David John Rowlands (born April 1948) is a former Welsh politician who was a

Member of the Senedd A member of the Senedd (MS; plural: ''MSs''; ; , plural: ) is a representative elected to the Senedd (Welsh Parliament; ). There are sixty members, with forty members chosen to represent individual Senedd constituency, Senedd constituencies, a ...

(MS) for South Wales East from

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

. Elected as an MS for the

UK Independence Party The UK Independence Party (UKIP, ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of parliament (both through defect ...

(UKIP), Rowlands joined the

Brexit Party Reform UK is a right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. Nigel Farage has been Leader of Reform UK and Richard Tice deputy leader since 2024. It has five members of Parliament (MPs) in the House of Commons and one membe ...

in 2019. He later joined the

Independent Alliance for Reform The Independent Alliance for Reform () was a political group 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 ...

group 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, Its role is to scrutinise the Welsh Government and legislate on devolve ...

in October 2020.

Biography

Born in the Welsh mining town of Argoed, he was educated at

Pontllanfraith Pontllanfraith () is a large village and Community (Wales), community located in the Sirhowy Valley in Caerphilly County Borough, Wales, within the Historic counties of Wales, historic boundaries of Monmouthshire (historic), Monmouthshire. It is ...

Grammar School obtaining

A Levels The A-level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational a ...

in economics and geography before studying for a degree in business studies. Rowlands joined UKIP in 1998.

Political Career

In the 2001 general election, Rowlands stood as the UKIP candidate for

Montgomeryshire Montgomeryshire ( ) was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It was named after its county town, Montgomery, Powys, Montgomery, which in turn was named after ...

. He contested

New Inn New Inn () is a village and community directly south east of Pontypool, within the County Borough of Torfaen in Wales, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire. It had a population of 5,986 at the 2011 Census. Location The village is bo ...

ward in

Torfaen Torfaen (; ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county borough in the South East Wales, south-east of Wales. Torfaen is bordered by the county of Monmouthshire to the east, the City status in the United Kingdom, city of Newport, Wales, Newport to t ...

in the 2004 Welsh local election, where he won 811 votes. In the 2015 UK General election, Rowlands stood as the UKIP candidate for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney. He came second to Labour's

Gerald Jones Gerald Jones (born 21 August 1970) is a Welsh Labour Party politician, serving as Assistant Government Whip who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare, previously Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney since 2015. He wa ...

, with 18.7%, retaining his deposit. Rowlands re-contested Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney at the 2017 general election, finishing fourth, and taking 1,484 votes (4.4%).

Senedd career

At the

2016 National Assembly for Wales election The 2016 National Assembly for Wales election was held on Thursday 5 May 2016, to elect members (AMs) of the National Assembly for Wales, now known as the Senedd (Welsh Parliament; ). It was the fifth election for the National Assembly, the thir ...

, Rowlands finished second in Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney, receiving 4,277 votes (21%).He was first on UKIP's list in the South Wales east region, and was appointed as an additional member.

Resignation from UKIP

In May 2019, he resigned from UKIP to join the newly-formed

. In the same month as his defection, Rowlands caused controversy by calling far-right activist

Tommy Robinson Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon (' Yaxley; born 27 November 1982), better known as Tommy Robinson, is a British anti-Islam sentiment, anti-Islam campaigner and one of the UK's most prominent far-right activists. Robinson has been active in ...

a "courageous character". The Brexit Party distanced themselves from the remarks, saying that Rowlands' views did not "in any way" reflect the party's position. In mid October 2020, he formed a new group in the

, the

, together with fellow MSs Mandy Jones and Caroline Jones. At the

2021 Senedd election The 2021 Senedd election took place on Thursday 6 May 2021 to elect 60 members to the Senedd (Welsh Parliament; ). It was the sixth Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved general election since the Senedd (formerly the National Assembly for ...

, Rowlands sought re-election as a

Reform UK Reform UK is a right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. Nigel Farage has been Leader of Reform UK and Richard Tice deputy leader since 2024. It has five members of Parliament (MPs) in the House of Commons and one membe ...

candidate, taking just 328 votes (1.4%) in Newport East.He was also the third-placed Reform UK candidate on the regional list, though neither he nor his party were successful. Similarly, UKIP failed to return any of their candidates, with most of Rowlands’ Senedd colleagues having stood unsuccessfully for other parties.

Electoral History

Westminster Parliament elections European Parliament elections Welsh Assembly elections (Constituency Seats) Welsh Assembly elections (Regional Seats)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rowlands, David Year of birth missing (living people) Living people UK Independence Party members of the Senedd Reform UK members of the Senedd Wales MSs 2016–2021 People from Caerphilly Welsh politicians