In the

Senedd The Senedd (; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and () in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, it makes laws for Wales, agrees certain taxes and scrutinises the Welsh Gove ...

, the Leader of the Opposition ( cy, Arweinydd yr Wrthblaid) (officially the Leader of the Opposition in the Senedd) is the leader of the largest

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

in the

that is not part of

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

and provides the

official opposition Parliamentary opposition is a form of political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster-based parliamentary system. This article uses the term ''government'' as it is used in Parliamentary systems, i.e. meaning ''th ...

to the government. Since 7 May 2021 the

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

in the Senedd is

Andrew RT Davies Andrew Robert Tudor Davies CBE (born 1968) is a British 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 ...

(Conservative). To date the office has been held by six individuals, three from

Plaid Cymru Plaid Cymru ( ; ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left to left-wing, Welsh nationalist political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from the United Kingdom. Plaid wa ...

and three from the

Welsh Conservatives The Welsh Conservatives ( cy, Ceidwadwyr Cymreig) 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, having obtained the second-large ...

. Only one,

Ieuan Wyn Jones Ieuan Wyn Jones (born 22 May 1949) is a Welsh politician who was the Deputy First Minister in the Welsh Government from 2007 to 2011. He was the Member of the Senedd for the Ynys Môn constituency from 1999 to 2013, and he was also leader of P ...

, has gone on to serve in the

Welsh Government The Welsh Government ( cy, Llywodraeth Cymru) is the Welsh devolution, devolved government of Wales. The government consists of ministers and Minister (government), deputy ministers, and also of a Counsel General for Wales, counsel general. Minist ...

History

Between July 2007 and May 2011, Nick Bourne served as Leader of the Opposition, even though the Conservatives were the third largest group in the Assembly. This was a result of the

's make-up consisting of Labour and Plaid Cymru, which were the largest and second largest groups respectively. Following the 2016 election,

(led by

Leanne Wood Leanne Wood (born 13 December 1971) 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. Born in the Rhondda, she was elected as to the ...

) became the largest group not in government, having won 12 seats to the Welsh Conservatives' 11. On 14 October 2016

Dafydd Elis-Thomas Dafydd Elis-Thomas, Baron Elis-Thomas (born 18 October 1946) is a Welsh politician who served as the Leader of Plaid Cymru from 1984 to 1991 and represented the Dwyfor Meirionnydd constituency in the Senedd from 1999 to 2021. Born in Carmar ...

left Plaid Cymru to sit as an independent, which resulted in Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Conservatives both holding 11 seats. During this period Leanne Wood was not referred to as Leader of the Opposition but was instead referred to as the leader of Plaid Cymru. The Conservative group grew to 12 following Mark Reckless's defection from UKIP to the Conservative Group on 6 April 2017, and

was once again referred to as Leader of the Opposition. On 29 March 2021

Nick Ramsay Nick Ramsay (born 10 June 1975) is a British politician who served as the Member of the Senedd (MS) for Monmouth from 2007 to 2021. Originally a member of the Welsh Conservatives, he served as Shadow Minister of Finance under Conservative Leader ...

left the Welsh Conservative party, meaning that the group had lost its title as the largest party not in government as by this point both the Welsh Conservatives and Plaid Cymru were tied on 10 seats each, with no official office holder of the Leader of the opposition in the final period before the

2021 Senedd election 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

. Following the

the Welsh Conservatives returned 16 seats making them comfortably the second party ahead of Plaid Cymru who won 13 and as a result Andrew RT Davies once again became Leader of the Opposition.

List of leaders of the opposition in the Senedd

References

{{reflist Senedd

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

History

List of leaders of the opposition in the Senedd

See also

References