Tag Archives: aled roberts

The Voice

Welsh Liberal Democrats Pay Tribute to Former Assembly Member Aled Roberts

By The Voice | Mon 14th February 2022 - 3:24 pm

Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Jane Dodds Stated:

I am devastated to hear of the passing of Aled. Aled was a committed liberal and was known for his extraordinary hard work as both an Assembly Member for North Wales and as a senior councillor on Wrexham Borough Council. This news is a deep blow to the Welsh Liberal Democrat family and my thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends at this difficult time.

Throughout his time as an Assembly Member Aled continued to put standing up for his communities at the very heart of everything he did. Just one example was his tireless and successful campaign for Llay to have solar panels installed on all homes within the estate.

In his role as Shadow Minister for Children, Education and the Welsh language, he fought tooth and nail for investment in our young people, not least for the Welsh Government to maintain the Pupil Deprivation Grant. He is also well remembered for only ever making his contributions in the Siambr in Welsh.

As a councillor, Aled was a role model community servant and represented the Ponciau Ward from 1991-2012 and served as Mayor of Wrexham in 2003-04. He was elected Leader of Wrexham County Borough Council in March 2005.

Outside of politics, Aled also had a distinguished career as local solicitor and in 1985 he was part of a campaign to protect a local Miners’ institute from closure. He also was the Chair of Governors for many years at Ysgol Gymraeg I D Hooson and a Governor at Ysgol Maes y Mynydd, Rhosllanerchrugog. He was also a committed Christian.

Aled will be most remembered for his dedication to the Welsh language. A tireless advocate of the protection and promotion of Welsh, he excelled in his role as the Welsh Language Commissioner and sought to promote the language in all aspects of life, including in his role as an Assembly Member.

Aled’s passing will leave a deep hole in Welsh political life and in our Party, he was someone who knew everyone and left a positive impression on all those he knew. We will miss him greatly.

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Posted in News and Obituaries | Also tagged | 1 Comment
Mark Valladares

27 November 2018 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Tue 27th November 2018 - 10:30 pm

There’s a decidedly Welsh flavour to today’s press releases, as Theresa May hits the road in an attempt to sell a dead parrot to the masses…

  • Police acting as first responders to people with mental ill health
  • Welsh Lib Dems Welcome Aled Roberts as New Welsh Language Commissioner
  • Theresa May Must Give Wales a People’s Vote – Welsh Lib Dems
  • Stars Oppose Brexit at Hay Festival – Welsh Lib Dems
  • Davey: Govt’s failure to publish immigration plans “unacceptable”

Police acting as first responders to people with mental ill health

Responding to today’s report by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services on Policing and …

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Caron Lindsay

Welsh Liberal Democrat Conference open thread #1 – introduction and policing debate

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 6th February 2016 - 9:43 am

I shall just start by saying that I love this auditorium. It’s a lecture theatre so I am sitting up the back with my laptop on an actual desk, not precariously balanced on my lap.

I should also mention that this is a Conference which has smashed all its budget projections. There are a healthy complement of stalls from external exhibitors, 6 fringe meetings today and a healthy attendance of over 250 members.

Eluned Parrott AM opened Conference with a speech outlining how the Liberal Democrats would strengthen communities and transform the economy by “ditching the Thatcherite mantra” and levelling the playing field, investing in infrastructure to maximise inclusion and minimise isolation.

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Kirsty Williams AM

Kirsty Williams AM writes: Getting down to business in Wales

By Kirsty Williams AM | Fri 15th July 2011 - 2:37 pm

The long running saga of the ‘Welsh Lib Dem two’ has now been resolved but not without some pain. While Aled Roberts was able to re-take his seat as an Assembly Member, it was clear in the National Assembly that John Dixon did not have the same support.

I would like to pay tribute to John Dixon. He has served the public diligently and with distinction on Cardiff Council. He would have been an enormously effective and hard working Assembly Member. He has paid a very high price and I would like to pay tribute to him for the dignity with which he has handled the situation over the past two months.

Aled Roberts too has had a difficult couple of months but he is now back in the Assembly where he belongs and we have wasted no time in getting down to business and I have been able to announce the team that will hold the government to account.

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Posted in Wales | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , and | 1 Comment
David Hennigan

Opinion: Why Wrexham Labour Party should be ashamed: The curious case of Aled Roberts

By David Hennigan | Thu 7th July 2011 - 12:21 pm

It’s estimated that well over 30% of the Welsh population speak Welsh as their first language – that is growing year on year. Hundreds of thousands more across the world speak it – even in a distant corner of Argentina – the valleys of a Patagonia. My partner from Rhosllanerchrugog and her family speak Welsh. They are fiercely proud of their heritage and would be absolutely disgusted with the treatment of Aled Roberts AM. It appears that they don’t speak Welsh at the Electoral Commission!

Now let me declare an interest, I don’t know Aled Roberts, I know his mum …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , , and | 21 Comments
Helen Duffett

Lib Dem Aled Roberts reinstated to Welsh Assembly

By Helen Duffett | Wed 6th July 2011 - 7:24 pm

Aled Roberts, one of two Welsh Assembly members disqualified shortly after May’s election because they belonged to proscribed public bodies, has been reinstated after a vote by AMs today.

The BBC reports:

Members voted to reinstate Mr Roberts after an investigation found he was misled by out-of-date guidance for election candidates published in Welsh.

He said it had been a difficult period and he now wanted to represent voters.

AMs lifted his disqualification by 30 votes to 20 in the Senedd on Wednesday, with three abstaining after a near 50-minute debate.

