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| United Kingdom Secretary of State for Wales | |
|---|---|
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| Office of the Secretary of State for Wales | |
| Style |
|
| Type | Minister of the Crown |
| Status | Secretary of State |
| Member of | |
| Reports to | The Prime Minister |
| Seat | Westminster |
| Nominator | The Prime Minister |
| Appointer | The Monarch (on the advice of thePrime Minister) |
| Term length | At His Majesty's pleasure |
| Formation |
|
| First holder | David Maxwell Fyfe (as Minister of Welsh Affairs) |
| Salary | £159,038 per annum (2022)[1] (including £86,584MP salary)[2] |
| Website | www |
Thesecretary of state for Wales (Welsh:ysgrifennydd gwladol Cymru), also referred to as theWelsh secretary, is asecretary of state in theGovernment of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for theWales Office. The incumbent is a member of theCabinet of the United Kingdom.
The officeholder works alongside the other Wales Office ministers. The correspondingshadow minister is theshadow secretary of state for Wales. The position is currently held byJo Stevens having been appointed byKeir Starmer in July 2024.
In the first half of the 20th century, a number of politicians had supported the creation of the post of Secretary of State for Wales as a step towardshome rule for Wales. A post of Minister of Welsh Affairs was created in 1951 under thehome secretary and was upgraded tominister of state level in 1954.
TheLabour Party proposed the creation of aWelsh Office run by a Secretary of State for Wales in their manifesto for the1959 general election. When they came to power in 1964 this was soon put into effect.
The post of Secretary of State for Wales came into existence on 17 October 1964; the first incumbent wasJim Griffiths, MP forLlanelli. The position entailed responsibility for Wales, and expenditure on certain public services was delegated fromWestminster. In April 1965 administration of Welsh affairs, which had previously been divided between a number ofgovernment departments, was united in a newly createdWelsh Office with the secretary of state for Wales at its head, and the Welsh secretary became responsible for education and training, health, trade and industry, environment, transport and agriculture within Wales.
During the 1980s and 1990s, as the number ofConservative MPs for Welsh constituencies dwindled almost to zero, the office fell into disrepute.Nicholas Edwards, MP forPembrokeshire, held the post for eight years. On his departure, the government ceased to look within Wales for the secretary of state, and the post was increasingly used as a way of getting junior high-fliers into theCabinet.John Redwood in particular caused embarrassment when he publicly demonstrated his inability to sing "Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau", the Welshnational anthem, at a conference.
The introduction of theNational Assembly for Wales and theWelsh Government, after thedevolutionreferendum of 1997, was the beginning of a new era. On 1 July 1999 the majority of the functions of the Welsh Office transferred to the new assembly. The Welsh Office was disbanded, but the post of Secretary of State for Wales was retained, as the head of the newly created Wales Office.
Since 1999 there have been calls for the office of Welsh secretary to be scrapped or merged with the posts ofSecretary of State for Scotland andSecretary of State for Northern Ireland, to reflect the lesser powers of the role since devolution.[3][4] Those calling for a Secretary of State for the Union include Robert Hazell,[5] in a department into whichRodney Brazier has suggested adding a Minister of State for England with responsibility forEnglish local government.[6]
In June 2024,Plaid Cymru, the Welsh nationalist party, called for the position's abolishment describing it as "outdated", that it "entrench[es]" a power imbalance, and its powers should be devolved. The party's representatives accused theshadow Labour holder,Jo Stevens, of having a "contemptuous attitude towards devolution" based on Stevens' comments relating toHigh Speed 2 andjustice and policing. The Conservative incumbentDavid TC Davies expressed his surprise, stating that the "so-called 'party of Wales' is now wanting to silence Wales' voice [in the cabinet]".[7] In Plaid Cymru's motion on 26 June, calling for the post's abolishment, leader of theWelsh Conservatives,Andrew RT Davies, supported the motion after being confused it was a Tory amendment being voted on.[8]
Colour key
Conservative National Liberal Labour
| 1964–1970 | | |
|---|---|---|
| 1970–1974 | ||
| 1974–1979 | ||
| 1979–1997 | ||
| 1997–2010 | ||
| 2010–2024 | ||
| 2024–present | ||
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| Commissions |
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| UK Government departments |
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| Parties represented in Wales | |||||
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