Wales Green Party

Pippa Bartolotti became Wales Green party leader in January 2012. She stood (unsuccessfully) for the leadership of the GPEW later that year.[17] 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.[18] Alice resigned in 2017 stating that her position had become "untenable" due to the voluntary nature of the role.[19] 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 Greens had previously done) as his reason. Like Alice, Grenville described his position as "untenable".[20] 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.[21]

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. Mirka was co-opted back into the deputy leader role until December 2019. Lauren James was selected to replace her in April 2020.

Leadership history

No.	Portrait	Leader	From	To
1		Martyn Shrewsbury	2004	2006
2		Ann Were	Jan 2006[22]	Dec 2007
3		Leila Kiersch	Dec 2007	2009
4		Jake Griffiths	2009[23]	2011
5		Pippa Bartolotti	Dec 2011[24]	Dec 2015
6		Alice Hooker-Stroud	Dec 2015[25]	March 2017[19]
7		Grenville Ham	March 2017[26]	July 2018[27][28]
8		Anthony Slaughter	Dec 2018[29]	Incumbent

The Wales Greens are represented on a Green Isles Alliance which includes Green parties from England and Wales (Plaid Werdd), Scotland, Ireland (Comhaontas Glas), Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man (Partee Glass Vannin). The alliance acts as a forum for the parties to advance shared political goals.[30]

In July 2018, the Wales Green Party had around 1,500 members. In April 2023, the Wales Green Party was reported to have over 1,800 members.[4] By the end of 2019, the Green Party in England and Wales had a combined 49,013 members (up from 38,707 in 2018).[31]

The Green Parties in the United Kingdom have their roots in the PEOPLE Party which was founded in 1972, which became the Ecology Party in 1975, and then the Green Party in 1985.[32]

In 1973, three Welsh Green candidates (P. Jones, W. Jones and V. Carney) won seats in the inaugural Welsh district council elections in the Gadlys and Town wards on Cynon Valley Borough Council. The party narrowly missed out on a fourth seat to the Labour Party.[33]

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.[13]

In 1991, Marcus Hughes and Brian Stringer were elected to represent the Bynea and Dafen wards on Llanelli Borough Council[34] In 1995, both then stood unsuccessfully as 'Independent Green' candidates, losing their seats to Labour on the new Carmarthenshire County Council. In 1993, the Party won a county council seat on Anglesey (Ynys Môn) after a sitting councillor in the Aethwy ward had joined the Greens, but the Party did not defend this seat or stand any other candidates at the 1995 Isle of Anglesey County Council election two years later.[35]

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.[36][37][38] 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 for Wales from 1999 until 2003. Dafis later stated that he did not consider himself to be the "first Green MP".[39]

On 29 August 1997, the Wales Green Party issued a joint declaration with the Liberal Democrats and Plaid Cymru, supporting the 'Yes for Wales' campaign and the establishment of a new National Assembly for Wales in the 1997 Welsh devolution referendum.[40]

In the 1999 Welsh local elections, Klaus Armstrong-Braun became the first Green Party councillor to be elected to one of Wales' twenty two unitary councils, winning a seat on Flintshire County Council.[41] In 2006, the party elected Ann Were as party leader, the first female leader of a Welsh political party.[22]

In 2010, the party became the only Green party within the United Kingdom to have not elected a Green candidate to a UK or devolved legislature, after Caroline Lucas was elected to the UK Parliament. In 2011, the Green Party campaigned in support of a yes vote in the 2011 Welsh devolution referendum.[42] In 2013, the Wales Green Party archive at the National Library was damaged in a fire with some historical material either destroyed or permanently damaged.[43]

In 2015, the Party agreed to support as many powers for Wales as possible, 'up to and including independence'.[44] In the 2017 Welsh local elections, the Wales Green Party had their first county councillor elected to Powys County Council, for the Llangors ward.[45]

