Wales Green Party

The Wales Green Party (Welsh: Plaid Werdd Cymru) is a semi-autonomous[1] political party within the Green Party of England and Wales (GPEW). It covers Wales, and is the only regional party with semi-autonomous status within the GPEW.[1] The Wales Green Party puts up candidates for council, Senedd, and UK Parliament seats.

Wales Green Party

Plaid Werdd Cymru
LeaderAnthony Slaughter
Deputy LeadersDuncan Rees, Vacant
HeadquartersCardiff, Wales
IdeologyGreen politics
National affiliationGreen Party of England and Wales (Semi-autonomous)
European affiliationEuropean Green Party
International affiliationGlobal Greens
Colours     Green
House of Commons
(Welsh seats)
0 / 40
Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament
0 / 60
Local government in Wales
1 / 1,264
Police and Crime Commissioners
0 / 4
Website
wales.greenparty.org.uk

The current Leader of the Wales Green Party is Anthony Slaughter, with Duncan Rees as a Deputy Leader. Wales-wide decisions are taken by the Wales Green Party Council which is composed of the spokespeople, elected officers, and a representative from each local party.

Leadership and representation

The Wales Green Party elects a Spokesperson and two Deputy Spokespeople every 2 years, as well as electing council members on an annual basis to make day to day decisions between AGMs. All elected roles in the Wales Green Party are voluntary.

The Wales Green Party is currently represented internally within the GPEW by Louise Davies and Kathryn Driscoll.[2] on the Green Party Regional Council (GPRC).

Leadership

Pippa Bartolotti became Wales Green party leader in January 2012. She stood (unsuccessfully) for the leadership of the GPEW later that year.[3] After four years of leadership, Bartolotti decided against standing for a further term as leader in the 2015 Leadership election which was won by Alice Hooker-Stroud, while Hannah Pudner became deputy leader. Alice was then re-elected in 2016 along with Grenville Ham and a returning Pippa Bartolotti as deputy leaders.[4] Alice resigned in 2017 stating that her position had become "untenable" due to the voluntary nature of the role.[5] Alice was succeeded in early 2017 by Grenville Ham. Grenville defected to Plaid Cymru in late 2018 citing the party's vote to remain a part of the Green Party of England and Wales rather than to become an independent party (as the Scottish Green Party had previously done) as his reason. Like Alice, Grenville described his position as "untenable".[6] Mirka Virtanen was elected deputy leader in 2016 to begin in 2017, replacing Pippa Bartolotti, and Benjamin Smith was co-opted to the vacant deputy leader role in July 2017.[7]

Anthony Slaughter (former deputy leader) was named the current leader of the Wales Green Party in December 2018, beating Mirka Virtanen (deputy leader at the time) and Alex Harris in the leadership election. Duncan Rees was elected deputy leader.

Leadership History
Leader From To
Martyn Shrewsbury 2004 2006
Ann Were 2006 2008
Leila Kiersch 2008 2009
Jake Griffiths[8] 2009 2012
Pippa Bartolotti[9] 2012 2016
Alice Hooker-Stroud[10] 2016 2017
Grenville Ham[5] 2017 2018
Anthony Slaughter 2018 -

History

The Green Parties in the United Kingdom have their roots in the PEOPLE Party which was founded in 1973. This became the Ecology Party three years later, and then the Green Party in 1985.[11] In 1990, the Scottish and Northern Irish branches left the UK Greens to form separate parties. The English and Welsh parties became the Green Party of England and Wales, with the Welsh branch being semi-autonomous.[1]

At the 1992 general election, local Greens entered an electoral alliance with Plaid Cymru in the constituency of Ceredigion and Pembroke North. The alliance was successful with Cynog Dafis being returned in a surprise result as the MP, defeating the Liberal Democrat incumbent by over 3,000 votes.[12][13] The agreement broke down by 1995 following disagreement within the Welsh Green Party over endorsing another party's candidate, though Dafis would go on to serve in parliament as a Plaid Cymru member until 2000, and in the National Assembly of Wales from 1999 until 2003. Dafis later stated that he did not consider himself to be the "first Green MP".[14]

In 2017 Welsh local election, the Wales Green Party's had their first county councillor elected to Powys County Council, for the Llangors ward.[15]

In July 2018 the party held a vote on whether to split from the GPEW to form a separate organisation. Of those members who voted, 65% voted against the proposal, despite the leader Grenville Ham campaigning for independence.[16]

Wales Young Greens

Wales Young Greens is the youth and student branch of the Wales Green Party. Its current Co-chairs are Andrew Creak and Ramona Sharples.

