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 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.
Pontardawe is a town and a community in the lower Swansea Valley. it had a population of approximately 7,172 in the 2021 Census for Pontardawe Parish, and forms part of the county borough of Neath Port Talbot.
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).
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.
Plaid Ifanc is the youth and student wing of Plaid Cymru, a political party in Wales.
David Rees "Dai" Lloyd is a retired Welsh politician and GP. He was the Plaid Cymru Member of the Senedd for South Wales West from 1999 to 2011 and again between 2016 and 2021.
Propel is a sovereignist and Welsh nationalist political party in Wales which advocates Welsh independence from the United Kingdom. The party was formed in early 2020 by its current leader Neil McEvoy. Propel currently has one county councillor in Wales.
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.
Jeremy Miles is a Welsh Labour Co-op politician serving as Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care 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.
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 2021 Senedd election took place on Thursday 6 May 2021 to elect 60 members to the Senedd. It was the sixth devolved general election since the Senedd was established in 1999. The election was held alongside the Scottish Parliament election, English local elections, London Assembly and mayoral election and the Hartlepool by-election.
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.
Cefin Arthur Campbell is a Welsh Plaid Cymru politician who has been Member of the Senedd (MS) for Mid and West Wales region since 2021.
Luke Fletcher is a Welsh politician who has been a Member of the Senedd (MS) for the South Wales West region since 2021. He is a member of Plaid Cymru.
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 the Senedd for 42 days - the longest suspension of any Senedd Member, after he was found to have "inappropriately touched" a woman on a night out. A former member of Plaid Cymru, ab Owen was suspended in 2022, and formally expelled from the party in July 2024. His, father Owen John Thomas, represented the same region for the same party.
In Welsh politics, the term clear red water refers to the Welsh Labour strategy of distancing itself from the UK Labour Party and adopting both more progressive and more distinctly Welsh policies. The strategy was first formulated in the early 2000s, with the Rhodri Morgan-led Welsh government using it to distinguish itself from Tony Blair's New Labour. The term itself is credited to Mark Drakeford AM.
Rhun ap Iorwerth, the leader of Plaid Cymru, formed his frontbench team of party spokespeople in the Senedd on 27 June 2023 after he was elected unopposed to succeed Adam Price as party leader on 16 June. He reshuffled his frontbench team on 6 June 2024 to prepare for the next Senedd election following the passage of a motion of no confidence in First Minister Vaughan Gething.
