The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy which,by legislation and convention,operates as a unitary parliamentary democracy. A hereditary monarch,currently King Charles III,serves as head of state while the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom,currently Sir Keir Starmer since 2024,serves as the elected head of government.
The West Lothian question,also known as the English question,is a political issue in the United Kingdom. It concerns the question of whether members of Parliament (MPs) from Northern Ireland,Scotland and Wales who sit in the House of Commons should be able to vote on matters that affect only England,while neither they nor MPs from England are able to vote on matters that have been devolved to the Northern Ireland Assembly,the Scottish Parliament and the Senedd. The term West Lothian question was coined by Enoch Powell MP in 1977 after Tam Dalyell,the Labour MP for the Scottish constituency of West Lothian,raised the matter repeatedly in House of Commons debates on devolution.
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.
Elfyn Llwyd PC is a Welsh barrister and politician. He was a Member of Parliament,representing Meirionnydd Nant Conwy in the House of Commons from 1992 to 2010 and Dwyfor Meirionnydd from 2010 to 2015. Llwyd was Plaid Cymru's Westminster parliamentary group leader.
Politics of England forms the major part of the wider politics of the United Kingdom,with England being more populous than all the other countries of the United Kingdom put together. As England is also by far the largest in terms of area and GDP,its relationship to the UK is somewhat different from that of Scotland,Wales or Northern Ireland. The English capital London is also the capital of the UK,and English is the dominant language of the UK. Dicey and Morris (p26) list the separate states in the British Islands. "England,Scotland,Northern Ireland,the Isle of Man,Jersey,Guernsey,Alderney,and Sark.... is a separate country in the sense of the conflict of laws,though not one of them is a State known to public international law." But this may be varied by statute.
The Welsh devolution referendum of 1997 was a pre-legislative referendum held in Wales on 18 September 1997 over whether there was support for the creation of a National Assembly for Wales,and therefore a degree of self-government. The referendum was a Labour manifesto commitment and was held in their first term after the 1997 election under the provisions of the Referendums Act 1997. This was the second referendum held in Wales over the question of devolution:the first referendum was held in 1979 and was defeated by a large majority.
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.
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).
Michael James German,Baron German is a Welsh politician who was Deputy First Minister of Wales from 2000 to 2001 and 2002 to 2003 and Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats in the National Assembly from 1999 to 2008 and overhaul Welsh Party leader between 2007and 2008. The first-ever deputy first minister of Wales,he was also Minister for Economic Development from 2000 to 2001 and Minister for Rural Affairs and Wales Abroad from 2002 to 2003. He was elected to the National Assembly for Wales in 1999 where he was Assembly Member (AM) for South Wales East until 2010 and led his party group until 2008. In 2010,he was granted a life peerage and has since served in the House of Lords as a working peer for the Liberal Democrats. Ideologically,he is on the more liberal wing of his party.
The 1979 Welsh devolution referendum was a post-legislative referendum held on 1 March 1979 to decide whether there was sufficient support for a Welsh Assembly among the Welsh electorate. The referendum was held under the terms of the Wales Act 1978 drawn up to implement proposals made by the Kilbrandon Report published in 1973.
Dafydd Elystan Elystan-Morgan,Baron Elystan-Morgan,known as Elystan Morgan,was a Welsh politician. He sat as a crossbencher in the House of Lords from 1981 to 2020,and served as a Labour MP from 1966 to 1974.
Welsh Labour,formerly known as the Labour Party in Wales,is an autonomous section of the United Kingdom Labour Party in Wales and the largest party in modern Welsh politics. Welsh Labour and its forebears have won a plurality of the Welsh vote at every UK general election since 1922,every Assembly and Senedd election since 1999,and all elections to the European Parliament in the period 1979–2004 and in 2014. Welsh Labour holds 27 of the 32 Welsh seats in the UK Parliament,30 of the 60 seats in the Welsh Senedd and 576 of the 1,264 councillors in principal local authorities including overall control of 10 of the 22 principal local authorities.
Jonathan Morgan,is a Welsh Conservative politician,who served as a Conservative Assembly Member (AM) for South Wales Central from 1999 to 2007 and AM for Cardiff North from 2007 to 2011. In the National Assembly elections in 2011 he was beaten by Labour's candidate Julie Morgan,wife of former First Minister Rhodri Morgan. He is currently chair of Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board and Chairman of the Welsh NHS Confederation.
The Welsh Conservatives,also known as the Welsh Conservative Party,is the branch of the United Kingdom Conservative Party that operates in Wales. At Westminster elections,it is the second-most popular political party in Wales by vote share,having obtained the second-largest share of the vote at every general election since 1931. In Senedd elections,the Conservatives are currently the second-most supported party but have at times been third. As of 2024,they hold none of the 32 Welsh seats in the Parliament of the United Kingdom,and 16 of the 60 seats in the Senedd.
The Welsh Liberal Democrats are a branch of the United Kingdom Liberal Democrats that operates in Wales. The party is led by Jane Dodds,who has served as an MS for Mid and West Wales since May 2021. The party currently has one elected member in the Senedd and one Welsh seat in the UK House of Commons. It also has several members of the House of Lords. The party had 69 local councilors serving in principal authorities as of the 2022 local authority elections,up 10 from 2017.
Andrew Robert Tudor Davies CBE is a Welsh politician serving as Leader of the Welsh Conservative Group in the Senedd since 2021,previously holding the position from 2011 to 2018. He has been a Member of the Senedd (MS) since 2007.
Henry Byron Davies,Baron Davies of Gower is a Welsh Conservative politician,life peer and former police officer who has served as Shadow Secretary of State for Wales since July 2024. He was a Member of the Welsh Assembly from 2011 to 2015,a Member of Parliament from 2015 to 2017,and has been a Member of the House of Lords since 2019.
The 1999 Welsh Conservatives leadership election was held in August 1999 to elect the leader of the Welsh Conservative Group in the National Assembly for Wales. The election was triggered by the resignation of Rod Richards after the Welsh Conservative Party failed to endorse his appointment of David TC Davies as acting leader after Richards was charged for inflicting grievous bodily harm,which he was later cleared of in 2000. Nick Bourne,who the party had appointed as acting leader in Davies' place,was elected unopposed as the new leader of the Welsh Conservative Group in the National Assembly as the only candidate nominated for the leadership by group members.
Rod Richards,the leader of the Welsh Conservative Group in the National Assembly for Wales,formed his frontbench team of party spokespeople on 13 May 1998. Richards had led his party into the 1999 National Assembly for Wales election after being elected as leader of the Welsh Conservative Group in 1998.
Nick Bourne,the leader of the Welsh Conservative Group in the National Assembly for Wales,formed his frontbench team of party spokespeople between 18 August and 25 August 1999 after he was elected unopposed to succeed Rod Richards as group leader on 18 August,having already served as acting leader since 11 August. He made a minor reshuffle to his frontbench team in 2000 and made further changes to the team after the 2003 and 2007 National Assembly elections. Bourne's party became the official opposition after the 2007 Welsh government formation in July 2007,with Bourne leading a shadow cabinet as the leader of the opposition.
