The Welsh Liberal Democrats ( cy, Democratiaid Rhyddfrydol Cymru) are a branch of the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
Liberal Democrats that operates in Wales. The party is led by
Jane Dodds
Jane Dodds MS (born 13 September 1963) is a Welsh politician who has served as Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats since 2017. She was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Brecon and Radnorshire at the seat's 2019 by-election, but ...
, who served as MP for
Brecon and Radnorshire from
August
August is the eighth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars, and the fifth of seven months to have a length of 31 days. Its zodiac sign is Leo and was originally named ''Sextilis'' in Latin because it was the 6th month in ...
to
December 2019, and
MS for
Mid and West Wales
Mid and West Wales or Mid and South West Wales refers to an ambiguous region of Wales that is sometimes used, consisting broadly of the preserved counties of Dyfed and Powys, sometimes Swansea and sometimes parts of Gwynedd. It is also used ...
since
May 2021. The party currently has 1 elected member 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 ...
and no Welsh seats in the UK
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
, but does have several members of the
House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...
. The party has around 63 local councilors serving in principal authorities.
Mark Williams, then-Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, was defeated at the
2017 general election in his
Ceredigion
Ceredigion ( , , ) is a county in the west of Wales, corresponding to the historic county of Cardiganshire. During the second half of the first millennium Ceredigion was a minor kingdom. It has been administered as a county since 1282. Cere ...
constituency by
Ben Lake
Ben Morgan Lake (born 22 January 1993) is a Plaid Cymru politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ceredigion since 2017.
Background
Lake was born and brought up in Lampeter, the son of a police officer and a council worker. He at ...
of
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 ...
, whose majority of 104 made the seat one of the most marginal in the country. The result left the party without an MP in Wales; the party and its predecessors had continuously held parliamentary seats in Wales since the formation of the
Liberal Party
The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left.
__TOC__ Active liberal parties
This is a li ...
in 1859.
Organisation
Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats
Welsh Liberal Democrat Officers
*President of the Welsh Liberal Democrats: Paula Yates
*Deputy President: Monica French
*Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats:
Jane Dodds
Jane Dodds MS (born 13 September 1963) is a Welsh politician who has served as Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats since 2017. She was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Brecon and Radnorshire at the seat's 2019 by-election, but ...
*Deputy Leader (Westminster):
Christine Humphreys
Christine Mary Humphreys, Baroness Humphreys, is a Welsh Liberal Democrats peer and leader of the party's group in the House of Lords.
Humphreys is also a former President of the Welsh Liberal Democrats and was a Member of the Welsh Assembly for ...
Youth wing
The youth wing of the party is
Welsh Young Liberals.
*Chair: Harvey Jones
Policy platform
The Welsh Liberal Democrats promote liberalism as their main ideology, as well as further
devolved
Devolution is the statutory delegation of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to govern at a subnational level, such as a regional or local level. It is a form of administrative decentralization. Devolved territories h ...
powers for 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 ...
with the aim of establishing a federal UK.
Elected representatives
;Members of the Senedd (MSs)
Appointments
House of Lords
History
Before 1945
The Liberal Council for Wales was founded by
David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. He was a Liberal Party politician from Wales, known for leading the United Kingdom during t ...
in 1897. This makes the Welsh
Liberals the oldest of the political parties in Wales. It was the first to establish a truly
Welsh identity
Welsh national identity is a term referring to the sense of national identity, as embodied in the shared and characteristic culture, languages and traditions, of the Welsh people.
History
Celtic era
The Celtic Britons or Ancient Britons w ...
. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries the Welsh Liberals were a home of radical
Welsh nationalism
Welsh nationalism ( cy, Cenedlaetholdeb Cymreig) emphasises and celebrates the distinctiveness of Welsh culture and Wales as a nation or country. Welsh nationalism may also include calls for further autonomy or self determination which includes ...