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.[46] In October 2020, party members voted that they would campaign to support Welsh independence if a referendum was called on the matter, with party leader Anthony Slaughter arguing that many green policies could not be implemented in Wales without further devolved powers or independence.[47]

In September 2021, Matt Townsend called for the party to become independent from its Westminster counterpart, despite members voting against it three years earlier. Writing in Bright Green, Townsend pointed out that the Scottish and Northern Irish Green parties were both independent from the GPEW. "This has left Wales as one of very few nations around the world to not have its own Green Party," he said. Townsend also noted that whilst the Scottish Greens had now entered government with the SNP, the Wales Green Party failed to win any seats at the 2021 Senedd election.[48] Slaughter told Nation.Cymru in August 2023 that, with the expansion of the Senedd in 2026, he expected Green MSs to be elected for the first time.[49]

^A Figures do not include community or town councils.

The party did not field candidates in the 2012, 2016 or 2021 police and crime commissioner elections in Wales.

The 2021 Welsh local elections were postponed until 2022 to avoid a clash with the 2021 Senedd election, with the future electoral cycle also changed from four to five years by the Welsh Government.[67] The Wales Green Party formed an electoral pact with Plaid Cymru to fight seats in Cardiff.[68]

The party won eight seats in the election, exceeding a previous high of three seats held in the early 1990s (prior to the two tier system of county and district councils being abolished and replaced by twenty two new unitary councils in 1995).[11] A further two were elected via an alliance with Plaid Cymru in Cardiff.[69]

The Green Party stood a full set of regional list candidates as well as thirteen constituency candidates in the 2021 Senedd election.[70]

Some of the party's key policies for the 2021 Senedd election include: ending fees for people's first university degree, targeting Wales to be carbon net zero by 2030 by replacing fossil fuels with onshore and offshore renewable energy, and introducing free public transport for local journeys for people in Wales aged under 21.[71] The party also said it would build 12,000 homes to the highest environmental standards and would start a transformation fund to invest in local communities and create thousands of green jobs.[72]

During the campaign it was initially announced the party would be excluded from taking part in the BBC One Wales leaders debate scheduled for 29 April 2021.[73] However, BBC Wales later announced that a revised format would allow the party to participate in the second half of the TV debate.[74]

Regional list

Region		Number of votes	Proportion of votes	Change	Candidates
	Mid and West Wales	10,545	4.4%	0.6%	Emily Durrant, Tomos Barlow, Harry Hayfield, Marc Pearton-Scale
	North Wales	6,586	2.9%	0.6%	Iolo Jones, Duncan Rees, Adam Turner, Linda Rogers
	South Wales Central	14,478	5.7%	2.3%	Anthony Slaughter, Helen Westhead, David Griffin, Debra Cooper
	South Wales East	9,950	4.8%	2.3%	Amelia Womack, Ian Chandler, Lauren James, Stephen Priestnall
	South Wales West	7,155	3.9%	1.3%	Megan Poppy Lloyd, Chris Evans, Alex Harris, Tom Muller

Constituencies

No.		Constituency	Votes	%	Change % +/-
	1	Monmouth	2,000	5.6	2.7
	2	Cardiff Central	1,552	5.4	1.0
	3	Cardiff North	1,957	4.8	2.6
	4	Brecon and Radnorshire	1,556	4.8	2.5
	5	Swansea West	1,109	4.6	0.6
	6	Cardiff South and Penarth	1,643	4.5	0.3
	7	Ceredigion	1,356	4.4	0.3
	8	Newport West	1,314	4.4	1.5
	9	Neath	1,038	3.8	1.5
	10	Cardiff West	1,287	3.5	0.3
	11	Gower	1,088	3.3	0.9
	12	Vale of Glamorgan	1,262	2.9	0.8
	13	Pontypridd	655	2.4	0.4

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".[75]

