Welsh Liberal Democrats Democratiaid Rhyddfrydol Cymru
Leader	Jane Dodds MS
Deputy Leader	David Chadwick MP
Chief Executive	Mike O'Carroll
Founded	3 March 1988 (1988-03-03)
Headquarters	Pascoe House 54Bute Street Cardiff. CF10 5AF[1]
Youth wing	Welsh Young Liberals
Membership(2017)	3,133[2][needs update]
Ideology	Liberalism Social liberalism British federalism[3] British unionism[4] Pro-Europeanism
Political position	Centre tocentre-left
European affiliation	Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party
International affiliation	Liberal International
UK Parliament affiliation	Liberal Democrats (UK) Cooperate with theEnglish Liberal Democrats,Scottish Liberal Democrats,Northern Ireland Liberal Democrats, andAlliance Party
Colours	Orange[5]
House of Commons	1 / 32 (Welsh seats)
Senedd	1 / 60
Councillors in Wales[6]	65 / 1,234
Councils led inWales	1 / 22
Police and crime commissioners	0 / 4
Website
www.libdems.wales

TheWelsh Liberal Democrats (Welsh:Democratiaid Rhyddfrydol Cymru) is aliberal,federalist political party in Wales, part of UKLiberal Democrats. The party is led byJane Dodds, who has served as anMS forMid and West Wales sinceMay 2021.^[7] The party currently has one elected member in theSenedd and one Welsh seat in the UKHouse of Commons. It also has several members of theHouse of Lords. The party had 69 local councillors serving in principal authorities as of the 2022 local authority elections, up 10 from 2017.

Mark Williams, then-Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, was defeated at the2017 general election in hisCeredigion constituency byBen Lake ofPlaid Cymru, whose majority of 104 made the seat one of the most marginal in the country. The result left the party without an MP in Wales; the party and its predecessors had continuously held parliamentary seats in Wales since the formation of theLiberal Party in 1859.^[8] The party regained representation in Westminster following the election ofDavid Chadwick as the MP forBrecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe in theJuly 2024 General Election.^[9]

No.	Image	Name	Term start	Term end
1		Richard Livsey	1988	1992
2		Alex Carlile	1992	1997
(1)		Richard Livsey	1997	2001
3		Lembit Öpik	17 September 2001	13 October 2007
4		Mike German	13 October 2007	8 December 2008
5		Kirsty Williams	8 December 2008	6 May 2016
6		Mark Williams	7 May 2016	16 June 2017
(5)		Kirsty Williams	16 June 2017	3 November 2017
7		Jane Dodds	3 November 2017	Incumbent

• President of the Welsh Liberal Democrats: Tim Sly
• Deputy President: Cllr Sam Bennett
• Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats:Jane Dodds MS
• Deputy Leader (Westminster):David Chadwick MP

The youth wing of the party is Welsh Young Liberals.

• Chair: Samuel Wilson
• Vice-Chair: David-Leigh Waters
• Policy Officer: Brendan Roberts
• Campaigns Officer: Dylan Calved

The Welsh Liberal Democrats promote liberalism as their main ideology, as well as furtherdevolved powers for theSenedd with the aim of establishing a federal UK.

Members of the Senedd (MSs)

Members of Parliament (MPs)

The Liberal Council for Wales was founded byDavid Lloyd George in 1897. This makes the WelshLiberals the oldest of the political parties in Wales. It was the first to establish a trulyWelsh identity. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries the Welsh Liberals were a home of radicalWelsh nationalism. Through politicians such asT. E. ("Tom") Ellis and David Gee and the movement ofCymru Fydd (Wales to be [future]) Welsh nationalism was comparable at times to thatoccurring in Ireland. But in Wales the nationalist passion never spilled over into violence, and was also counterbalanced by the strong English Liberal capitalist base present within the party. In 1906 the Welsh Liberals reached their peak when 35 of Wales' 36 seats had MPs who took the Liberal whip. Until 1922 the Welsh Liberals dominated Welsh politics and also played a central role in British politics.William Harcourt,Reginald McKenna,David Alfred Thomas, 1st Viscount Rhondda,Sir Alfred Mond andDavid Lloyd George were just a few of the politicians who held central positions in the party and in the various Liberal-led governments from 1906 to 1922. The various splits within the Liberal Party from 1918 onwards, the rise of theWelsh Labour Party in South Wales, and the dominance of Lloyd George over the Welsh Liberal Party, all had their impact on Welsh Liberal fortunes. Despite this it was in Wales that the pre-war Liberals' support lasted longest inpost-war British politics.

