Steffan Lewis (30 May 1984 – 11 January 2019) was a Welsh politician, who was elected to the National Assembly for Wales in the 2016 election. He represented the electoral region of

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 ...

, as a member 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 December 2017, Lewis was diagnosed with terminal

bowel cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowel m ...

. He died on 11 January 2019, aged 34.

Early life

Steffan Lewis was brought up in a bilingual household in

Crosskeys Crosskeys ( cy, Pont-y-cymer) is a village, community and an electoral ward in Caerphilly county borough in Wales. Etymology The village was originally named Pont-y-cymer and this remains the official Welsh name for the village. The name ...

and

Tredegar Tredegar (pronounced , ) is a town and community situated on the banks of the Sirhowy River in the county borough of Blaenau Gwent, in the southeast of Wales. Within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire, it became an early centre of the In ...

. He first attended Swffryd Primary School in Blaenau Gwent before moving to the Welsh-medium primary school Ysgol Gymraeg Cwm Gwyddon in Abercarn and later

Ysgol Gyfun Gwynllyw is a Welsh language, Welsh-medium comprehensive school located in Trevethin, Pontypool in Torfaen, Wales and named for Saint Gwynllyw. The school had 926 pupils on roll in 2017. History The school was founded in 1988 as the first Welsh-mediu ...

in Pontypool. He first became interested in politics with the 1995 Islwyn by-election, and became an active

campaigner at the 1999 Welsh assembly election. He then worked at a call centre before briefly studying Religious Studies and Ethics at Cardiff University.

Political career

Lewis was a town councillor in Blackwood and was the Plaid candidate for the

2006 Blaenau Gwent by-election Two by-elections were held for the constituency of Blaenau Gwent in Wales following the death of Member of Parliament and Assembly Member Peter Law on 25 April 2006. As Law was the MP and Assembly Member (AM), his death required by-election ...

to the House of Commons, coming third with 6.5% of the vote. He then worked with the party in the

National Assembly for Wales 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 Go ...

, and wrote speeches for

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 ...

during her leadership of the party. He stood for election in Blaenau Gwent again in 2015 and came fourth of six candidates with 9% of the vote. In 2015, he was chosen as the top candidate for Plaid Cymru in the South East Wales region and was elected to the National Assembly for Wales in the 2016 election as its youngest-ever member. He succeeded Jocelyn Davies, for whom he had previously worked as a communications officer. He was made the party's Secretary for External Affairs and led the response to

Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC ...

Illness and death

Just one year after having taken his seat in the National Assembly, Lewis was diagnosed with bowel cancer in December 2017. It was found that the disease had already spread to other parts of his body, and he was not expected to recover. Despite his illness, he continued his work as a minister and as Plaid Cymru's Brexit spokesman. He also spoke openly about fighting the illness and how he was coping. He died at Ystrad Fawr Hospital in

Ystrad Mynach Ystrad Mynach is a town in the Caerphilly County Borough, within the ancient county of Glamorgan, Wales, and is north of the town of Caerphilly. The urban area has a population of 19,204, and stands in the Rhymney Valley. Before the Industr ...

on 11 January 2019. Tributes were paid to him from all parties in the Assembly. Adam Price, leader of Plaid Cymru said: He was succeeded by

Delyth Jewell Delyth Non Jewell (born 1988) is a Welsh Plaid Cymru politician. She is a Member of the Senedd (MS) for South Wales East region. She is also the current Deputy Leader of Plaid Cymru. Early life Jewell was born in Caerphilly and grew up in Ystr ...

, who had been second on Plaid's list in the region at the 2016 election. His funeral was scheduled for 25 January at St Luke's Church, Abercarn, followed by burial at the local cemetery.

Personal life

Lewis married Shona, who is from Inverness, in 2009. They lived in Blackwood and had a son, Celyn, aged three years at the time of his father's death. He was a noted fan of

Celtic Football Club The Celtic Football Club, commonly known as Celtic (), is a Scottish professional football club based in Glasgow, which plays in the Scottish Premiership. The club was founded in 1887 with the purpose of alleviating poverty in the immigran ...

Offices held

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Steffan 1984 births 2019 deaths Deaths from cancer in Wales Deaths from colorectal cancer Wales MSs 2016–2021 Welsh-speaking politicians People from Caerphilly County Borough