10 February 2016 Welsh Greens abandoned progressive alliance negotiations a few months before the Senedd elections.[76] The manifesto included plans to scrap the M4 relief road, build 12,000 new homes a year and provide free childcare to every child in Wales.[77]

Regional list

Region		Number of votes	Proportion of votes	Change	Candidates
	Mid and West Wales	8,222	3.8%	0.3%	Alice Hooker Stroud, Grenville Ham, Pippa Pemberton, Frances Bryant, Brian Dafydd Williams
	North Wales	4,789	2.3%		Duncan Rees, Martin Bennewith, Petra Haig, Gerry Wolff
	South Wales Central	7,949	3.4%	1.8%	Amelia Womack, Anthony Slaughter, Hannah Pudner, Chris von Ruhland
	South Wales East	4,831	2.5%	0.2%	Pippa Bartolotti, Ann Were, Chris Were, Katy Beddoe, Andrew Creak
	South Wales West	4,420	2.6%		Lisa Rapado, Charlotte Barlow, Laurence Brophy, Mike Whittall, Russell Kennedy, Thomas Muller

Constituencies

No.		Constituency	Votes	%	Change % +/-
	1	Cardiff Central	1,158	4.4	NA
	2	Cardiff South and Penarth	1,268	4.2	NA
	3	Ceredigion	1,223	4.1	1.1
	3	Preseli Pembrokeshire	1,161	4.1	NA
	5	Swansea West	883	4.0	NA
	6	Montgomeryshire	932	3.9	NA
	7	Dwyfor Meirionnydd	743	3.7	NA
	8	Cardiff West	1,032	3.2	NA
	9	Aberconwy	680	3.1	NA
	9	Cynon Valley	598	3.1	NA
	11	Torfaen	681	3.0	NA
	12	Monmouth	910	2.9	NA
	12	Newport West	814	2.9	NA
	14	Caerphilly	770	2.8	NA
	15	Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshirre	804	2.7	NA
	15	Carmarthen East and Dinefwr	797	2.7	NA
	15	Islwyn	592	2.7	NA
	18	Swansea East	529	2.6	NA
	19	Gower	737	2.4	NA
	19	Alyn and Deeside	527	2.4	NA
	19	Newport East	491	2.4	NA
	22	Brecon and Radnorshire	697	2.3	NA
	22	Neath	589	2.3	NA
	22	Merthyr Tydfil	469	2.3	NA
	25	Cardiff North	824	2.2	NA
	25	Clwyd West	565	2.2	NA
	25	Ogmore	516	2.2	NA
	28	Vale of Glamorgan	794	2.1	NA
	28	Bridgend	567	2.1	NA
	28	Clwyd South	474	2.1	NA
	31	Pontypridd	508	2.0	NA
	31	Wrexham	411	2.0	NA
	33	Aberavon	389	1.9	NA
	34	Llanelli	427	1.5	NA
	34	Ynys Mon	389	1.5	NA
	36	Rhondda	259	1.1	NA
	37	Arfon	DNS
	38	Blaenau Gwent	DNS
	39	Delyn	DNS
	40	Vale of Clwyd	DNS

^A DNS = Did not stand.

The Wales Green Party again fielded candidates in all 5 top-up regions for the 2011 election. For the first time since 1999, the Greens also stood in a constituency - they once again opted to stand in Ceredigion.

During the 2011 campaign, they specifically targeted Labour voters with the aim of persuading them to use their regional list vote for the Greens, using the slogan "2nd vote Green". They claimed that Labour list votes were "wasted" and that over 70,000 votes in South Wales Central went "in the bin at every election" as Labour had never won a top-up seat in that region.[78]

On this occasion, South Wales Central was the region the party targeted. The region includes Cardiff, with its large student population, and also the constituency of Cardiff Central, the only Liberal Democrat-Labour marginal seat in Wales. Welsh Green leader and South Wales Central candidate Jake Griffiths stated they were also aiming to attract disaffected Liberal Democrat voters in the region.[79]