In 1945, the party had seven MPs in Wales, mainly in the Welsh-speaking north, mid and west Wales seats. Two of these MPsGwilym Lloyd George (Pembrokeshire) andMegan Lloyd George (Anglesey)) defected to the Conservative and Labour parties, respectively.Clement Davies, who heldMontgomeryshire, became the post-war British Liberal leader. Davies died in 1962 and was succeeded byEmlyn Hooson, who then set about rebuilding the Welsh Liberal Party. When the last of the post-war Welsh Liberal MPs,Roderic Bowen (Cardiganshire), lost his seat in the1966 general election Hooson,Lord Ogmore,Martin Thomas (Lord Thomas of Gresford), Roger Roberts (Lord Roberts of Llandudno) and Mary Murphy established the Welsh Liberal Party as a separate state party^{[clarification needed]} within the Liberal Party's federal structure. After its establishment in September 1966 the Liberal Party in Wales had limited success and never really enjoyed a great Liberal revival like that which had occurred underJo Grimond in Scotland.Geraint Howells' election in Cardiganshire inFebruary 1974 re-established the Liberal presence in that seat. In1979, however, the Welsh Liberals suffered from theLib-Lab pact, and support for the failed devolution referendum resulted in a poor election for the Liberals: over half of their 28 candidates lost their deposit. More importantly Emlyn Hooson lost his Montgomeryshire seat, leaving the Welsh party once more with a single seat (Howells' in Cardiganshire). Hooson was ennobled later that year and joined Howells once more at Westminster.

The arrival of theSocial Democratic Party (SDP) in Wales and the formation of theSDP–Liberal Alliance gave the party an electoral boost, increased its representation on councils and helped retake the Montgomeryshire seat in 1983 (Alex Carlile) and win theBrecon and Radnor seat in a famous by-election in 1985 (Richard Livsey). In 1988, the SDP and most of the Liberals merged in Wales and after various names the three Welsh MPs insisted on the name being Welsh Liberal Democrats, which set a precedent for the rest of the Liberal Party. In the1992 United Kingdom general election, Howells lost his seat and went to the Lords, Livsey lost Brecon and Radnor, which he would retake five years later. This left Alex Carlile as the sole Liberal Democrat MP. In 1996 Carlile announced his resignation and he was in turn replaced byLembit Öpik. When Carlile stood down it ended the direct link with the professional Liberal barrister MPs that had been existent in the Welsh Liberal party for its whole history. Carlile becameLord Carlile of Berriew in 1999. Followed in 2001 by Richard Livsey (of Talgarth) and Roger Roberts (of Llandudno) in 2004.

In the1997 general election, both Öpik and Livsey won their seats. Both then went forward to support the successful1997 Welsh Assembly referendum. They were joined in that campaign by other prominent figures in the Welsh party, includingMichael German,Jenny Randerson,Peter Black,Roger Williams and Rob Humphreys. Except for Humphreys, they all soon gained electoral office, in either the Welsh Assembly or the Westminster Parliament. TheWelsh Assembly elections in 1999 provided the party with six more elected representatives for Wales to join their two MPs, and three Welsh lords. At Westminster Roger Williams took over from Richard Livsey in Brecon and Radnor in 2001. In 2005Mark Williams won the Ceredigion seat (formerly held byGeraint Howells); andJenny Willott won theCardiff Central seat, which was the first Liberal urban seat victory in Wales since 1935 and the first female Liberal MP in Wales since 1951. The four MPs were also the most since 1950 for the Liberal Party in Wales. It wasLembit Öpik who now headed the party at Westminster.

In 1998, Michael German was elected as designate leader Welsh Assembly group and led their 1999 election campaign and then the new Assembly group. Between 2001 and 2003, the party were in acoalition withWelsh Labour in the National Assembly. In this Labour-led government Michael German wasDeputy First Minister whilst Jenny Randerson also held a ministerial post. Randerson's post made her the first female Liberal in the party's history to hold ministerial office. The Welsh Liberals achieved a breakthrough in local government in 2003, leading Swansea, Bridgend, Cardiff and Wrexham councils, with cabinet members on many more Welsh councils. In the2003 Welsh Assembly elections the party remained stuck on six AMs (Assembly Members). They remained on this figure in the2007 elections but were reduced to five in the2011 elections. In 2008 German stood down as leader and was replaced byKirsty Williams (the AM for Brecon and Radnor) in a contest with Jenny Randerson (Cardiff Central). Both German and Randerson subsequently went to the House of Lords. Baroness Randerson become the first ever Welsh female Liberal peer to sit in the House of Lords. Her two predecessorsViscountess St Davids and the 2ndViscountess Rhondda, who had been ennobled in the first half of the 20th century, had died before women were allowed to sit in the House of Lords. Michael German was succeeded as the Assembly member forSouth Wales East by his wifeVeronica German. In May 2011, however, she failed to be re-elected in South Wales East.

