Saunders Lewis was a Welsh politician, poet, dramatist, Medievalist, and literary critic. Born into a Welsh-speaking ministerial family in Greater Liverpool, Lewis studied in a public school growing up. He rediscovered the importance of both his heritage language and cultural roots while serving as a junior officer in the British Army during the trenches of the First World War. As a vocal supporter of Welsh nationalism, Lewis believed, however, that heritage language revival, cultural nationalism and the decolonisation of Welsh-language literature, the dramatic arts, and culture needed to precede Welsh devolution or political independence. If the excessive Anglophilia and colonial mentality traditionally known as Dic Siôn Dafydd was never challenged or defeated, Lewis predicted in 1918, "the Welsh Parliament would [only] be an enlarged County Council."
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.
Ronald Davies is a retired Welsh politician, former Secretary of State for Wales, former Member of Parliament and former member of the Welsh Assembly. He describes himself as a politician belonging to the "traditional left" who had "spent his life looking for a socialist progressive party". He was a member of the Labour Party, and then of Forward Wales (2004–2009); he was subsequently an independent candidate and eventually joined Plaid Cymru in 2010.
Welsh nationalism emphasises and celebrates the distinctiveness of Welsh culture and Wales as a nation or country. Welsh nationalism may also include calls for further autonomy or self-determination, which includes Welsh devolution, meaning increased powers for the Senedd, or full Welsh independence.
Politics in Wales forms a distinctive polity in the wider politics of the United Kingdom, with Wales as one of the four constituent countries of the United Kingdom (UK).
Jocelyn Davies is a Plaid Cymru politician who was a member of the Welsh Assembly (AM), for the South Wales East region from 1999 until 2016. She was Deputy Minister for Housing and Regeneration in the Labour/Plaid coalition government from 2007 until 2011.
Bethan Sayed is a Welsh politician. She represented the South Wales West region for Plaid Cymru as a Member of the Senedd from 2007 to 2021.
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.
Welsh-medium education is a form of education in Wales in which pupils are taught primarily through the medium of Welsh.
Owen John Thomas was a Welsh Plaid Cymru politician who was a Member of the Welsh Assembly (AM) for the South Wales Central region from 1999 to 2007.
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.
Ysgol Tryfan is a bilingual comprehensive school for pupils aged 11–18, situated in Bangor, Gwynedd. 496 pupils were enrolled at the school in 2023.
Suzy Davies is a Welsh Conservative Party politician, who served as a Member of the Senedd (MS) for South Wales West from 2011 to 2021. She was elected first on the Welsh Conservatives party list for the region in the 2011 election.
Cardiff Council elections take place for the whole council every five years, to Cardiff Council in south Wales. It came into being as a unitary authority on 1 April 1996, after the passing of the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994. In 2014 the National Assembly for Wales deferred all local elections in Wales to 2017. The council is composed of 75 councillors.
The 2008 Cardiff Council election was held on 1 May, along with the 2008 Welsh local elections. All 75 seats of Cardiff Council were contested, with it remaining in no overall control. It was preceded by the 2004 election and followed by the 2012 election
Professor Laura McAllister is a Welsh academic, former international footballer and senior sports administrator. As a Wales women's national football team player, McAllister won 24 caps and served as team captain. She is currently Professor of Public Policy and the Governance of Wales at the Wales Governance Centre at Cardiff University. She was formerly Professor of Governance at Liverpool University. She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2016 Birthday Honours for services to sport. She was a board member of Stonewall from 2012 to 2015, and is currently a board member of the Institute of Welsh Affairs. She is Chair of the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame and a Non-executive Director of Goodson Thomas boutique executive search agency. She was honoured as one of the BBC 100 Women in December 2022. Since the 5 April 2023 she has also been a vice-president of UEFA.
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.
Neil John McEvoy is a Welsh nationalist politician, serving as leader of Propel since 2020, and as a Cardiff Councillor for the Fairwater ward since 2008.
The Riverside electoral ward of Cardiff covers the Riverside and Pontcanna areas of the city, electing three councillors to Cardiff Council. The ward was originally created in 1890, as a ward to Cardiff County Borough Council.
Leanne Wood became Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly for Wales after Plaid Cymru became the largest party not in government after the 2016 National Assembly for Wales election. 12 Plaid Cymru AMs were elected, as opposed to 11 Welsh Conservative AMs.