The Greens polled 32,649 votes, 3.4% of the total votes cast for the regional lists.[80] In South Wales Central, they took over 10,000 votes, 5.2% of the total, though they were still almost 6,000 votes away from winning a seat. The regional results were as follows:

Region		Number of Votes	Proportion of Votes	Change	Candidates
	Mid and West Wales[81]	8,660	4.1%	0.1%	Leila Kiersch, Marilyn Elson
	North Wales[82]	4,406	2.3%	0.6%	Dorienne Robinson, Timothy Foster, Peter Haig
	South Wales Central[83]	10,774	5.2%	1.4%	Jake Griffiths, Sam Coates, John Matthews, Matt Townsend, Teleri Clark
	South Wales East[84]	4,857	2.7%	0.2%	Chris Were, Pippa Bartolotti, Owen Clarke, Alyson Ayland, Alan Williams
	South Wales West[85]	3,952	2.6%	1.2%	Keith Ross, Huw Evans, Andy Chyba, Delyth Miller

In Ceredigion, Chris Simpson polled 1,514 votes, or 5.2%. He came fifth out of five candidates.[86]

In 2007, the party again fielded a list of candidates in each of the top-up regions but no candidates for the constituencies. The Wales Green Party proposed that Wales should "be at the forefront of....a green industrial revolution". The party targeted South Wales West - the region where they had performed best in 2003.[87]

The Welsh Greens polled 33,803 votes, or 3.5% of the total, a slight decrease on 2003.[88] The party failed to win any seats, with their best performance this time being Mid and West Wales with 4.0% of the vote. In South Wales West their vote declined by one percentage point, their worst result of the five regions.

Region		Number of Votes	Proportion of Votes	Change	Candidates
	Mid and West Wales[89]	8,768	4.0%	0.1%	Leila Kiersch, Moth Foster, Marilyn Elson, John Jennings
	North Wales[90]	5,660	2.9%	0.4%	Jim Killock, Joe Blakesley, Maredudd ap Rheinallt, Wilf Hastings
	South Wales Central[91]	7,831	3.8%	0.4%	John Matthews, Richard Payne, David Pierce, Nigel Baker
	South Wales East[92]	5,414	2.8%	0.3%	Ann Were, Alasdair McGowen, Gerry Layton, Owen Clarke
	South Wales West[93]	6,130	3.8%	1.0%	Rhodri Griffiths, Brig Oubridge, Jane Richmond, Jonathan Spink

In the 2003 election, the party again fielded a list of candidates for each of the electoral regions but this time stood no candidates for the constituencies. The Welsh Greens failed to win any seats, polling 30,028 votes, or 3.5%. Their best performance was in South Wales West where they polled 6,696 votes, or 4.8% of the total.

Region		Number of Votes	Proportion of Votes	Change	Candidates
	Mid and West Wales[94]	7,794	4.2%	0.7%	Dorienne Robinson, Molly Scott Cato, Timothy Foster, Reg Taylor, Christopher Cato
	North Wales[95]	4,200	2.4%	0.2%	Klaus Armstrong-Brown, John Walker, Jeremy Hart, Wilfred Hastings, Gilly Boyd, Jim Killock
	South Wales Central[96]	6,047	3.3%	0.9%	John Matthews, Lynn Farr, Jan Tucker, Sylvia Latham, Paul Beswick
	South Wales East[97]	5,291	3.1%	1.1%	Peter Varley, Ann Were, Owen Clarke, Ernie Hamer, Gealdine Layton, Teresa Telfer, Matthew Wooton
	South Wales West[98]	6,696	4.8%	2.4%	Martin Shrewsbury, Jan Cliff, Rhodri Griffiths, Steve Clegg, Deborah James, Tony Young

