Plaid Cymru: Former leader Dafydd Elis-Thomas dies aged 78 | UK News
Dafydd Elis-Thomas, the former leader of Plaid Cymru, has died at the age of 78.
Lord Elis-Thomas also served as the Welsh government’s culture, sport and tourism minister from 2017 to 2021.
He served as his party’s leader between 1984 and 1991 and as MP for Merioneth, later Meirionnydd Nant Conwy, from 1974 to 1992.
He then became a member of the House of Lords when he was made a life peer the same year.
Lord Elis-Thomas was a member of the first Senedd, then known as the Welsh Assembly, in 1999 and played a key role as its first presiding officer – a role he held until 2011.
He quit Plaid Cymru in 2016 and continued to sit as an independent member of the Senedd for Dwyfor Meirionnydd, until he stepped down at the 2021 election.
Lord Elis-Thomas with Queen Elizabeth II at the opening of the Senedd building on 1 March 2006. Pic: Senedd Commission
‘Senedd’s founding father’
Plaid’s current leader Rhun ap Iorwerth said Lord Elis-Thomas’s death was “a huge loss to Welsh politics and the civic life of Wales”.
Mr ap Iorwerth said his predecessor was “unquestionably one of the most influential figures of his generation”.
As the inaugural presiding officer, he made “a priceless contribution in laying the firm foundations of devolution”, Mr ap Iorwerth added.
He said the party’s “sincerest condolences” were with Lord Elis-Thomas’s family.
Elin Jones, the Senedd’s current presiding officer, known as the Llywydd, said it was “hard to imagine Welsh political life without [him]”.
She said he was “omnipresent” in Welsh politics, having served in the House of Commons, House of Lords and the Senedd.
Ms Jones said he was “keen to establish a modern democracy from the start” in his role as presiding officer and could “rightly be called [the] Senedd’s founding father”.
Wales’s first minister Eluned Morgan said he was “a true giant of Welsh politics” and “helped shape the Wales we know today”.
Baroness Morgan added that Wales was “immeasurably richer for his lifetime of service”.
Lord Elis-Thomas’s successor as Senedd member for Dwyfor Meirionnydd, Mabon ap Gwynfor, said the news had come as an “enormous blow”, and that he had made a “priceless contribution to Welsh politics”.
Secretary of State for Wales Jo Stevens also paid tribute, saying he had “dedicated his life to serving Wales in Westminster, Cardiff Bay, and his constituency”.
Elsewhere, Scotland‘s first minister John Swinney said he was “a great friend to Scotland and a fine servant of Wales”.
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Welsh Conservative leader Darren Millar described Lord Elis-Thomas as “a titan of Welsh politics” and that his death was “a great loss”.
Meanwhile, former Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies said he “admired” the former minister as “a man who was never afraid to speak his mind”.