. Through politicians such as
T. E. ("Tom") Ellis and David Gee and the movement of
Cymru Fydd (Wales to be
uture Welsh nationalism was comparable at times to that
occurring in Ireland. But in Wales the nationalist passion never spilled over into violence, and was also counterbalanced by the strong English Liberal capitalist base present within the party. In 1906 the Welsh Liberals reached their peak when 35 of Wales' 36 seats had MPs who took the Liberal whip. Until 1922 the Welsh Liberals dominated Welsh politics and also played a central role in British politics.
William Harcourt,
Reginald McKenna
Reginald McKenna (6 July 1863 – 6 September 1943) was a British banker and Liberal politician. His first Cabinet post under Henry Campbell-Bannerman was as President of the Board of Education, after which he served as First Lord of the Admiral ...
,
David Alfred Thomas, 1st Viscount Rhondda
David Alfred Thomas, 1st Viscount Rhondda, PC (26 March 1856 – 3 July 1918), was a Welsh industrialist and Liberal politician. He was UK Member of Parliament (MP) for Merthyr Tydfil from 1888 until the January 1910 general election, then M ...
,
Sir Alfred Mond and
David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. He was a Liberal Party politician from Wales, known for leading the United Kingdom during t ...
were just a few of the politicians who held central positions in the party and in the various Liberal-led governments from 1906 to 1922. The various splits within the Liberal Party from 1918 onwards, the rise of the
Welsh Labour Party
Welsh Labour ( cy, Llafur Cymru) is the branch of the United Kingdom Labour Party in Wales and the largest party in modern Welsh politics. Welsh Labour and its forebears won a plurality of the Welsh vote at every UK general election since 192 ...
in South Wales, and the dominance of Lloyd George over the Welsh Liberal Party, all had their impact on Welsh Liberal fortunes. Despite this it was in Wales that the pre-war Liberals' support lasted longest in
post-war British politics.
1945–1983
In 1945 the party had 7 MPs in Wales, mainly in the Welsh-speaking north, mid and west Wales seats. Two of these MPs
Gwilym Lloyd George
Gwilym Lloyd George, 1st Viscount Tenby, (4 December 1894 – 14 February 1967) was a Welsh politician and cabinet minister. The younger son of David Lloyd George, he served as Home Secretary from 1954 to 1957.
Background, education and milit ...
(
Pembrokeshire
Pembrokeshire ( ; cy, Sir Benfro ) is a Local government in Wales#Principal areas, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and the rest by sea. The count ...
) and
Megan Lloyd George
Lady Megan Arvon Lloyd George, (22 April 1902 – 14 May 1966) was a Welsh politician and the first female Member of Parliament (MP) for a Welsh constituency. She also served as Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party, before later becoming a Labo ...
(
Anglesey
Anglesey (; cy, (Ynys) Môn ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms a principal area known as the Isle of Anglesey, that includes Holy Island across the narrow Cymyran Strait and some islets and skerries. Anglesey island ...
)) defected to the Conservative and Labour parties, respectively.
Clement Davies
Edward Clement Davies (19 February 1884 – 23 March 1962) was a Welsh politician and leader of the Liberal Party from 1945 to 1956.
Early life and education
Edward Clement Davies was born on 19 February 1884 in Llanfyllin, Montgomeryshire, ...
, who held
Montgomeryshire
Montgomeryshire, also known as ''Maldwyn'' ( cy, Sir Drefaldwyn meaning "the Shire of Baldwin's town"), is one of thirteen historic counties of Wales, historic counties and a former administrative county of Wales. It is named after its county tow ...
, became the post-war British Liberal leader. Davies died in 1962 and was succeeded by
Emlyn Hooson
Hugh Emlyn Hooson, Baron Hooson, (26 March 1925 – 21 February 2012) was a Welsh Liberal and then Liberal Democrat politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Montgomeryshire from 1962 until 1979.
Early life
Hooson was born at Colom ...
, who then set about rebuilding the Welsh Liberal Party. When the last of the post-war Welsh Liberal MPs,
Roderic Bowen
Evan Roderic Bowen KC (6 August 1913 – 19 July 2001) was a Welsh Liberal Party politician.
