Plaid Cymru is a centre-left to left-wing, Welsh nationalist political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from the United Kingdom. It campaigns on a platform of social democracy and civic nationalism. The party is a strong supporter of the European Union and is a member of the European Free Alliance (EFA). The party holds 4 of 32 Welsh seats in the UK Parliament, 12 of 60 seats in the Senedd, and 202 of 1,231 principal local authority councillors. Plaid was formed in 1925 under the name Plaid Genedlaethol Cymru and Gwynfor Evans won the first Westminster seat for the party at the 1966 Carmarthen by-election.
Ifor Huw Irranca-Davies is a Welsh Labour and Co-operative politician who has served as Deputy First Minister of Wales since August 2024, and as Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs since March 2024. He has been the Member of the Senedd (MS) for Ogmore since 2016. Irranca-Davies was previously the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ogmore from 2002 to 2016.
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 National Assembly for Wales 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.
Mair Eluned Morgan, Baroness Morgan of Ely,, is a Welsh Labour politician who has served as First Minister of Wales and Leader of Welsh Labour since 2024. She previously served as Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care in the Welsh Government from 2021 to 2024.
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.
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 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.
The Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Planning is a member of the Cabinet in the Welsh Government. The current officeholder is Rebecca Evans since September 2024.
Rhun ap Iorwerth is a Welsh journalist and politician who has served as the Leader of Plaid Cymru since June 2023. He has been the Member of the Senedd (MS) for Ynys Môn since 2013.
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.
The 2018 Welsh Labour Party leadership election took place between 9 November and 6 December 2018 to elect a successor to Carwyn Jones as leader of the Welsh Labour Party.
In the Senedd, the Leader of the Opposition is the leader of the Official Opposition, the largest political party that is not in the Welsh Government. The Leader of the Opposition leads and appoints members of the Shadow Cabinet and as such is sometimes styled as the Shadow First Minister of Wales.
The July 2024 Welsh Labour leadership election was held to find Vaughan Gething's successor as leader of Welsh Labour, after he announced his resignation on 16 July 2024, just four months after he was elected. After nominations closed on 24 July 2024 at 12:00, Eluned Morgan, Baroness Morgan of Ely was confirmed to be the sole candidate, and therefore elected leader unopposed.
The Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs is a member of the cabinet in the Welsh Government. The current officeholder is Huw Irranca-Davies since March 2024.
The Gething government was the Labour-led government of Wales formed on 21 March 2024 following the appointment of Vaughan Gething as First Minister on 20 March 2024.
Dafydd Wigley became Leader of the Opposition and Shadow First Secretary of Wales after the creation of the National Assembly for Wales on 12 May 1999, following the first assembly election held on 6 May. Members of his shadow cabinet were elected by Plaid Cymru's assembly members and announced on 18 May.
Ieuan Wyn Jones became Leader of the Opposition in Wales after being elected as President of Plaid Cymru, the Official Opposition in the National Assembly for Wales, on 3 August 2000. Jones had previously served in these roles in an acting capacity on the behalf of his predecessor Dafydd Wigley from December 1999 to February 2000. He formed his shadow cabinet on 9 August and, like his predecessor, appointed himself Shadow First Secretary of Wales and Shadow Assembly Secretary for Finance. Members of his shadow cabinet were initially known as shadow assembly secretaries until October 2000. From that month, members were known as shadow ministers, with Jones's titles also changing to Shadow First Minister of Wales and Shadow Minister for Finance, after a similar change was made to the names of ministerial posts in Rhodri Morgan's coalition government between Labour and the Liberal Democrats. Jones's shadow cabinet was dissolved after the formation of a coalition government between Plaid Cymru and Morgan's Labour Party on 19 July 2007.
Ieuan Wyn Jones, the leader of Plaid Cymru, formed his frontbench team of party spokespeople in the National Assembly for Wales on 25 May 2011 after the dissolution of his party's coalition government with Rhodri Morgan and Carwyn Jones' Welsh Labour following the 2011 National Assembly for Wales election. Jones had previously led a shadow cabinet before entering coalition from 2000 to 2007, when his party had served as the Official Opposition since the 1999 National Assembly for Wales election.
In June 2024, Vaughan Gething, first minister of Wales and leader of Welsh Labour, faced a non-binding vote of no-confidence in him as First Minister, tabled by the Welsh Conservatives, which he lost by a margin of 29 votes to 27 but did not resign at the time. Following mounting criticism over a campaign donation of £200,000 from a criminal businessman, and the resignation of four cabinet ministers, on 16 July 2024 Gething announced his resignation as First Minister. His resignation formally took effect on 6 August, when Eluned Morgan was elected First Minister of Wales.
The Eluned Morgan government is the government of Wales formed by Eluned Morgan from August 2024, following her appointment as First Minister of Wales on 6 August. Morgan first formed an interim government largely continuing the previous Gething government, then announced a fuller reshuffle in September 2024.
