Elizabeth Saville Roberts (' Saville; born 16 December 1964) is a Welsh politician, currently serving as the group leader 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 ...

in the

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. T ...

. She has been the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

(MP) for Dwyfor Meirionnydd since the general election in 2015.

Early life

Saville Roberts grew up in

Eltham Eltham ( ) is a district of southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is east-southeast of Charing Cross, and is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. The three wards of E ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, before moving to Aberystwyth,

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. Cer ...

aged 18, to study

language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...

s at Aberystwyth University. She worked in Welsh-medium further education.

Political career

In 2004, she became a member of

Gwynedd Council Cyngor Gwynedd ( en, Gwynedd Council) is the governing body for the county of Gwynedd, one of the principal areas of Wales. The council administrates internally using the Welsh language. History The county of Gwynedd was created in 1974 under ...

for Morfa Nefyn. In 2008, she became the authority's cabinet member for education. At the 2015 United Kingdom general election, Saville Roberts became Plaid Cymru's first ever female MP when she was elected as the MP for Dwyfor Meirionnydd. She stood down as a councillor following the result, becoming Plaid's spokesperson for Home Affairs, Education, Health, Environment, Energy, Equalities and Local Government. In her

maiden speech A maiden speech is the first speech given by a newly elected or appointed member of a legislature or parliament. Traditions surrounding maiden speeches vary from country to country. In many Westminster system governments, there is a convention th ...

to Parliament, she emphasised her and Plaid Cymru's commitment to public education, and highlighted issues facing

rural In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are descri ...

Wales. In 2016, Saville Roberts introduced a

bill Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Plac ...

to the House of Commons which tackled online bullying and

cyber crime A cybercrime is a crime that involves a computer or a computer network.Moore, R. (2005) "Cyber crime: Investigating High-Technology Computer Crime," Cleveland, Mississippi: Anderson Publishing. The computer may have been used in committing ...

. She is the Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Digital Crime. In February 2017, Saville Roberts argued in favour of introducing a US-style

rape shield law A rape shield law is a law that limits the ability to introduce evidence or cross-examine rape complainants about their past sexual behaviour. The term also refers to a law that prohibits the publication of the identity of an alleged rape vict ...

to prevent

cross-examination In law, cross-examination is the interrogation of a witness called by one's opponent. It is preceded by direct examination (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, South Africa, India and Pakistan known as examination-in-chief) and ...

of rape victims' sexual history in courtrooms, and tabled a

private members bill A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in whi ...

on the matter. The government launched an emergency review in response. She retained her seat in the 2017 snap general election with an increased majority. Following the 2017 election, she became the leader of Plaid's Westminster group and party spokesperson for Home Affairs, Justice, Business, Energy, Industrial Strategy, Women and Equalities. Later that year, she hinted about standing for the

Welsh Assembly 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 ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

. Later that year in November 2017, she led calls for a system of

electronic tagging Electronic tagging is a form of surveillance that uses an electronic device affixed to a person. In some jurisdictions, an electronic tag fitted above the ankle is used for people as part of their bail or probation conditions. It is also used in ...

to be implemented for domestic abusers and stalkers which would allow their victims to be alerted if they were near by. In April 2018, Saville Roberts opposed UK involvement in the 2018 bombing of Damascus and Homs, which she described as a "tokenistic action" that would do "little to allay the human suffering on the ground in Syria nor to bring stability to the region." She also criticised Prime Minister

Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cabi ...

for not having given

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

a vote on the air strikes before proceeding. In October 2018 she spoke in

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

in the

as she called on Northern Ireland Secretary of State

Karen Bradley Karen Anne Bradley (''née'' Howarth, born 12 March 1970) is a British Conservative Party politician who served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2018 to 2019, and has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Staffordshire Moorland ...

to implement an Irish Language Act. She is believed to be the first person to speak Irish in the House of Commons since February 1901. On 7 March 2019, Saville Roberts was sworn in as a member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom. She is a member of the Joint Committee on the Draft Domestic Abuse Bill. On 14 March 2019, Saville Roberts voted for an amendment tabled by members of

The Independent Group The Independent Group for Change, also known as Change UK, was a British centrist, pro-European Union political party, founded in February 2019 and dissolved ten months later, shortly after all its MPs lost their seats in the 2019 general e ...

for a second public vote on EU membership. She held her seat at the 2019 general election. On 17 March 2021, Saville Roberts again spoke in Irish, this time to wish Irish people a happy

St Patrick's Day Saint Patrick's Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick ( ga, Lá Fhéile Pádraig, lit=the Day of the Festival of Patrick), is a cultural and religious celebration held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick (), the foremost patr ...

. She also gave the message in Welsh, for which the Speaker

Lindsay Hoyle Sir Lindsay Harvey Hoyle (born 10 June 1957)'HOYLE, Hon. Lindsay (Harvey)', Who's Who 2013, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2013; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2012 ; online edn, Nov 201 Retrieved 31 December 20 ...

told her off and stated that speaking Welsh was against parliamentary rules. Saville Roberts claimed afterwards that the incident displayed "Westminster's disdain for minority languages". Leader of the House,

Jacob Rees-Mogg Jacob William Rees-Mogg (born 24 May 1969) is a British politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for North East Somerset since 2010. Now a backbencher, he served as Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council f ...

later referenced the incident and called Welsh "a foreign language". In response, Saville Roberts tweeted: "Jacob Rees-Mogg may not be aware, but Welsh is not a 'foreign language'. It had been spoken in Britain for hundreds of years before English even existed."

Personal life

Saville Roberts has lived in the village of Morfa Nefyn in Gwynedd with her husband, Dewi Wyn Roberts, since 1993. They married in 1994 and have

twin Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of TwinLast Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two em ...

daughters. Her mother, Nancy Saville (1933–2022), was a scientist and suffered from

dementia Dementia is a disorder which manifests as a set of related symptoms, which usually surfaces when the brain is damaged by injury or disease. The symptoms involve progressive impairments in memory, thinking, and behavior, which negatively affe ...

. Saville Roberts has written openly about it, and the impact of

COVID-19 lockdowns Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of non-pharmaceutical interventions colloquially known as lockdowns (encompassing stay-at-home orders, curfews, quarantines, and similar societal restrictions) have been implemented in numerous countri ...

on people with the condition. She is a cousin to the contemporary British artist Jenny Saville.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Saville-Roberts, Liz 1964 births Living people Alumni of Aberystwyth University Councillors in Wales Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Welsh constituencies Welsh-speaking politicians Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom People from Eltham Plaid Cymru MPs 21st-century Welsh women 21st-century British women politicians UK MPs 2015–2017 UK MPs 2017–2019 UK MPs 2019–present Women councillors in Wales