South Wales East regional Senedd Members Laura Anne Jones and Natasha Asghar have been appointed to the Welsh Conservative Shadow Cabinet.
Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies unveiled his new Shadow Cabinet on Thursday.
What is a Shadow Cabinet?
The Shadow Cabinet is made up of Senedd Members from the largest opposition party. In this Senedd term, that is the Welsh Conservative Party – which had 16 Senedd Members elected in this year’s Senedd Election.
The role of the Shadow Cabinet is to scrutinise the role of Welsh Government Ministers. With Welsh Labour the largest party in the Senedd, holding 30 of the 60 seats available, Welsh Labour MSs make up the Welsh Government.
Plaid Cymru is the third largest party in the Senedd with 13 MSs. While the party can’t form the Shadow Cabinet, party leader Adam Price has named spokespeople from within his party’s ranks to scrutinise government ministers.
Ms Jones, who was re-elected earlier this month, has been appointed as Shadow Education Minister.
She was also named as the Chair of the Welsh Conservative group in the Senedd earlier this month.
Ms Asghar, who became the first woman of colour ever elected to the Senedd, has been appointed Shadow Minister for Transport and Technology.
What is a regional Senedd Member?
Wales is divided into 40 constituencies for Senedd elections. Each consituency elects one Senedd Member through a first past the post system.
Hefin David represents the Caerphilly constituency, Rhianon Passmore represents Islwyn and Dawn Bowden represents Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney.
Then, Wales is split into five regions, each region being represented by four Senedd Members. This means there are 20 regional Senedd Members, and 60 Senedd Members in total.
The three constituencies within Caerphilly County Borough form part of the South Wales East region.
Regional members are elected using a proportional representation system, where members are selected from a list of candidates submitted by each party.
These are the current regional Senedd Members for South Wales East:
- Natasha Asghar (Welsh Conservatives)
- Delyth Jewell (Plaid Cymru)
- Laura Anne Jones (Welsh Conservatives)
- Peredur Owen Griffiths (Plaid Cymru)
What area does South Wales East cover?
The South Wales East region includes the following constituencies:
- Blaenau Gwent
- Caerphilly
- Islwyn
- Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney
- Monmouth
- Newport East
- Newport West
- Torfaen
Last week, Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price named Delyth Jewell and Peredur Owen Griffiths to his top team.
Ms Jewell, who was re-elected as a regional MS, has been named as the party’s spokesperson for Climate Change, Energy and Transport Brief.
Mr Griffiths, who also serves on Penyrheol, Trecenydd and Energlyn Community Council, has been given the Communities and Older People brief.
Meanwhile, Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney MS Dawn Bowden, who represents Welsh Labour, was given a role in the Welsh Government by First Minister Mark Drakeford.
Ms Bowden has been appointed Deputy Minister for Arts and Sports, as well as the Welsh Labour group’s Chief Whip.
Welsh Government ministers
- Mark Drakeford – First Minister
- Vaughan Gething – Minister for Economy
- Eluned Morgan – Minister for Health and Social Services
- Jeremy Miles – Minister for Education and Welsh Language
- Rebecca Evans – Minister for Finance and Local Government
- Julie James – Minister for Climate Change
- Lesley Griffiths – Minister for Rural Affairs, North Wales and Trefnydd
- Jane Hutt – Minister for Social Justice
- Mick Antoniw – Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
- Lee Waters – Deputy Minister for Climate Change
- Lynne Neagle – Deputy Minister for Mental Health and Wellbeing
- Dawn Bowden – Minister for Arts, Sports and Chief Whip
- Hannah Blythyn – Deputy Minister for Social Partnership
- Julie Morgan – Deputy Minister for Social Services
Welsh Conservative Shadow Cabinet
- Andrew RT Davies – Welsh Conservative leader
- Darren Millar – Chief Whip; Shadow Minister for the Constitution and North Wales
- Altaf Hussain – Deputy Whip; Shadow Minister for Equalities
- Janet Finch-Saunders – Shadow Minister for Climate Change
- Tom Giffard – Shadow Minister for Culture, Tourism and Sport
- Paul Davies – Shadow Minister for Economy
- Laura Anne Jones – Shadow Minister for Education
- Peter Fox – Shadow Minister for Finance
- Russell George – Shadow Minister for Health
- Sam Rowlands – Shadow Minister for Local Government
- James Evans – Shadow Minister for Mental Health, Wellbeing and Mid Wales
- Samuel Kurtz – Shadow Minister for Rural Affairs and Welsh Language
- Mark Isherwood – Shadow Minister for Social Justice; Shadow Counsel General
- Joel James – Shadow Minister for Social Partnership
- Gareth Davies – Shadow Minister for Social Services
- Natasha Asghar – Shadow Minister for Transport and Technology
Plaid Cymru spokespeople
- Adam Price – Plaid Cymru leader
- Rhys ab Owen – Constitution and Justice
- Llyr Gruffydd – Finance and Local Government
- Luke Fletcher – Economy
- Heledd Fychan – Culture, Sport and International Affairs
- Cefin Campbell – Agriculture and Rural Affairs
- Sioned Williams – Social Justice and Equalities
- Delyth Jewell – Climate Change, Energy and Transport
- Mabon ap Gwynfor – Housing and Planning
- Sian Gwenllian – Education and the Welsh Language, Children and Young People; Chief Whip and Deputy Leader
- Rhun ap Iorwerth – Health and Social Care; Senedd Commissioner and Deputy Leader
- Peredur Owen Griffiths – Communities and Older People
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