Plaid Cymru is a centre-left to left-wing, Welsh nationalist political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from the United Kingdom.
Mark Allan Isherwood is a Welsh Conservative Party politician, who has served as a Member of the Senedd (MS) for the North Wales region since 2003. He is currently Shadow Counsel General and Shadow Minister for Housing and Planning. Isherwood has held a number of Shadow Ministerial positions for the Welsh Conservatives since he was first elected, at various points holding portfolios for Finance, Social Justice, North Wales, Europe, Housing, Communities and Local Government, among others. He is also particularly notable for his advocacy for people with both physical and learning disabilities and impairments. He is himself deaf, and chairs cross party groups on disability, deaf issues and Autism, among others.
The Welsh Shadow Cabinet is formed from members of the official opposition in the Senedd, the largest party not part of the Welsh Government, to scrutinise ministers in the Welsh Cabinet. It is led by the Leader of the Opposition, who typically appoints members of the Senedd (MSs) from their party as shadow ministers with portfolios which mirror ministerial posts in the Cabinet who scrutinise ministers and can propose their own alternative policies. Other opposition parties in the Senedd also appoint frontbench teams of spokespeople who perform the same function. These are also sometimes styled as "shadow cabinets" by their parties, though unlike the Shadow Cabinet they have no official recognition. Since 2021, the Shadow Cabinet has been formed from members of the Welsh Conservatives led by Andrew RT Davies, who have alternated with Plaid Cymru as the official opposition in the Senedd since its establishment as the National Assembly for Wales in 1999.
Humphrey Vaughan ap David Gething is a Welsh Labour and Co-operative Party politician who is currently serving as First Minister of Wales and leader of Welsh Labour since 2024, making him the first black leader of any European country. Gething previously served as the Minister for Health and Social Services from 2016 to 2021 and Minister for the Economy from 2021 to 2024. He has been the Member of the Senedd (MS) for Cardiff South and Penarth since 2011.
Llŷr Huws Gruffydd, is a Welsh Plaid Cymru politician, serving as a Member of the Senedd (MS) for the North Wales region since 2011. He acted as interim leader of Plaid Cymru from 16 May to 16 June 2023.
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.
Siân Gwenllian is a Welsh Plaid Cymru politician who has represented the constituency of Arfon in the Senedd since 2016. She currently holds the seat with a majority of 8,642 votes.
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 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.
Heledd Fychan is a Welsh politician and a former director of policy and political education for Plaid Cymru. She was elected to the Senedd for the South Wales Central region in May 2021.
This is a list of the results of the 2021 Senedd election.
Rhodri Mabon ap Gwynfor is a Welsh Plaid Cymru politician who has been Member of the Senedd (MS) for Dwyfor Meirionnydd since 2021. He has served as Plaid Cymru's Health, Social Care and Housing Spokesperson and Chief Whip since June 2023.
Rhys ab Owen, also sometimes referred to as Rhys ab Owen Thomas is a Welsh politician representing the South Wales Central constituency since 2021. He was suspended from Plaid Cymru in 2022 after allegations of inappropriate conduct, and after an investigation was suspended from the Senedd for 42 days - the longest suspension of any Senedd Member. His, father Owen John Thomas, represented the same region for the same party.
The 2024 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 4 July 2024. Thirty-two seats were up for election in Wales as the general election occurred after the recently completed boundary review took effect. The Labour Party won a landslide victory of Welsh MPs, gaining six seats for a total of 27. Both Plaid Cymru and the Liberal Democrats gained one seat each, taking them to four seats and one seat respectively. The Conservatives lost all thirteen seats they had held previously, leaving the party without Westminster representation from Wales for the first time since 2001.
The 2023 Plaid Cymru leadership election was triggered by the resignation of Adam Price as party leader on 16 May, after an internal report found the party to have a "culture of harassment, bullying and misogyny". Rhun ap Iorwerth became leader on 16 June 2023 unopposed.
In December 2021, the Welsh Labour government and Plaid Cymru signed a three-year co-operation agreement, where the two parties agreed to work together in 46 policy areas. The agreement was not a coalition or confidence and supply agreement; Plaid Cymru remained in opposition but appointed advisers to offices of the Welsh Government.
A leadership election is expected to take place to select Vaughan Gething's successor as leader of Welsh Labour, who in turn will become First Minister of Wales. Gething announced his resignation on 16 July 2024, four months after his election.
Kirsty Williams, the leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, formed her frontbench team of party spokespeople in the National Assembly for Wales on 11 December 2008 after she was elected to succeed Mike German as party leader on 8 December. She reshuffled her frontbench team after the 2011 National Assembly for Wales election before her party's seat share was reduced from five to one at the 2016 National Assembly for Wales election, with Williams becoming the party's sole assembly member (AM).
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 an unrepentant criminal businessman, and the resignation of four cabinet ministers, on 16 July 2024 Gething announced his resignation as First Minister. His resignation will formally take effect when his successor is elected.