Welsh Green Pride

Welsh Green Pride is the LGBTIQA+ Liberation group within the Wales Green Party which runs alongside but separate to the GPEW group LGBTIQA+ Greens. Its current Spokesperson is Ash Jones, and it has two deputy spokespeople Mike Whittall and Michael Cope. The group started a UK wide review of the discriminatory blood ban against men who have sex with men.

Elections
Main article: Green Party of England and Wales election results § Welsh Assembly elections

Welsh Local Government elections

2017

The party contested 78 seats (out of 1,271) in the 2017 Welsh local elections and won one county council seat in Powys.[17]

Welsh Assembly elections

2016

In September 2015, Amelia Womack, Deputy Leader of GPEW, announced her intention to stand in the National Assembly elections for Wales Green Party. An ITV article titled "Green deputy leader wants to switch to Welsh politics" wrote of Newport-born Womack's intention to stand in the Welsh elections saying; "She's seeking the nomination for the Cardiff Central constituency and – more significantly – hoping to be top of the Wales Green Party's regional list for South Wales Central." Notably the article went on to say "Opinion polls have occasionally suggested that the Greens could gain a list seat in the Senedd".[18]

10 February 2016 Welsh Greens abandoned progressive alliance negotiations a few months before the Senedd elections[19]

Region Number
of votes		 Proportion
of votes		 Change Candidates
Mid and West Wales8,2223.8% 0.3%Alice Hooker Stroud, Grenville Ham, Pippa Pemberton, Frances Bryant, Brian Dafydd Williams
North Wales4,7892.3%Duncan Rees, Martin Bennewith, Petra Haig, Gerry Wolff
South Wales Central7,9493.4% 1.8%Amelia Womack, Anthony Slaughter, Hannah Pudner, Chris von Ruhland
South Wales East4,8312.5% 0.2%Pippa Bartolotti, Ann Were, Chris Were, Katy Beddoe, Andrew Creak
South Wales West4,4202.6%Lisa Rapado, Charlotte Barlow, Laurence Brophy, Mike Whittall, Russell Kennedy, Thomas Muller

References
  1. E. Gene Frankland; Paul Lucardie; Benoît Rihou, eds. (2008). Green Parties in Transition: The End of Grass-roots Democracy?. Ashgate.
  2. "The Green Party Regional Council". greenparty.org.uk. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
  3. Hélène Mulholland (29 August 2012). "Green party searches for new leader". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 January 2019.
  4. "Wales Green Party | Wales Green Party leader and deputy leaders announced". wales.greenparty.org.uk. Retrieved 31 December 2018.
  5. Mosalski, Ruth (6 March 2017). "Wales Green Party leader resigns saying her position is untenable". Wales Online. Retrieved 31 December 2018.
  6. "Green Party leader in Wales joins Plaid". BBC News. 4 October 2018. Retrieved 31 December 2018.
  7. "Wales Green Party | Congratulations to Benjamin Smith, new Wales Green Party deputy leader!". wales.greenparty.org.uk. Retrieved 31 December 2018.
  8. "Newly elected leader calls for a Green New Deal for Wales". wales.greenparty.org.uk. Retrieved 31 December 2018.
  9. Live, North Wales (31 December 2011). "Welsh Green Party names new leader". northwales. Retrieved 31 December 2018.
  10. "Wales Green Party names new leader". BBC News. 16 December 2015. Retrieved 31 December 2018.
  11. Encyclopedia of Ecology and Environmental Management. John Wiley & Sons. 15 July 2009. p. 220. ISBN 978-1-4443-1324-6.
  12. "S/R 13: How Green Was My Party?". greens.org.
  13. Almanac of British Politics, 5th ed, Robert Waller & Byron Criddle
  14. "'Hybrid' gives first Green MP title to Caroline Lucas". BBC News.
  15. "Local elections: Green Party gains first seat in Powys". BBC News. Retrieved 24 May 2017.
  16. "Green Party votes against Wales and England split". BBC News. 15 July 2018. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
  17. "Last local election campaigning begins". BBC News. 3 May 2017. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
  18. "Green deputy leader wants to switch to Welsh politics". ITV News.
  19. "Progressive Alliance Talks Fail to Reach Agreement". Wales Green Party. 10 February 2016. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
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