Leanne Wood AM | |
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Member of the Welsh Assembly for South Wales Central |
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Incumbent | |
Assumed office 1 May 2003 |
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Preceded by | Pauline Jarman |
Personal details | |
Born | 13 December 1971 Rhondda, Wales |
Political party | Plaid Cymru |
Website | http://www.leannewood.org |
Leanne Wood AM (born 13 December 1971), is a Welsh politician, born in the Rhondda, Wales, who has represented the South Wales Central region for Plaid Cymru as a Member of the National Assembly for Wales since 2003. Wood is known as a republican and socialist.
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Leanne Wood was born in Llwynypia on 13 December 1971.[1][2] She grew up in the nearby Rhondda village of Penygraig, south Wales, where she attended Tonypandy Comprehensive School (now Tonypandy Community College).[3][4]
From 1997 to 2000, Wood worked with the Mid Glamorgan Probation Service as a probation officer. From 1998 to 2000 she was co-Chair of the National Association of Probation Officers.[2] Wood worked as a support worker for Cwm Cynon Women's Aid from 2001 to 2002, where she has been Chair since 2001.[2][5] Wood lectured in social work at Cardiff University from 2000, until her election to the National Assembly for Wales in 2003.[2][6]
Wood was a councillor on Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council from 1995 to 1999.[2] After leaving the probation service in 2000, she was Jill Evans MEP's political researcher until 2001.[2] Wood was Chair of Cardiff Stop the War Coalition from 2003 to 2004.[2]
Wood has been a Member of the National Assembly for Wales (AM) since the election of 1 May 2003, representing the South Wales Central region for Plaid Cymru.[1] She was the party's Shadow Social Justice Minister between 2003 and 2007.[1] Wood became Plaid Cymru's sustainability spokesperson from the formation of the One Wales government, a coalition between Labour and Plaid Cymru in July 2007, remaining in the role until the end of Assembly's term in 2011.[1] While in the role, Wood campaigned on 'green' issues, including calling for more land to be made available for growing food.[7]
During the 2011 referendum on extending the National Assembly for Wales' law-making powers, Wood was Plaid Cymru's representative on the all-party Yes for Wales steering group, which campaigned successfully for a 'Yes' vote.[8][9] She is Chair of the PCS Cross-Party Group in the Welsh Assembly.[5] According to the BBC, Wood's particular areas of interest are: poverty; women's issues; social services; criminal justice; social exclusion; mental health; anti-privatisation; and anti-war.[1] Her Plaid Cymru profile includes her commitment to working "for Wales to become a self-governing decentralist socialist republic." [10]
Between 2009 and 2011, Wood led the exposure of excesses at the Wales Audit Office, while under the control of Jeremy Colman, Auditor General for Wales.[11] Through the Freedom of Information Act, she uncovered a severance package of £750,000, personally authorised by Colman, to the former chief operating officer Anthony Snow.[12] Further scrutiny uncovered more self-authorised expenses, including training costs for Colman and Snow and the £464 cost of hiring a chauffeur-driven Mercedes for Snow to attend a meeting on how to save public money.[13][14] Colman resigned in February 2010 following an internal investigation, subsequently pleading guilty to possession of child pornography.[15][16]
Figures obtained by Wood under the Freedom of information Act revealed the level of pay among university vice-chancellors in Wales. Over 270 people were paid over £100,000 per annum by Welsh universities in 2009. It was noted that all Welsh university vice-chancellors received more pay than the £134,723 salary of Carwyn Jones, Wales' First Minister, and some were paid more than the £197,000 entitlement of David Cameron, the UK Prime Minister.[17]
Information obtained by Wood showed thousands of workers in Wales to have been paid below the Minimum Wage since 2002-03. The underpayments involved over 1000 employers in Wales. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills subsequently asked HM Revenue and Customs to "press for prosecution where there is clear evidence that the employer has committed an offence.", in 2010. No prosecutions had begun by June 2011.[18]
Wood has produced two major policy documents. In 2008, she published Making Our Communities Safer. Drawing on her four years’ previous experience as Plaid Cymru’s Social Justice and Regeneration spokesperson and committee member, as well as her previous work as a Probation Officer, it argued for the criminal justice system in Wales to be devolved.[19]
A Greenprint for the Valleys was published in 2011, in which Wood argued for a job creation programme aimed at regenerating the former coalfield areas of the valleys. It contains initiatives including: a Green Construction Skills College; implementing an integrated transport plan for the valleys; creating a land bank for renewable energy and food production; and a programme to renovate heritage buildings. It also suggests providing financial support for home energy efficiency measures and for setting up of green co-operatives.[20]
Wood became the fourth candidate in Plaid Cymru's leadership contest, when she announced her intention to stand on 15 December 2011.[21] Nomations for the leadership election will be open from 3 January to 26 January 2012, and the new leader will be elected on 15 March 2012, a week before the party's spring conference.[22]
In December 2004 she was the first assembly member to be ordered out of the chamber for referring to the Queen as "Mrs Windsor" during a debate. Lord Elis-Thomas asked Ms Wood to withdraw the remark on the grounds of discourtesy. When she refused, she was ordered to leave.[23] She later said: "I don't think I was treated fairly, I don't think it was necessary.", "I don't recognise the Queen, I called her that because that's her name." [24]
Wood was arrested on 8 January 2007 for protesting against Britain's Trident nuclear deterrent at Faslane, Scotland.[25][26]
On 23 January 2006 Leanne was the first Welsh politician to start weekly podcasts from her website.
National Assembly for Wales | ||
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Preceded by Pauline Jarman |
Assembly Member for South Wales Central 2003–present |
Incumbent |
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