Gareth Jones (Welsh politician)

Gareth Jones OBE (born May 14 1939) is a Welsh politician. He is currently a member of the National Assembly for Wales for the Aberconwy constituency, as well as being a county councillor representing the Craig-y-Don ward.

In July 2007 he was elected Chair of the Assembly's new Enterprise and Learning Scrutiny Committee. [http://www.assemblywales.org/bus-home/bus-committees/bus-committees-third-assem/bus-committees-third-els-home.htm]

Prior to winning the Aberconwy constituency he was the cabinet member for finance and resources and the leader of the Plaid Cymru party group on Conwy County Borough Council.

Personal

Gareth Jones was born in Blaenau Ffestiniog but now lives in Craig-y-Don, a suburb of Llandudno. A former headmaster of Ysgol John Bright, Llandudno's secondary school, he graduated with a B.A. from the University of Wales, Swansea. Gareth Jones' political interests include social justice, the Welsh language and education. His hobbies include reading and walking. His wife formerly owned a local bookshop.

Political career

Between 1999 and 2003, Jones was a member of the National Assembly for Wales for the then constituency of Conwy and was Shadow Minister for Education and later Chair of the Education Committee. In the 2003 Assembly election, he lost his seat by the narrow margin of 72 votes to Labour's Denise Idris Jones amid allegations of electoral fraud by Royal Mail (after they failed to deliver some 11,000 of his electoral leaflets to parts of Llandudno and surrounding areas). [http://icnorthwales.icnetwork.co.uk/news/regionalnews/tm_method=full%26objectid=12931128%26siteid=50142-name_page.html]

In 2007, in the new constituency of Aberconwy that was created following boundary changes, Jones defeated the Conservative candidate, Dylan Jones-Evans by a margin of 1,700 votes, as well as Denise Idris Jones who came in third place. Jones, who mainly campaigned in the run up to the election against potential downgrading [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_east/4733978.stm] of services at Ysbyty Llandudno hospital [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_west/6577711.stm] (as well as against the proposed Gwynt-y-Môr off-shore windfarm [http://www.npower-renewables.com/gwyntymor/] and for affordable housing), was granted permission by the Electoral Commission to have the phrase "Save Llandudno Hospital" used by his name on the ballot paper; but, following Jones's victory, the local Labour Party spokesperson described this as dishonest "scaremongering", claiming that the hospital was not under threat of closure under the incumbent Labour Welsh Assembly Government. [http://icnorthwales.icnetwork.co.uk/weeklynews/news/tm_method=full%26objectid=19072165%26siteid=50142-name_page.html]

He has also held several posts within his political party, Plaid Cymru - the Party of Wales, including being a member of the National Executive Committee.

He is currently an active member of the Llandudno Hospital Action Group, a Trustee of Llandudno's St David's Hospice, Board Member of Aberconwy Women's Aid, Board Member of the National Language Centre at Nant Gwrtheyrn and Chair of Deganwy Chapel.

ources

*Plaid Cymru Website [http://www.plaidcymru.org/content.php?nID=340;lID=1]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/uk/wales/13079.stm BBC News]
*National Assembly for Wales Register of Members Interests [http://www.assemblywales.org/register-04-05-07-e.pdf]
*National Assembly for Wales [http://www.assemblywales.org/memhome/mem-profile/mem-conwy.htm]

Offices held