In the 1999 inaugural election for the National Assembly, the Welsh Greens stood candidates in all five electoral regions used to elect "top-up" members of the assembly. Additionally, one candidate stood for the constituency seat of Ceredigion. The party stated that they aimed to poll around 7% of the vote and win at least one top-up seat.[99]

The Welsh Greens ultimately polled 25,858 votes in the regional lists, 2.5% of the total, and 1,002 constituency votes (3.1%) in Ceredigion. No Welsh Greens were elected.[100]

The Wales Green Party entered an electoral pact in eleven Welsh seats with Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Liberal Democrats, as part of the Remain Alliance. As a result of this agreement, the party did not contest ten Welsh seats and instead supported pro-European Plaid Cymru or Liberal Democrat candidates. In the Vale of Glamorgan constituency, Anthony Slaughter stood for the Green Party as the Remain Alliance candidate but was not elected. The 2019 manifesto was titled If not now, when? and included various commitments, including taxing frequent flyers, creating more energy-efficient homes, decommissioning North Sea oil rigs and phasing out the UK’s coal industry.[106][107]

No.		Constituency	Votes	%	Change % +/-
	1	Vale of Glamorgan	3,251	5.9	5.1
	2	Monmouth	1,353	2.7	0.8
	3	Cardiff West	1,133	2.5	NA
	4	Cardiff South and Penarth	1,182	2.3	1.3
	5	Torfaen	812	2.2	NA
	6	Newport West	902	2.1	1.0
	7	Neath	728	2.0	NA
	8	Bridgend	815	1.9	NA
	8	Islwyn	669	1.9	NA
	10	Ogmore	621	1.8	NA
	11	Ceredigion	663	1.7	0.3
	11	Swansea East	583	1.7	0.7
	13	Cardiff North	820	1.6	NA
	13	Newport East	577	1.6	NA
	15	Rhondda	438	1.5	NA
	16	Aberavon	450	1.4	NA
	17	Wrexham	445	1.3	NA
	17	Blaenau Gwent	386	1.3	NA

The Wales Green Party fielded their highest number of UK general election candidates and achieved their best UK election result in Wales.

No.		Constituency	Votes	%	Change % +/-
	1	Cardiff Central	2,461	6.4	4.8
	2	Ceredigion	2,088	5.6	3.8
	3	Swansea West	1,784	5.1	4.0
	4	Cardiff West	1,704	3.9	2.1
	5	Cardiff South and Penarth	1,746	3.7	2.5
	5	Montgomeryshire	1,260	3.7	NA
	7	Preseli Pembrokeshire	1,452	3.6	NA
	8	Monmouth	1,629	3.4	2.1
	8	Dwyfor Meirionnydd	981	3.4	NA
	10	Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire	1,290	3.2	NA
	10	Newport West	1,272	3.2	2.1
	10	Neath	1,185	3.2	NA
	13	Brecon and Radnorshire	1,261	3.1	2.2
	14	Carmarthen East and Dinefwr	1,091	2.8	NA
	15	Gower	1,161	2.7	NA
	16	Pontypridd	992	2.6	1.6
	16	Clwyd South	915	2.6	NA
	16	Cynon Valley	799	2.6	NA
	19	Cardiff North	1,254	2.5	1.7
	19	Newport East	887	2.5	NA
	21	Alyn and Deeside	976	2.4	NA
	21	Aberconwy	727	2.4	NA
	23	Caerphilly	937	2.3	NA
	23	Blaenau Gwent	738	2.3	NA
	23	Aberavon	711	2.3	NA
	26	Vale of Glamorgan	1,054	2.1	1.1
	26	Ogmore	754	2.1	NA
	28	Wrexham	669	2.0	NA
	28	Torfaen	746	2.0	0.8
	30	Islwyn	659	1.9	NA
	30	Bridgend	736	1.9	NA
	32	Llanelli	689	1.8	NA
	32	Delyn	680	1.8	NA
	32	Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney	603	1.8	NA
	35	Rhondda	453	1.4	NA