Political Career
In April 1999, Gibbons was selected as the Labour party candidate for the Aberavon constituency in the new National Assembly for Wales. [3] He was elected in the first Welsh Assembly elections in May, with a majority of 6,743. [4] In October 2000, he was appointed as Deputy Minister for Health by First Minister Rhodri Morgan, providing support to Health Minister Jane Hutt. [5]
He was re-elected in 2003, and appointed as Deputy Minister for Economic Transport and Development shortly after. [6] In August 2003, Gibbons, alongside labour colleague John Griffiths, wrote a submission to the Richard Commission supporting further powers for the Welsh Assembly. [7]
In January 2005, Gibbons was appointed as Minister for Health after prior Health Minister Jane Hutt was removed from the role. [1] [8] After being appointed he was given "free rein" over the government's policy on health. [9] [10] Gibbons announced he would begin a period of consultation, to determine the best course of action. [10] He faced pressure to adopt similar systems to those used for the English health service, particularly from Wales Secretary Peter Hain, [11] [12] [13] and in March 2005 adopted a target for treatment waiting times of no waits longer than six months by 2009. [14]
In the first Cabinet of the Third Assembly he was appointed Minister for the Economy and Transport in May 2007, and Minister for Social Justice and Local Government in the coalition government in July 2007. He then took the decision to stand down at the 2011 Welsh Assembly election and was succeeded by David Rees of the Labour Party.
Hywel Rhodri Morgan was a Welsh Labour politician who was the First Minister of Wales and the Leader of Welsh Labour from 2000 to 2009. He was also the Assembly Member for Cardiff West from 1999 to 2011 and the Member of Parliament for Cardiff West from 1987 to 2001. He remains the longest-serving First Minister of Wales, having served in the position for 9 years and 304 days. He was Chancellor of Swansea University from 2011 until his death in 2017.
Gwenda Thomas is a Welsh Labour politician who served as Member of the Welsh Assembly for Neath from the Assembly's start in 1999 to 2016. Thomas was first elected to the National Assembly for Wales in 1999 and re-elected in 2003, having almost doubled her majority.
Alun Edward Michael is a Welsh Labour and Co-operative retired politician. He served as Secretary of State for Wales from 1998 to 1999 and then as the first First Secretary of Wales and Leader of Welsh Labour from 1999 to 2000. He went on to serve as South Wales Police and Crime Commissioner from 2012 to 2024.
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David Thomas Charles Davies is a British politician who was Secretary of State for Wales from 2022 to 2024. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Monmouth from 2005 to 2024. A member of the Conservative Party, he chaired the Welsh Affairs Select Committee from 2010 to 2019. Davies also served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales from 2019 to 2022, and as Member of the Welsh Assembly (AM) for Monmouth from 1999 to 2007.
This article is about the particular significance of the year 2005 to Wales and its people.
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Victoria Kirstyn Williams is a Welsh politician who served as Minister for Education in the Welsh Government from 2016 to 2021. She was a Member of the Senedd (MS) from 1999 to 2021. She previously served as the Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats from December 2008 to May 2016 and subsequently from June 2017 to November 2017 in an acting capacity.
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Edwina Hart, MBE is a Welsh Labour politician who represented the constituency of Gower from the establishment of the National Assembly for Wales (Senedd) in 1999 until 2016. Hart served in the Welsh Government as a cabinet minister for the full 17 years she was an AM including as Minister for Health and Social Services from 2007 to 2011 and as Minister for Business, Enterprise, Technology and Science from 2011 to 2016.
Andrew David Davies is a Welsh Labour politician, who represented the constituency of Swansea West in the National Assembly for Wales. Davies was born in Hereford to Welsh parents; his mother is from Llandeilo and his father from Holywell, Flintshire. Davies attended Hereford Cathedral School and Swansea University, where he trained as a teacher.
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Susan Lesley Griffiths is a Welsh Labour politician who was Cabinet Secretary for Culture and Social Justice from March to July 2024. She previously served as Trefnydd of the Senedd and Minister for North Wales from 2021 to 2024, and Minister for Rural Affairs from 2016 to 2024. She worked as a secretary to John Marek and the constituency assistant to Ian Lucas, successive Members of Parliament for Wrexham, and was elected to the Senedd from the Wrexham constituency in 2007. She has held a number of cabinet positions in the Welsh Government. In December 2009 she was appointed Deputy Minister for Science, Innovation and Skills.
Lynne Neagle is a Welsh Labour & Co-operative politician serving as Cabinet Secretary for Education since 2024. Born in Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorgan, Wales, Neagle has been the Member of the Senedd (MS) for the constituency of Torfaen since the Senedd was established in 1999.
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This is a list of Assembly Memberselected to the first National Assembly for Wales at the 1999 election.
Lee Waters is a Welsh Labour and Co-operative politician who served as Deputy Minister for Climate Change from 2021 to 2024. He has served as the Member of the Senedd (MS) for Llanelli since 2016.
Mike German, the leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrat Group in the National Assembly for Wales, formed his second frontbench team of party spokespeople on 8 May 2003 after the dissolution of his party's coalition government with Rhodri Morgan's Welsh Labour following the 2003 National Assembly for Wales election. Richards had already formed a frontbench team before entering coalition, when his party became an opposition party after the 1999 National Assembly for Wales election before forming the coalition with Labour in October 2000.
