Helen Mary Jones

Infobox Politician
name=Helen Mary Jones AM

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imagesize=150px
birth_date =birth date and age|1960|06|29
birth_place = Colchester, England
constituency_AM = Llanelli
majority = 3,884 (14.1%)
term_start =4 May 2007
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predecessor = Catherine Thomas
successor = (incumbent)
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party = Plaid Cymru

Helen Mary Jones (born June 29, 1960, Colchester, Essex) is a Plaid Cymru politician and member of the National Assembly for Wales.

Background

Educated at Colchester County High School for Girls, Llanfair Caereinon High School in Powys and the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. She has taught in the special education field and has held various positions in youth, community and social work.

Political career

She is a member of Plaid Cymru - The Party For Wales. Her political interests include environmental issues, social justice, equal opportunities, children's rights and employment.

She unsuccessfully contested the 1992 general election in Islwyn against the then leader of the Labour Party, Neil Kinnock, and the 1997 general election in Montgomeryshire. In 1999 she was elected to the new National Assembly for Wales for the constituency of Llanelli. Prior to being elected as AM for Llanelli she was Senior Development Manager with the Equal Opportunities Commission in Wales.

She was Shadow Minister for Education and Lifelong Learning, and a member of the Education and Lifelong Learning Committee, the Equality of Opportunity Committee, the South West Wales Regional Committee and also a member of the Voluntary Sector Partnership during the first term of the National Assembly.

In the 2003 elections to the National Assembly she lost her constituency seat in Llanelli by just 21 votes, but was nevertheless elected for the Mid and West Wales "top-up" region. She was the Shadow Minister for the Environment, Planning and Countryside in the Second Assembly (2003-07). During the 2007 elections to the National Assembly she won back the Llanelli constituency with a majority of 3,884 votes.

External links

* [http://www.plaidcymru.org/content.php?nID=128;lID=1 Profile on Plaid Cymru website]
* [http://www.helenmaryjones.net/ Personal website]

References

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/uk/wales/13122.stm Profile on BBC website September 1999]

Offices held