Mr Roberts, elected for the North Wales region, was disqualified when it

…

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Posted in Election law and News | Also tagged and | 2 Comments
Helen Duffett

Lib Dem John Dixon will not return to the Welsh Assembly

By Helen Duffett | Tue 5th July 2011 - 7:38 pm

John Dixon, the Liberal Democrat Welsh Assembly member who was disqualified in May, will not be reinstated after an investigation said he had not read the relevant rules for candidates.

He will be replaced by the next candidate on the party’s regional list: Eluned Parrott.

From the BBC:

Liberal Democrat John Dixon stood down after May’s election when it emerged he was a member of a public body to which AMs cannot belong.

On Wednesday AMs will decide whether to reinstate fellow Lib Dem Aled Roberts who fell victim to out-of-date advice.

Mr Dixon was elected for the South Wales Central region, but had to stand down because he was still a member of the Care Council for Wales, which regulates social care workers.

On Tuesday, a report by assembly standards commissioner Gerard Elias QC said Mr Dixon had not read the regulations on proscribed organisations for candidates.

“Perhaps because he was lulled into a false sense of security by his experiences in earlier elections, he honestly believed that he was eligible to be a member of the National Assembly,” the report says.

Mr Dixon, 46, a graphic and web designer, has been a Cardiff councillor for 12 years and had been an assembly candidate at two previous elections.

The report states:

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Posted in Election law, News and Wales | Also tagged , , , and | 3 Comments
Helen Duffett

Lib Dem Welsh AMs await their fate as report delayed

By Helen Duffett | Tue 5th July 2011 - 8:53 am

John Dixon and Aled Roberts (the ‘dangling’ Lib Dem Two) may have to wait until next week to find out whether they will be reinstated following their disqualification in May.

WalesOnline reports:

Members of all parties were due to receive a copy of an Assembly report yesterday afternoon into the case of Aled Roberts and John Dixon, who are accused of breaching rules by remaining affiliated to organisations whose members are barred from standing for office.

The report, by Gerard Elias QC, the Assembly’s Commissioner for Standards, was sent to party leaders over the weekend, and was due to go

…

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Mark Pack

Electoral Commission apologises for misleading Welsh candidate

By Mark Pack | Thu 30th June 2011 - 12:23 pm

WalesOnline reports:

THE Electoral Commission expressed its “regret” yesterday as it admitted providing the wrong information to one of the Liberal Democrat AMs disqualified from office …

Mr Roberts said he was given incorrect information by the Electoral Commission, whose official guidance for candidates said he could not stand if, at the time of the nomination, he held an office which was mentioned in the National Assembly for Wales (Disqualification) Order 2006.

The Order that the Electoral Commission referred to was not the most up-to-date, and did not include the Valuation Tribunal for Wales as one of the bodies. That was added

…

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Posted in Election law and Wales | Also tagged | 5 Comments
Kirsty Williams AM

Kirsty Williams writes: Slow progress in Wales

By Kirsty Williams AM | Tue 21st June 2011 - 3:25 pm

We are six weeks from the elections and the Scottish Government and Northern Ireland Government getting on with the job they were elected to do – governing and legislating. The Scottish Government is demanding more fiscal powers and they are rocking the constitutional boat. Whether you agree with the SNPs policies or not, they are doing something. The story in Wales is different.

The first major government announcement in Wales came on Tuesday when the First Minister rose to his feet to outline his Welsh equivalent of the Queen Speech. This should have been a momentous occasion since the people …

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Posted in News, Op-eds and Wales | Also tagged and | 3 Comments
Mark Pack

Fate of John Dixon and Aled Roberts hangs in the balance

By Mark Pack | Mon 23rd May 2011 - 8:26 am

More details have come of how Welsh Assembly (Possibly) Members John Dixon and Aled Roberts have ended up in the predicament of having their election questioned, but the eventual outcome is still unclear.

Aled Robert’s stood for election despite holding a disqualifying post – with the Valuation Tribunal for Wales. He has since resigned from that position, but the reason he was not aware that it was a disqualifying post is that it was missing from much of the legal guidance available to election candidates and their agents. For example, the Electoral Commission’s official guidance made reference to the wrong …

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Posted in Election law and News | Also tagged and | 6 Comments
Helen Duffett

Legal expert says Lib Dem Welsh AMs’ election is void

By Helen Duffett | Thu 19th May 2011 - 2:55 pm

The former chief legal adviser to the Welsh Assembly, Winston Roddick QC, has said that two Assembly Members who have been disqualified cannot be simply reinstated.

When elected, John Dixon and Aled Roberts were members of public bodies to which AMs cannot belong. They have now resigned, respectively, from the Care Council for Wales and the Valuation Tribunal for Wales and it had been hoped that their reinstatement would be a technicality. However, the Lib Dem motion to reinstate the two was withdrawn last night when Labour refused to support it.

The BBC reports:

Mr Roddick, who was the

…

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Posted in Election law and News | Also tagged , and | 12 Comments
Helen Duffett

Two Lib Dem Welsh Assembly Members step down on technicality

By Helen Duffett | Wed 18th May 2011 - 1:41 pm

The BBC reports:

Liberal Democrats John Dixon and Aled Roberts have had to step down as it emerged they were members of organisations the law does not allow AMs to be part of.

They have resigned respectively from the Care Council for Wales and the Valuation Tribunal for Wales.

The pair expect to be readmitted to the assembly following a vote on Wednesday.

Under the National Assembly Disqualification Order 2011, AMs are not permitted to be members of certain organisations to avoid conflicts of interest.

A spokesperson for the Welsh Liberal Democrats said:

“Two assembly members had positions with outside bodies which technically disqualified them

…

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Posted in News and Wales | Also tagged and | 7 Comments
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