Aled Roberts

Aled Roberts in 2011

Aled Roberts is a Welsh politician from Rhosllannerchrugog, Wrexham.[1] He is a former elected member of the National Assembly for Wales who, until the 2016 election, represented the region of North Wales as a member of the Welsh Liberal Democrats party.[2] Before his election to the Assembly, he was a Councillor and the leader of Wrexham County Borough Council.

Early life

Roberts studied law at the University of Aberystwyth and later went on to practice as a solicitor. In 1985 he was part of a campaign to protect a local Miners' institute from closure. He later stopped practicing law when he was elected as the leader of Wrexham County Borough Council.[2]

Political career

Roberts was first elected to Wrexham County Borough Council in 1991 for the Rhos and Ponciau Ward. In 2003 he was elected as Mayor of Wrexham and the following year was voted in as Leader of the council.[2] In the Welsh Assembly election, 2011, Roberts was elected as an Assembly Member for North Wales. Upon his election to the Welsh Assembly, he resigned as leader of Wrexham Borough Council as he felt he could not devote time to both legislatures and did not contest the council election for his seat in 2012.[3]

Shortly after his election, it was discovered that Roberts was a member of the Valuation Tribunal for Wales, which was a proscribed body which AMs were not allowed to be a member of because of a perceived conflict of interest. As a result, Roberts was disqualified from the Welsh Assembly.[4] Roberts stated that he was following a Welsh language guidance document from the Electoral Commission. This document later emerged to have been incorrect, as while the English regulations had been updated in 2010, the Welsh document still gave information based on 2006 regulations.[4] In July 2011, Roberts' disqualification was overturned by the Assembly on a 30–20 vote.[5]

Roberts later went on to become the Welsh Liberal Democrats' Education spokesman.[6] For the National Assembly for Wales election, 2016, Roberts announced that he would be standing in the Clwyd South constituency.[7] However, he lost his seat in the Assembly by coming fifth in the Clwyd South election to Welsh Labour's Ken Skates[8] and lost his North Wales region seat to the UK Independence Party.[9]

References

  1. ↑ "Aled Roberts to lead Lib Dem N Wales list". Freedom Central. Retrieved 2016-05-02.
  2. 1 2 3 "Aled Roberts". Welsh Assembly. Retrieved 2016-04-30.
  3. ↑ "Lib Dem AM Aled Roberts quits as Wrexham council leader". BBC News. 2011-05-17. Retrieved 2016-04-30.
  4. 1 2 "Electoral Commission sorry for out-of-date AMs advice". BBC News. Retrieved 2016-04-30.
  5. ↑ "Barred Lib Dem Aled Roberts regains Welsh assembly seat". BBC News. Retrieved 2016-04-30.
  6. ↑ "Student living grants election pledge by Lib Dems". BBC News. Retrieved 2016-04-30.
  7. ↑ "Welsh Liberal Democrats Announce Clwyd South Candidate For Assembly Elections". Wrexham.com. 2016-03-14. Retrieved 2016-04-30.
  8. ↑ Bagnall, Steve. "Labour holds Clwyd South for Ken Skates". Daily Post. Retrieved 2016-05-06.
  9. ↑ Flint, Rachel. "UKIP get TWO North Wales AMs to represent us in Cardiff Bay". Daily Post. Retrieved 2016-05-06.

External links

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