Cymru Member of Parliament (MP) for Caernarfon from 1974 until 2001 and as Assembly Member for Caernarfon from 1999 until 2003. He was the leader of Plaid Cymru from 1981 to 1984 and again from 1991 to 2000. On 19 November 2010, it was announced that he had been granted a life peerage by the Queen, and he took his seat in the House of Lords, as Baron Wigley of Caernarfon, on 24 January 2011.
The Welsh devolution referendum of 1997 was a pre-legislative referendum held in Wales on 18 September 1997 over whether there was support for the creation of a National Assembly for Wales, and therefore a degree of self-government. The referendum was a Labour manifesto commitment and was held in their first term after the 1997 election under the provisions of the Referendums Act 1997. This was the second referendum held in Wales over the question of devolution: the first referendum was held in 1979 and was defeated by a large majority.
Dafydd Elis-Thomas, Baron Elis-Thomas is a Welsh politician who served as the Leader of Plaid Cymru from 1984 to 1991 and represented the Dwyfor Meirionnydd constituency in the Senedd from 1999 to 2021.
Elin Jones is a Welsh politician who has served as the Llywydd of the Senedd since 2016. A member of Plaid Cymru, Jones has been the Member of the Senedd (MS) for Ceredigion since 1999.
Leanne Wood is a Welsh politician who served as the leader of Plaid Cymru from March 2012 to September 2018, and served as a Member of the Senedd (MS) from 2003 to 2021.
Owen John Thomas is a former Plaid Cymru politician who was a Member of the Welsh Assembly (AM) for the South Wales Central region from 1999 to 2007.
One Wales was the coalition agreement for the National Assembly for Wales between Labour and Plaid Cymru agreed to by Rhodri Morgan, First Minister of Wales and leader of Welsh Labour, and Ieuan Wyn Jones, leader of Plaid Cymru, on 27 June 2007. It was negotiated in the wake of the preceding National Assembly election which resulted in a large Labour plurality, but no majority. Labour and Plaid Cymru approved the document in separate votes on 6 and 7 July, respectively.
Plaid Cymru; The Party of Wales originated in 1925 after a meeting held at that year's National Eisteddfod in Pwllheli, Caernarfonshire. Representatives from two Welsh nationalist groups founded the previous year, Byddin Ymreolwyr Cymru and Y Mudiad Cymreig, agreed to meet and discuss the need for a "Welsh party". The party was founded as Plaid Genedlaethol Cymru, the National Party of Wales, and attracted members from the left, right and centre of the political spectrum, including both monarchists and republicans. Its principal aims include the promotion of the Welsh language and the political independence of the Welsh nation.
David Jonathan Edwards is a Welsh politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr since 2010. Elected as a Plaid Cymru MP, he had the whip withdrawn in May 2020 after he accepted a police caution for domestic violence against his wife. He sat as an Independent MP after the party's disciplinary panel suspended him. His membership of Plaid was restored in July 2022, and the whip was returned the following month although following further revelations he stated that he would not rejoin the Plaid group of MPs at Westminster.
The 2016 National Assembly for Wales election was held on Thursday 5 May 2016, to elect members (AMs) of the National Assembly for Wales, now known as the Senedd. It was the fifth election for the National Assembly, the third election taken under the rules of the Government of Wales Act 2006 and the first since the Wales Act 2014.
This is a list of Assembly Memberselected to thefirst National Assembly for Wales at the 1999 election.
Neil John McEvoy is a Welsh politician who is currently the leader of the Welsh nationalist political party Propel. He previously represented the South Wales Central region in the Senedd from 2016 until 2021.
The 2000 Plaid Cymru leadership election was held following the resignation on health grounds of Dafydd Wigley.
The 2003 Plaid Cymru leadership election was held following the resignation of Ieuan Wyn Jones after a disappointing showing in the 2003 Assembly elections where the party fell from 17 to 12 seats.
The 2018 election for the leader of the Welsh political party Plaid Cymru began on 7 August. Voting closed at midnight on 27 September. Adam Price was declared the winner on 28 September, defeating the two other candidates.
In the Senedd, the Leader of the Opposition is the leader of the largest political party in the Senedd that is not part of government and provides the official opposition to the government. Since 7 May 2021 the Leader of the Opposition in the Senedd is Andrew RT Davies (Conservative). To date the office has been held by six individuals, three from Plaid Cymru and three from the Welsh Conservatives. Only one, Ieuan Wyn Jones, has gone on to serve in the Welsh Government.
