Helen Mary Jones

Jones was born in Colchester, Essex. She was educated at Colchester County High School for Girls, Caereinion High School in Powys and the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, where she was awarded an honours degree in history and a Postgraduate Certificate in Education. She has taught in the special education field and has held various positions in youth, community and social work.[2]

She is a member of Plaid Cymru and a former deputy leader.[3] Her political interests include environmental issues, social justice, equal opportunities, children's rights and employment.

She unsuccessfully contested the 1992 general election in Islwyn against the then leader of the Labour Party, Neil Kinnock, and the 1997 general election in Montgomeryshire. In 1999 she was elected to the new National Assembly for Wales for the constituency of Llanelli. Prior to being elected as AM for Llanelli she was Senior Development Manager with the Equal Opportunities Commission in Wales.

She was Shadow Minister for Education and Lifelong Learning, and a member of the Education and Lifelong Learning Committee, the Equality of Opportunity Committee, the South West Wales Regional Committee and also a member of the Voluntary Sector Partnership during the first term of the National Assembly.

She stood in the 2000 and 2003 Plaid Cymru leadership elections, losing to Ieuan Wyn Jones in both elections.[4][5]

In the 2003 elections to the Senedd she lost her constituency seat in Llanelli by just 21 votes, but was nevertheless elected for the Mid and West Wales "top-up" region. She was the Shadow Minister for the Environment, Planning and Countryside in the Second Assembly (2003–07). During the 2007 elections to the Senedd she won back the Llanelli constituency with a majority of 3,884 votes. She lost her seat to Labour's Keith Davies by 80 votes in the 2011 election.

In November 2011 she was appointed Chief Executive of Youth Cymru, a voluntary organisation supporting youth work in Wales. She is a member of the Ministerial Advisory Board sent in to Pembrokeshire County Council by the Welsh Government to support and challenge as they improve safeguarding after damaging inspection reports. She was elected National Chair of Plaid Cymru in September 2011.

In October 2014, it was announced she would be the candidate for the 2016 Assembly elections for the Llanelli constituency again.[3] In the 2016 National Assembly for Wales election, she lost to Welsh Labour candidate Lee Waters by 382 votes.[6]

She returned to the Assembly in August 2018 to represent Mid and West Wales following the resignation of Simon Thomas.[1]

• Profile on BBC website September 1999
• Profile on Plaid Cymru website
• Personal website