Jones, Ieuan Wyn (1949– )

Welsh nationalist politician, deputy first minister (and minister for economy and transport) in the Welsh Assembly government from 2007. Leader of Plaid Cymru, the Welsh nationalist party, from 2001, he brought the party into government for the first time, in coalition with the Welsh Labour Party, after the May 2007 elections to the Welsh Assembly resulted in a ‘hung assembly’, in which no single party had a majority. A pragmatic, consensual figure, he steers a middle course between his party's socialist left wing and its more extreme nationalist wing.

Born in Denbigh, Wales, into a Welsh-speaking family, the son of church minister, he studied law at Liverpool Polytechnic and the University of London, and worked initially as a solicitor. In 1987 he was elected to the UK Parliament for the Ynys Mon constituency, a Plaid Cymru stronghold. He continued to represent this seat in Westminster until 2001, when, following devolution, he concentrated on representing Ynys Mon in the National Assembly for Wales, and also became president of Plaid Cymru.