Jane Dodds to step down as Welsh Liberal Democrat leader after nearly nine years
Dodds will remain the party’s sole Member of the Senedd as nominations for her successor open on 23 October.
Jane Dodds announced on 20 October that she will step down as leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, saying a new generation should lead efforts to increase the party’s presence in Wales’s parliament. She will remain its only Member of the Senedd, representing Brycheiniog Tawe Nedd.
Dodds has led the party since November 2017. She said she had reflected on its future after the Senedd election in May, when the Welsh Liberal Democrats returned just one member to the expanded parliament. The party has had only one Senedd member since 2016, according to the BBC.
“Wales needs more than one liberal voice in the Senedd,” Dodds said, according to Nation.Cymru. Building that team would take years of work in communities across Wales, she said, adding: “Now is the right time to hand it over.”
How the Welsh Liberal Democrats will choose a new leader
Nominations open on 23 October and close on 16 November. David Chadwick, the party’s Welsh MP, is currently the only person other than Dodds eligible to seek nomination in the first stage, Nation.Cymru reported. Candidates at that stage need the support of 50 party members.
If nobody is successfully nominated in the first stage, nominations will open to people on the party’s approved parliamentary candidates list, according to Nation.Cymru. A sole nominee would become leader without a contest; an election would take place if more than one candidate is nominated.
Dodds’s role in the Senedd
Dodds said she would continue her Senedd work and focus on holding the Welsh Government to its promises on child poverty. She said her 27 years as a child protection social worker had motivated her to enter politics because of the number of children growing up in poverty in Wales.
Before entering the Senedd, Dodds won the Brecon and Radnorshire parliamentary by-election in August 2019. She was elected to the Senedd for Mid and West Wales in 2021 and returned for Brycheiniog Tawe Nedd in May 2026, Nation.Cymru reported.
Welsh Liberal Democrat president Tim Sly thanked Dodds for her service, saying she had led the party through turbulent years in Welsh and UK politics. Dodds described leading the party as “the honour of my life”.
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Sources and context
- Jane Dodds standing down as Welsh Liberal Democrats leaderBBC News
- Jane Dodds to step down as Welsh Liberal Democrat leaderNation.Cymru
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