Local government
He was first elected in the 1976 local elections,representing the Penyrheol and Trecenydd ward on Rhymney Valley district council. [3] He was re-elected repeatedly until the council was abolished in 1996. [4] He was further elected to Mid Glamorgan County Council at the 1977 local elections,representing a division at the time simply named 'Caerphilly No. 4' but lost the seat in 1981. He continued to contest this ward,later renamed also to Penyrheol,at elections in 1989 and 1993,but was not re-elected. [5]
After the abolition of Rhymney Valley council,he contested the Penyrheol ward on the new Caerphilly County Borough Council. He has represented this ward since the establishment of the council in 1995,being elected to represent the ward 7 times. [6] [7] [8] He continued to represent the ward during his 2011-2016 term as a member of the National Assembly for Wales. [9] [10]
He has served as the council's leader for two distinct periods,1999 to 2004 [11] [12] and 2008 to 2011. [13] [14] [15] He further has served as Plaid Cymru's group leader on the council since 2022. [16]
He also was the Welsh Local Government Association's spokesperson on Equalities,Community Safety and Social Justice. [17]
National politics
Whittle has stood in every Senedd (formerly Welsh Assembly) election since its formation in 1999,and was first successfully elected as a Member of the Welsh Assembly (AM;now Member of the Senedd (MS)) in the 2011 election as a member on the South Wales East list. [18] He was appointed as Plaid Cymru's spokesperson for Social Services,Children &Equal Opportunities shortly after. [19] He retained this role when Leanne Wood took over after the 2012 Plaid Cymru leadership election. [20] His role was slightly modified after Wood reshuffled Plaid's frontbench in May 2013,and he became spokesperson for Social Services,Equality &Older People. [21] He functionally remained in the Equalities and Social Services brief for his entire term. He lost his seat at the 2016 Senedd election,as Plaid Cymru were reduced from 2 to 1 seats in the region. [22]
Whittle has stood ten times for the Westminster Parliament seat of Caerphilly—first standing in the 1983 general election and standing again in every general election since,except in 2015. [17] His best result (by both placing and vote share) was in the 2024 general election,in which Whittle came second with 21.2% of the vote on a turnout of 52.7%. [23] In each election he lost to the Labour Party,who have won the seat continuously since the seat's formation in 1918.
After the death of incumbent MS Hefin David,Whittle was announced as Plaid Cymru's candidate for the 2025 Caerphilly by-election. [24] Whittle won the election with 47% of the vote. This was the first time Labour had failed to win the seat since the establishment of the Senedd in 1999. [25] He won Caerphilly after contesting the constituency 13 times since 1983. [26] Upon being elected,he stood down as a councillor for Penyrheol,as he could not hold both roles simultaneously. [27]
In the 2026 Senedd election,he will be a candidate in the Blaenau Gwent Caerffili Rhymni constituency,placed second on the list behind Delyth Jewell. [28]