Bowen was educated at Cardigan County School, University College, Aberystwyth, St John's College, Cambridge, Brussels and the Inns of Court. He ...
(
Cardiganshire
Ceredigion ( , , ) is a county in the west of Wales, corresponding to the historic county of Cardiganshire. During the second half of the first millennium Ceredigion was a minor kingdom. It has been administered as a county since 1282. Cere ...
), lost his seat in the
1966 general election Hooson,
Lord Ogmore,
Martin Thomas (Lord Thomas of Gresford), Roger Roberts (
Lord Roberts of Llandudno
John Roger Roberts, Baron Roberts of Llandudno (born 23 October 1935), is a Welsh Liberal Democrat politician, Methodist minister, and life peer. He was for many years President of the Welsh Liberals, and later, the Welsh Liberal Democrats.
...
) and Mary Murphy established the Welsh Liberal Party as a separate state party within the Liberal Party's federal structure. After its establishment in September 1966 the Liberal Party in Wales had limited success and never really enjoyed a great Liberal revival like that which had occurred under
Jo Grimond
Joseph Grimond, Baron Grimond, (; 29 July 1913 – 24 October 1993), known as Jo Grimond, was a British politician, leader of the Liberal Party for eleven years from 1956 to 1967 and again briefly on an interim basis in 1976.
Grimond was a lo ...
in Scotland.
Geraint Howells
Geraint Wyn Howells, Baron Geraint (15 April 1925 – 17 April 2004) was a leading Welsh Liberal Democrat politician.
Howells was born in Ponterwyd in Cardiganshire. He was the son of David John and Mary Blodwen Howells, both farmers.
Educat ...
' election in Cardiganshire in
February 1974
The following events occurred in February 1974:
February 1, 1974 (Friday)
*Joelma fire, A fire killed 177 people and injured 293 others in the 23-story Joelma Building at São Paulo in Brazil. Another 11 later died of their injuries. The bl ...
re-established the Liberal presence in that seat. In
1979
Events
January
* January 1
** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...
, however, the Welsh Liberals suffered from the
Lib-Lab pact, and support for the failed devolution referendum resulted in a poor election for the Liberals: over half of their 28 candidates lost their deposit. More importantly Emlyn Hooson lost his Montgomeryshire seat, leaving the Welsh party once more with a single seat (Howells' in Cardiganshire). Hooson was ennobled later that year and joined Howells once more at Westminster.
1983–1997
The arrival of the
Social Democratic Party
The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology.
Active parties
For ...
(SDP) in Wales and the formation of the
SDP–Liberal Alliance
The SDP–Liberal Alliance was a centrist and social liberal political and electoral alliance in the United Kingdom.
Formed by the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the Liberal Party, the SDP–Liberal Alliance was established in 1981, contestin ...
gave the party an electoral boost, increased its representation on councils and helped retake the Montgomeryshire seat in 1983 (
Alex Carlile
Alexander Charles Carlile, Baron Carlile of Berriew, (born 12 February 1948) is a British barrister and crossbench member of the House of Lords. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Montgomeryshire from 1983 to 1997.
Early life and career
...
) and win the
Brecon and Radnor seat in a famous by-election in 1985 (
Richard Livsey
Richard Arthur Lloyd Livsey, Baron Livsey of Talgarth (2 May 1935 – 16 September 2010) was a British Liberal Democrat politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Brecon and Radnorshire from 1985 to 1992, and again from 1997 to ...
). In 1988 the SDP and most of the Liberals merged in Wales and after various names the three Welsh MPs insisted on the name being Welsh Liberal Democrats, which set a precedent for the rest of the Liberal Party. In the
1992 United Kingdom general election
The 1992 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 9 April 1992, to elect 651 members to the House of Commons. The election resulted in the fourth consecutive victory for the Conservative Party since 1979 and would be the last tim ...
