The Wales Green Party () is an autonomous national party within the Green Party of England and Wales (GPEW) covering Wales. The Wales Green Party puts up candidates for council, Senedd, and UK Parliament seats. The party currently has two elected members of the Senedd (Welsh Parliament), and fourteen councillors. Since 2018, the Wales Green Party has been led by Anthony Slaughter, who is a member of the Senedd.

From the 1990s until the mid-2020s the party saw small successes including gaining its first elected Councillors on the Llanelli Borough Council in 1991, and gaining an elected MP, in the form of Cynog Dafis, on a joint ticket with Plaid Cymru from 1992 until 1997. Since the election of Zack Polanski as party-wide leader in 2025, the party's membership has increased, surpassing 8,000 members as of May 2026. As the Senedd Election approached in 2026, the party began to see a sharp increase in polls, even surpassing the Welsh Conservatives in some polls in the run up to the election. At the election, the party gained its first ever representation in the Senedd, with leader Anthony Slaughter gaining his seat in Caerdydd Penarth and Paul Rock gaining a seat in Caerdydd Ffynnon Taf.

Organisation, leadership and representation The current Leader of the Wales Green Party is Anthony Slaughter, with Linda Rogers as the deputy leader. Wales-wide decisions are taken by the Wales Green Party Council, which is composed of the spokespeople, elected officers, and a representative from each local party.

+RoleNameFirst electedLeaderAnthony Slaughter2018 (re-elected in 2021 and 2024)Deputy LeaderLinda Rogers2024

As of 2026, Wales Green Party is represented by David Griffin on the Green Party Council, with the second Wales seat being currently vacant.

In April 2023, one of the Wales Green Party's Co-Deputy Leaders, Amerjit Kaur-Dhaliwal, stepped down from their role, saying that "volunteering at this time has become a luxury I can no longer afford, given the cost-of-living crises."

In October 2026, the Welsh Green's Co-deputy Leader, Phil Davies, resigned citing the passage of a "Zionism is Racist" motion at the 2026 Green Party of England and Wales Conference as the final trigger.

Leadership history Pippa Bartolotti became Wales Green Party Leader in January 2012. She stood unsuccessfully for the leadership of the Green Party of England and Wales later that year. After four years of leadership, Bartolotti decided against standing for a further term as Leader in 2015. The leadership election was won by Alice Hooker-Stroud, with Hannah Pudner becoming Deputy Leader. Hooker-Stroud was then re-elected in 2016 along with Grenville Ham and Pippa Bartolotti as Deputy Leaders. Hooker-Stroud resigned in 2017, stating that her position had become untenable due to the voluntary nature of the role. Hooker-Stroud was succeeded in early 2017 by Ham. Ham defected to Plaid Cymru in late 2018 citing the party's vote to remain a part of the Green Party of England and Wales instead of becoming an independent party like the Scottish Greens. Mirka Virtanen was elected Deputy Leader in 2016 to begin in 2017, replacing Bartolotti, and Benjamin Smith was co-opted to the vacant Deputy Leader role in July 2017.

Anthony Slaughter who was formerly Deputy Leader was named the Leader of Wales Green Party in December 2018, beating Virtanen who was Deputy Leader at the time and Alex Harris. Duncan Rees was elected Deputy Leader. Mirka was co-opted back into the Deputy Leader role until December 2019. Lauren James was selected to replace her in April 2020.

Leaders + Leader From To 1Martyn Shrewsbury20042006 2Ann Were20062007 3Leila Kiersch20072009 4Jake Griffiths20092011 5Pippa Bartolotti20112015 6Alice Hooker-Stroud20152017 7Grenville Ham20172018 8Anthony SlaughterIncumbent

Green Isles Alliance Wales Green Party is represented on a Green Isles Alliance which includes Green parties from England and Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man. The alliance acts as a forum for the parties to advance shared political goals.

Membership In July 2018, the Wales Green Party had around 1,500 members. In April 2023, the Wales Green Party was reported to have over 1,800 members. By the end of 2019, the Green Party in England and Wales had a combined 49,013 members (up from 38,707 in 2018). In October 2024, the Wales Green Party had 2,006 members. By November 2025, the party had reached just under 6,000 members. By March 2026, the Wales Green Party's membership had passed 8,000.

History

Ecology Party era (1972–1990)

The Green Parties in the United Kingdom have their roots in the PEOPLE Party which was founded in 1972. In 1973, three Welsh Green candidates (P. Jones, W. Jones and V. Carney) won seats in the inaugural Welsh district council elections in the Gadlys and Town wards on Cynon Valley Borough Council.Cynon Valley Welsh District CouncilElections Results 1973-1991, The Election Centre (Plymouth University). The party was renamed to the Ecology Party in 1975, and then the Green Party in 1985.

Early era (1990–1999)

In 1990, the Scottish and Northern Irish branches left the UK Greens to form separate parties. The English and Welsh parties became the Green Party of England and Wales, with the Welsh branch being autonomous.