In September 2012, Baroness Randerson was appointed as the unpaid Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Wales Office. This was the first time a Welsh Liberal Democrat had held ministerial office at Westminster since 1945. Randerson was also the first female politician from the Welsh Liberals ever to hold a UK ministerial office.

Following the result of the2017 UK general election, the Liberal Democrats were left without an MP in Wales, a situation which had not occurred since the founding of the Liberal Party in 1859.^[8] In the autumn of 2017, theleadership election was held, with two candidates,Jane Dodds and Elizabeth Evans, taking part. On 3 November 2017, Dodds was announced as the winner and immediately took over as leader.

In August 2019, Dodds regained House of Commons representation for the Welsh Liberal Democrats, winning the2019 Brecon and Radnorshire by-election.^[10] However her stay in the House of Commons proved to be a short one, as she lost her seat by 7,131 votes at theDecember 2019 general election.^[11] With this the party yet again was left without any MPs.^[12]

In the aftermath of the result,BBC Wales' Political Editor Felicity Evans stated that the Lib Dems would "rue the day they pushed for this election".^[12]

Dodds gained a regional seat inMid and West Wales at the2021 Senedd election to become the party's only MS.^[13] The seat was only held by 714 votes.^[14]

In May 2022, the party significantly increased its council base on Powys County Council becoming the largest party enabling it to become the lead party in a coalition with Cllr James Gibson-Watt becoming the Leader of Council.

In March 2024, the leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, Jane Dodds said that the party will not join any coalition after the next UK general election,^[15] at that election the party saw its share of the vote increase withDavid Chadwick winning the newly redrawn seat ofBrecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe.

This chart shows the electoral results of theWelsh Liberals, and later Liberal Democrats, from its first election in 1900. Total numbers of parliamentary seats, and vote percentages, are for Wales only.

Election	Wales		+/–	Government
	%	Seats
1900	58.5	27 / 34		Opposition
1906	60.2	32 / 34	5	Majority
Jan 1910	52.3	27 / 34	5	Minority
Dec 1910	47.9	26 / 34	1	Minority
1918	48.9	20 / 35	6	Opposition
1922	34.2	10 / 35	10	Opposition
1923	35.4	11 / 35	1	Opposition
1924	31.0	10 / 35	1	Opposition
1929	33.5	9 / 35	1	Opposition
1931	21.5	8 / 35	1	Opposition
1935	22.2	9 / 35	1	Opposition
1945	14.9	6 / 35	3	Opposition
1950	12.6	5 / 36	1	Opposition
1951	7.6	3 / 36	2	Opposition
1955	7.3	3 / 36		Opposition
1959	5.3	2 / 36	1	Opposition
1964	7.3	2 / 36		Opposition
1966	6.3	1 / 36	1	Opposition
1970	6.8	1 / 36		Opposition
Feb 1974	16.0	2 / 36	1	Opposition
Oct 1974	15.5	2 / 36		Opposition
1979	10.6	1 / 36	1	Opposition
1983	23.2	2 / 36	1	Opposition
1987	17.9	3 / 36	1	Opposition
1992	12.4	1 / 36	2	Opposition
1997	12.3	2 / 40	1	Opposition
2001	13.8	2 / 40		Opposition
2005	18.4	4 / 40	2	Opposition
2010	20.1	3 / 40	1	Cons-LD
2015	6.5	1 / 40	2	Opposition
2017	4.5	0 / 40	1	Opposition
2019	6.0	0 / 40		Opposition
2024	6.5	1 / 32	1	Opposition

Election	Constituency			Regional			Total seats	+/–	Government
	Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
1999	137,857	13.5	3 / 40	128,008	12.5	3 / 20	6 / 60		Opposition (1999–2000)
									Lab–LD (2000–2003)
2003	120,250	14.1	3 / 40	108,013	12.7	3 / 20	6 / 60		Opposition
2007	144,450	14.8	3 / 40	114,500	11.7	3 / 20	6 / 60		Opposition
2011	100,259	10.6	1 / 40	76,349	8.0	4 / 20	5 / 60	1	Opposition
2016	78,165	7.7	1 / 40	65,504	6.5	0 / 20	1 / 60	4	Lab–LD
2021	54,202	4.9	0 / 40	48,217	4.3	1 / 20	1 / 60		Opposition

• Liberal Democrats
• English Liberal Democrats
• Scottish Liberal Democrats
• Northern Ireland Liberal Democrats

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