| Wales Green Party Plaid Werdd Cymru |
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|---|---|
| Leader | Jake Griffiths |
| Founded | 1973 |
| Headquarters | Cardiff, Wales |
| Ideology | Green politics |
| Political position | Left-wing |
| International affiliation | Global Greens |
| European affiliation | European Green Party |
| European Parliament Group | The Greens–European Free Alliance |
| Official colours | Green |
| Website | |
| http://wales.greenparty.org.uk/ | |
| Politics of Wales Political parties Elections |
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Core topics
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The Wales Green Party (WGP; Welsh: Plaid Werdd Cymru) is a semi-autonomous political party within the Green Party of England and Wales (GPEW). It covers Wales, and is the only regional party with autonomous status within the GPEW.
The WGP fights elections for the National Assembly for Wales (as well as at the local, UK and European level) and has its own newsletters, membership list, AGMs and manifesto. Members of the WGP are automatically members of the GPEW.
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The current Leader is Jake Griffiths. Wales is represented internally within the GPEW by John Matthews on the Green Party Regional Council (GPRC). Both sets of positions are directly elected by postal ballot.
Other officer positions within WGP (elected at AGM) are as follows:
Wales-wide decisions are taken by the Wales Green Party Council made up of the spokespeople, the officers listed above and a representative from each local party.
In 1992, an electoral alliance culminated in Plaid Cymru's MP Cynog Dafis being endorsed by the local Green Party in Ceredigion. The agreement broke down by 1995.[1][2][3]
In the May 2003 election to the National Assembly for Wales, the party fielded a list of candidates for each of the top-up regions but no candidates for the constituencies. The party failed to win any seats, coming closest in South Wales West with 4.8% of the vote.
In the 2004 elections, the Welsh party failed to gain any seats in the European Parliament (with 3.6% of the vote for the four Welsh seats) and lost their only county council seat (of Klaus Armstrong-Braun in Flintshire).
In the 2005 UK general election, the party failed to get any Welsh MPs into Parliament. The results for the party's candidates in Wales, in alphabetical order of constituency, were as follows:
| Constituency | Candidate | Number of Votes | Proportion of Votes | Turnout |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aberavon | Miranda La Vey | 510 | 1.7% | 58.9% |
| Bridgend | Jonathan Spink | 595 | 1.6% | 59.2% |
| Cardiff South & Penarth | John Matthews | 729 | 2.0% | 56.2% |
| Ceredigion | Dave Bradney | 846 | 2.4% | 67.2% |
| Conwy | Jim Killock | 512 | 1.5% | 62.3% |
| Gower | Rhodri Griffiths | 1,029 | 2.6% | 64.9% |
| Neath | Susan Jay Green | 658 | 1.8% | 62.2% |
| Newport West | Peter Varley | 540 | 1.5% | 59.3% |
| Preseli Pembrokeshire | Molly Scott-Cato | 494 | 1.3% | 69.5% |
| Swansea East | Tony Young | 493 | 1.6% | 52.4% |
| Swansea West | Martyn Shrewsbury | 738 | 2.2% | 57.1% |
| Total | 11 (out of 40) | 7, 144 | ||
| Mean | 649.5 | 1.8% | 60.8 % |
In the May 2007 election to the National Assembly for Wales, the party fielded a list of candidates for each of the top-up regions but no candidates for the constituencies. The party failed to win any seats, coming closest in Mid and West Wales with 4.1% of the vote. The regional party lists were as follows:
| Mid and West Wales | North Wales | South Wales Central | South Wales East | South Wales West (target region) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Leila Kiersch | Jim Killock | John Matthews | Ann Were | Rhodri Griffiths |
| 2. | Moth Foster | Joe Blakesley | Richard Payne | Alasdair McGowen | Brig Oubridge |
| 3. | Marilyn Elson | Maredudd ap Rheinallt | David Pierce | Gerry Layton | Jane Richmond |
| 4. | John Jennings | Wilf Hastings | Nigel Baker | Owen Clarke | Jonathan Spink |
| 5. | Chris Simpson | Anthony Matthews |
In the European Parliament election, 2009 (United Kingdom), the Welsh party failed to gain any seats in the European Parliament, but increased the vote to 5.6% for the four Welsh seats).
The Wales Green Party fielded candidates in all 5 top-up regions for the National Assembly for Wales election, 2011. There were both candidates fielded in top-up regions and one candidate fielded for the constituencies.
The breakdown of candidates is shown below:
| Mid and West Wales | North Wales | South Wales Central(target region) | South Wales East | South Wales West | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Leila Kiersch | Dorienne Robinson | Jake Griffiths | Chris Were | Keith Ross |
| 2. | Marilyn Elson | Timothy Foster | Sam Coates | Pippa Bartolotti | Huw Evans |
| 3. | Peter Haig | John Matthews | Owen Clarke | Andy Chyba | |
| 4. | Matt Townsend | Alyson Ayland | Delyth Miller | ||
| 5. | Teleri Clark | Alan Williams |
The was one candidate fielded in a constituency which was Chris Simpson who stood in Ceredigion.