In 1991, Marcus Hughes and Brian Stringer were elected to represent the Bynea and Dafen wards on Llanelli Borough Council In 1995, both then stood unsuccessfully as 'Independent Green' candidates, losing their seats to Labour on the new Carmarthenshire County Council. In 1993, the Party won a county council seat on Anglesey (Ynys Môn) after a sitting councillor in the Aethwy ward had joined the Greens, but the Party did not defend this seat or stand any other candidates at the 1995 Isle of Anglesey County Council election two years later.

As pro-environmental positions became more prominent in Plaid Cymru, both Plaid Cymru and the Wales Green Party began exploring the prospects of greater co-operation with each other. At a conference in Denbigh, Plaid Cymru invited representatives from the Wales Green Party to discuss potential common ground between the two parties, with a similar event being held in Cardiff the following year.

For the 1992 general election, the local Greens entered an electoral alliance with Plaid Cymru in the constituency of Ceredigion and Pembroke North., 137 The electoral alliance had begun by a joint policy document drafted in 1991, and agreed following both the constituency Green branch and constituency Plaid Cymru branch's members voted to approve the alliance. The alliance was successful with Cynog Dafis being returned in a surprise result as the MP, defeating the Liberal Democrat incumbent by over 3,000 votes.Almanac of British Politics, 5th ed, Robert Waller & Byron Criddle

Official cooperation between the two parties began to break down by 1995 due to policy disagreements, and disagreements within the Welsh Green Party over endorsing another party's candidate. Despite this there were still some joint candidates in the 1995 UK local elections. Dafis would go on to serve in parliament as a Plaid Cymru member until 2000, and in the National Assembly for Wales from 1999 until 2003. Dafis later stated that he did not consider himself to be the "first Green MP".

On 29 August 1997, the Wales Green Party issued a joint declaration with the Liberal Democrats and Plaid Cymru, supporting the 'Yes for Wales' campaign and the establishment of a new National Assembly for Wales in the 1997 Welsh devolution referendum.

Devolution era (1999–present)

In the 1999 Welsh local elections, Klaus Armstrong-Braun became the first Green Party councillor to be elected to one of Wales' twenty two unitary councils, winning a seat on Flintshire County Council. In 2006, the party elected Ann Were as party leader, the first female leader of a Welsh political party.

In 2010, the party became the only Green party within the United Kingdom to have not elected a Green candidate to a UK or devolved legislature, after Caroline Lucas was elected to the UK Parliament. In 2011, the Green Party campaigned in support of a yes vote in the 2011 Welsh devolution referendum. In 2013, the Wales Green Party archive at the National Library was damaged in a fire with some historical material either destroyed or permanently damaged.

In 2015, the Party agreed to support as many powers for Wales as possible, 'up to and including independence'. In the 2017 Welsh local elections, the Wales Green Party had their first county councillor elected to Powys County Council, for the Llangors ward.

In July 2018, the party held a vote on whether to split from the GPEW to form a separate organisation. Of those members who voted, 65% voted against the proposal, despite the leader Grenville Ham campaigning for independence. In October 2020, party members voted that they would campaign to support Welsh independence if a referendum was called on the matter, with party leader Anthony Slaughter arguing that many green policies could not be implemented in Wales without further devolved powers or independence.

In September 2021, Matt Townsend called for the party to become independent from its Westminster counterpart, despite members voting against it three years earlier. Writing in Bright Green, Townsend pointed out that the Scottish and Northern Irish Green parties were both independent from the GPEW. "This has left Wales as one of very few nations around the world to not have its own Green Party," he said. Townsend also noted that whilst the Scottish Greens had now entered government with the SNP, the Wales Green Party failed to win any seats at the 2021 Senedd election. Slaughter told Nation.Cymru in August 2023 that, with the expansion of the Senedd in 2026, he expected Green MSs to be elected for the first time.

In their manifesto for the 2024 United Kingdom general election, the party committed itself to Welsh independence, and would first seek for the Senedd to have equal powers to the Scottish Parliament as a first step. In September 2024, the party said that the steel industry should be publicly owned.

Paul Rock and Anthony Slaughter were elected in the 2026 Senedd election as the first MSs from the Green Party.

Policies

While associated mainly with environmentalist policies, the party has a history of support for communitarian economic policies, including well-funded, locally controlled public services within the confines of a steady-state economy. It is supportive of proportional representation voting systems and takes a progressive approach to social policies, including supporting a universal basic income and transitioning to a four day working week. It also supports the devolution of further powers to Wales. In October 2020, the party announced that it would campaign for Welsh independence should a referendum be held. In their manifesto for the 2024 United Kingdom general election, the party later committed itself to Welsh independence in general.

The party emphasises expanding localised renewable energy projects. Other policies within its Policies for a Sustainable Society in Wales include: phasing out waste incineration, improving public transport and supporting new safe standing areas in Welsh sports stadiums. Furthermore, included within the party's policies is the commitment to "bring the rail system, including track and operators, back into public ownership". The party also supports bringing Welsh Water into public ownership.

The Wales Green Party supports free bus travel for those who are under 22-years-old and £1 bus fares for those aged 22 to 59 years old.

The party is in favour of universal free school meals, both during school term time and during school holidays. The party also backs ending the two child benefits cap.