Howells lost his seat and went to the Lords, Livsey lost Brecon and Radnor, which he would retake five years later. This left Alex Carlile as the sole Liberal Democrat MP. In 1996 Carlile announced his resignation and he was in turn replaced by
Lembit Öpik
Lembit Öpik (, ; born 2 March 1965) is a former British politician. A former member of the Liberal Democrats, he served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Montgomeryshire in Wales from 1997 until he lost his seat at the ...
. When Carlile stood down it ended the direct link with the professional Liberal barrister MPs that had been existent in the Welsh Liberal party for its whole history. Carlile became
Lord Carlile of Berriew in 1999. Followed in 2001 by Richard Livsey (of Talgarth) and Roger Roberts (of Llandudno) in 2004.
1997–2017
In the
1997 general election both Öpik and Livsey won their seats. Both then went forward to support the successful
1997 Welsh Assembly referendum. They were joined in that campaign by other prominent figures in the Welsh party, including
Michael German,
Jenny Randerson
Jennifer Elizabeth Randerson, Baroness Randerson (born 26 May 1948) is a Welsh Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords. She is former junior minister in the Wales Office serving in the Cameron–Clegg coalition. Prior to her peerage she ...
,
Peter Black,
Roger Williams
Roger Williams (21 September 1603between 27 January and 15 March 1683) was an English-born New England Puritan minister, theologian, and author who founded Providence Plantations, which became the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantation ...
and Rob Humphreys. Except for Humphreys, they all soon gained electoral office, in either the Welsh Assembly or the Westminster Parliament. The
Welsh Assembly elections in 1999 provided the party with six more elected representatives for Wales to join their two MPs, and three Welsh lords. At Westminster Roger Williams took over from Richard Livsey in Brecon and Radnor in 2001. In 2005
Mark Williams won the Ceredigion seat (formerly held by
Geraint Howells
Geraint Wyn Howells, Baron Geraint (15 April 1925 – 17 April 2004) was a leading Welsh Liberal Democrat politician.
Howells was born in Ponterwyd in Cardiganshire. He was the son of David John and Mary Blodwen Howells, both farmers.
Educat ...
); and
Jenny Willott
Jennifer Nancy Willott OBE (born 29 May 1974) is a British politician. She was the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Cardiff Central from 2005 to 2015. Willott became a junior minister in the Department for Business, Innovation and Ski ...
won the
Cardiff Central seat, which was the first Liberal urban seat victory in Wales since 1935 and the first female Liberal MP in Wales since 1951. The four MPs were also the most since 1950 for the Liberal Party in Wales. It was
Lembit Öpik
Lembit Öpik (, ; born 2 March 1965) is a former British politician. A former member of the Liberal Democrats, he served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Montgomeryshire in Wales from 1997 until he lost his seat at the ...
who now headed the party at Westminster.
In 1998 Michael German was elected as designate leader Welsh Assembly group and led their 1999 election campaign and then the new Assembly group. Between 2001 and 2003, the party were in a
coalition
A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces.
Formation
According to ''A Gui ...
with
Welsh Labour
Welsh Labour ( cy, Llafur Cymru) is the branch of the United Kingdom Labour Party in Wales and the largest party in modern Welsh politics. Welsh Labour and its forebears won a plurality of the Welsh vote at every UK general election since 1922 ...
in the National Assembly. In this Labour-led government Michael German was Deputy Minister whilst Jenny Randerson also held a ministerial post. Randerson's post made her the first female Liberal in the party's history to hold ministerial office. The Welsh Liberals achieved a breakthrough in local government in 2003, leading Swansea, Bridgend, Cardiff and Wrexham councils, with cabinet members on many more Welsh councils. In the
2003 Welsh Assembly elections the party remained stuck on six AMs (Assembly Members). They remained on this figure in the
2007 elections
The following elections occurred in the year 2007.
