The Senedd, officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and Senedd Cymru in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, it makes laws for Wales, agrees to certain taxes, and scrutinises the Welsh Government. It is a bilingual institution, with both Welsh and English being the official languages of its business. From its creation in May 1999 until May 2020, the Senedd was known as the National Assembly for Wales.
The first minister of Wales, known as first secretary of Wales from 1999 until 2006, is the leader of the Welsh Government and keeper of the Welsh Seal. The first minister chairs the Welsh Cabinet and is primarily responsible for the formulation, development and presentation of Welsh Government policy. Additional functions of the first minister include promoting and representing Wales in an official capacity, at home and abroad, and responsibility for constitutional affairs, as they relate to devolution and the Welsh Government.
Margaret Ann Jones is a Welsh Labour Co-operative politician. Born in Rhyl, Denbighshire, Jones was the Member of the Senedd (MS) for Vale of Clwyd from 1999 until she retired in 2021. From 11 May 2016 until her retirement, she was the Deputy Presiding Officer for the Senedd.
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).
Victoria Kirstyn Williams is a Welsh politician who served as Minister for Education in the Welsh Government from 2016 to 2021. She was a Member of the Senedd (MS) from 1999 to 2021. She previously served as the Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats from December 2008 to May 2016 and subsequently from June 2017 to November 2017 in an acting capacity.
Carwyn Howell Jones is a Welsh politician who served as First Minister of Wales and Leader of Welsh Labour from 2009 to 2018. He served as Counsel General for Wales from 2007 to 2009. Jones served as the Member of the Senedd (MS) for Bridgend from 1999 to 2021.
Edwina Hart, MBE is a Welsh Labour politician who represented the constituency of Gower from the establishment of the National Assembly for Wales (Senedd) in 1999 until 2016. Hart served in the Welsh Government as a cabinet minister for the full 17 years she was an AM including as Minister for Health and Social Services from 2007 to 2011 and as Minister for Business, Enterprise, Technology and Science from 2011 to 2016.
Huw Lewis is a Welsh Labour Co-operative politician who served as Minister for Education and Skills from 2013 to 2016. Born in Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorgan, Lewis represented the Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney constituency in the National Assembly for Wales from 1999 to 2016.
Leighton Andrews is an academic and former Welsh Labour politician. He was the National Assembly for Wales member for Rhondda from 2003 until 2016. He was Minister for Children, Education & Lifelong Learning from 2009 to 2011, then Minister for Education and Skills in the Welsh Government until his resignation on 25 June 2013 after an alleged conflict between his own departmental policy and his active campaigning to save a school in his constituency. In September 2014 he returned to the government as Minister for Public Services.
Dame Rosemary Janet Mair Butler is a British politician who served as the Llywydd of the Senedd from 2011 to 2016. A member of Welsh Labour, Butler was the Member of the Senedd (MS) for Newport West from 1999 to 2016.
Thomas Alun Rhys Davies is a Welsh Labour and Co-operative party politician serving as the Member of the Senedd (MS) for Blaenau Gwent since 2011, and formerly Mid and West Wales from 2007 to 2011. He has served in several Welsh government offices, including Cabinet Secretary for Local Government and Public Services, Minister for Lifelong Learning and Welsh Language, and Minister for Natural Resources and Food.
Susan Lesley Griffiths MS, known as Lesley Griffiths, is a Welsh Labour politician serving as Trefnydd of the Senedd since 2021. She worked as a secretary to John Marek and the constituency assistant to Ian Lucas, successive Members of Parliament for Wrexham, and was elected to the Senedd from the Wrexham constituency in 2007. She has held a number of cabinet positions in the Welsh Government. In December 2009 she was appointed Deputy Minister for Science, Innovation and Skills.
Mick Antoniw is a Welsh Labour and Co-operative politician, serving as Counsel General for Wales since 2021, and previously from 2016 to 2017. He has been the Member of the Senedd (MS) for Pontypridd since 2011.
Vaughan Gething is a Welsh Labour and Co-operative politician serving as Minister for the Economy since 2021. He previously served as the Minister for Health and Social Services from 2016 to 2021. He has been the Member of the Senedd (MS) for Cardiff South and Penarth since 2011.
Jeremy Miles MS is a Welsh Labour and Co-operative Party politician, serving as Minister for Education and Welsh Language in the Welsh Government since 2021. Miles has been the Member of the Senedd (MS) for Neath since 2016. Prior to his present ministerial post, he served in the Welsh Government as Counsel General for Wales from 2017 to 2021, Brexit Minister from 2018 to 2021, and the Minister for coordinating Wales’ recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic from 2020 to 2021.
Mark Drakeford is a Welsh politician serving as First Minister of Wales and Leader of Welsh Labour since 2018. He previously served in the Welsh Government as Cabinet Secretary for Finance from 2016 to 2018 and Minister for Health and Social Services from 2013 to 2016. Drakeford was first elected as the Member of the Senedd (MS) for Cardiff West in 2011.
Kenneth Christian Skates MS is a Welsh Labour politician. Skates has represented the constituency of Clwyd South in the Senedd since the election of 2011. He is an alumnus of the University of Cambridge, and worked as a journalist prior to becoming a politician. In September 2014 he became the deputy minister for Culture, Tourism and Sport. From May 2016 to December 2018 he was the Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Infrastructure and Skills, and was the Minister for Economy, Transport and North Wales until he stood down on 13 May 2021.
Julie James is a Welsh Labour politician, serving as Minister for Climate Change since 2021. James has been the Member of the Senedd (MS) for Swansea West since 2011. She served as Minister for Housing and Local Government from 2018 to 2021.
Rebecca Mary Evans is a Welsh Labour and Co-operative politician, serving as Minister for Finance since 2018 and Minister for Local Government since 2021. She has served as the Member of the Senedd (MS) for Gower since 2016, and a Member for Mid and West Wales from 2011 to 2016.
The first Morgan government was formed on 16 October 2000 by Rhodri Morgan and a was a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats, it was officially referred to as the 'Coalition Partnership'. It was proceeded by the Interim Morgan Government, a Labour minority government headed by Rhodri Morgan between February and October 2000.