* Electoral calendar 2007
* Elections in 2007
* 2007 United Nations Security Council election
Africa
* 52nd National Conference of the African National Congress
* 2007 Algerian legislative el ...
but were reduced to five in the
2011 elections. In 2008 German stood down as leader and was replaced by
Kirsty Williams
Victoria Kirstyn Williams (born 19 March 1971) 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 AM for Brecon and Radnor) in a contest with Jenny Randerson (Cardiff Central). Both German and Randerson subsequently went to the House of Lords. Baroness Randerson become the first ever Welsh female Liberal peer to sit in the House of Lords. Her two predecessors
Viscountess St Davids and the 2nd
Viscountess Rhondda, who had been ennobled in the first half of the 20th century, had died before women were allowed to sit in the House of Lords. Michael German was succeeded as the Assembly member for
South Wales East
South Wales East () is an electoral region of the Senedd, consisting of eight constituencies. The region elects 12 members, eight directly elected constituency members and four additional members. The electoral region was first used in 1999, w ...
by his wife
Veronica German. In May 2011, however, she failed to be re-elected in South Wales East.
In September 2012 Baroness Randerson was appointed as the unpaid Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Wales Office. This was the first time a Welsh Liberal Democrat had held ministerial office at Westminster since 1945. Randerson was also the first female politician from the Welsh Liberals ever to hold a UK ministerial office.
2017–present
Following the result of the
2017 UK general election, the Liberal Democrats were left without an MP in Wales, a situation which had not occurred since the founding of the Liberal Party in 1859.
In the autumn of 2017, the
leadership election
A leadership election is a political contest held in various countries by which the members of a political party determine who will be the leader of their party.
Generally, any political party can determine its own rules governing how and when a l ...
was held, with two candidates,
Jane Dodds
Jane Dodds MS (born 13 September 1963) is a Welsh politician who has served as Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats since 2017. She was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Brecon and Radnorshire at the seat's 2019 by-election, but ...
and Elizabeth Evans, taking part. On 3 November 2017, Dodds was announced as the winner and immediately took over as leader.
In August 2019, Dodds regained House of Commons representation for the Welsh Liberal Democrats, winning the
2019 Brecon and Radnorshire by-election. However her stay in the House of Commons proved to be a short one, as she lost her seat by 7,131 votes at the
December 2019 general election. With this the party yet again was left without any MPs.
In the aftermath of the result,
BBC Wales
BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Wales.
It is one of the four BBC national regions, alongside the BBC English Regions, BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Scotland. Established in 1964, BBC Cymru Wales is ...
' Political Editor Felicity Evans stated that the Lib Dems would "rue the day they pushed for this election".
Dodds gained a regional seat in
Mid and West Wales
Mid and West Wales or Mid and South West Wales refers to an ambiguous region of Wales that is sometimes used, consisting broadly of the preserved counties of Dyfed and Powys, sometimes Swansea and sometimes parts of Gwynedd. It is also used ...
at 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 ...
to become the party's only MS. The seat was only held by 714 votes.
Electoral performance
House of Commons
This chart shows the electoral results of the
Welsh Liberals, and later Liberal Democrats, from its first election in 1900. Total numbers of parliamentary seats, and vote percentages, are for Wales only.
Senedd
See also
*
Liberal Democrats
*
English Liberal Democrats
The English Liberal Democrats, officially the ''Liberal Democrats in England'', is the state party within the Liberal Democrats (UK), Liberal Democrats that operates in England. It is a federation of the eleven Regions of England, regional part ...
*
Scottish Liberal Democrats
The Scottish Liberal Democrats ( gd, Pàrtaidh Libearal Deamocratach na h-Alba, sco, Scots Leeberal Democrats) is a liberal, federalist political party in Scotland, a part of the United Kingdom Liberal Democrats. The party currently holds 4 o ...
*
Northern Ireland Liberal Democrats
The Northern Ireland Liberal Democrats ( ga, Daonlathaigh Liobrálacha Thuaisceart Éireann; Ulster-Scots: ''Norlin Airlann Leeberal Democrats''), is a local party of the Liberal Democrats that operates in Northern Ireland. Unlike its counterpa ...
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
1988 establishments in Wales
Liberal parties in the United Kingdom
Organisation of the Liberal Democrats (UK)
Political parties established in 1988