Aled Roberts (17 May 1962 – 13 February 2022) was a Welsh Liberal Democrat politician from

Rhosllanerchrugog RhosllanerchrugogDavies, Jenkins and Baines (eds) ''The Welsh Academy Encyclopedia of Wales'', 2008, p.752 (also spelled Rhosllannerchrugog, or simply Rhos) is a village and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. It lies within the his ...

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the county ...

. Roberts was a

Member of the Welsh Assembly A Member of the Senedd (MS; plural: ''MSs''; cy, Aelodau o'r Senedd; , plural:) (AS)., group=la is a representative elected to the Senedd (Welsh Parliament; ). There are sixty members, with forty members chosen to represent individual Senedd c ...

(AM) for the North Wales Region from 2011 to 2016. Before his election to the Assembly, he was a Councillor and the leader of

Wrexham County Borough Council Wrexham County Borough Council () is the governing body for Wrexham County Borough, a principal area in north Wales, covering Wrexham and the surrounding area. History Elections take place every five years. The Labour Party held power on the ...

. He served as the

Welsh Language Commissioner The Welsh Language Commissioner () is a Welsh Government officer, overseeing an independent advisory body of the same name. The position was created following the passing of the ''Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011'', effective on 1 April 2012 ...

from 2019 until his death in 2022.

Early life

Roberts graduated with a

law degree A law degree is an academic degree conferred for studies in law. Such degrees are generally preparation for legal careers. But while their curricula may be reviewed by legal authority, they do not confer a license themselves. A legal license is gr ...

at the

University of Aberystwyth , mottoeng = A world without knowledge is no world at all , established = 1872 (as ''The University College of Wales'') , former_names = University of Wales, Aberystwyth , type = Public , endowment ...

in 1983. He later went on to practice as a solicitor. In 1985 he was part of a campaign to protect a local

Miners' institute Miners' institutes, sometimes known as ''workingmen's institutes'', ''mine workers' institutes'', or ''miners' welfare halls'' are large institutional buildings that were typically built during the height of the industrial period as a meeting and ...

from closure. He later stopped practicing law when he was elected as the leader of Wrexham County Borough Council.

Political career

Roberts was first elected to Wrexham County Borough Council in 1991 for the Rhos and Ponciau Ward. In 2003–2004 he served as

Mayor of Wrexham The mayor of Wrexham is the civic figurehead and first citizen of the city of Wrexham, and Wrexham County Borough in the north of Wales. The position is elected by members of Wrexham County Borough Council at their annual meeting, and today, hold ...

. The council was under no overall control at the time, and in March 2005 he took over as

leader of the council In England, local authorities are required to adopt one of three types of executive arrangements, having either an "elected mayor and cabinet", a "leader and cabinet", or a "committee system". The type of arrangement used determines how decisions ...

following the resignation of the Labour leader of the council. In the

2011 National Assembly for Wales election Eleven or 11 may refer to: * 11 (number), the natural number following 10 and preceding 12 * one of the years 11 BC, AD 11, 1911, 2011, or any year ending in 11 Literature * ''Eleven'' (novel), a 2006 novel by British author David Llewellyn ...

, Roberts was elected as an Assembly Member for

North Wales North Wales ( cy, Gogledd Cymru) is a region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders Mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdonia N ...

. Upon his election to the Welsh Assembly, he resigned as leader of Wrexham Borough Council as he felt he could not devote time to both legislatures and did not contest the council election for his seat in 2012. Shortly after his election, it was discovered that Roberts was a member of the Valuation Tribunal for Wales, which was a proscribed body which AMs were not allowed to be a member of because of a perceived conflict of interest. As a result, Roberts was disqualified from the Welsh Assembly. Roberts stated that he was following a Welsh language guidance document from the

Electoral Commission An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

. This document later emerged to have been incorrect, as while the English regulations had been updated in 2010, the Welsh document still gave information based on 2006 regulations. In July 2011, Roberts' disqualification was overturned by the Assembly on a 30–20 vote. Roberts later went on to become the Welsh Liberal Democrats' Education spokesman. For the

2016 National Assembly for Wales election Sixteen or 16 may refer to: * 16 (number), the natural number following 15 and preceding 17 *one of the years 16 BC, AD 16, 1916, 2016 Films * ''Pathinaaru'' or ''Sixteen'', a 2010 Tamil film * ''Sixteen'' (1943 film), a 1943 Argentine film ...

, Roberts announced that he would be standing in the Clwyd South constituency. He came fifth in the Clwyd South constituency election to

Welsh Labour Welsh Labour ( cy, Llafur Cymru) is the branch of the United Kingdom Labour Party in Wales and the largest party in modern Welsh politics. Welsh Labour and its forebears won a plurality of the Welsh vote at every UK general election since 192 ...

Ken Skates Kenneth Christian Skates MS (born 2 April 1976) is a Welsh Labour politician. Skates has represented the constituency of Clwyd South in the Senedd since the election of 2011. He is an alumnus of the University of Cambridge, and worked as a ...

and was not re-elected as the Liberal Democrats lost their North Wales region seat to the

UK Independence Party The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), member ...

. In 2019, he was appointed by the

Welsh Government , image = , caption = , date_established = , country = Wales , address = , leader_title = First Minister () , appointed = First Minister approved by the Senedd, ceremonially appointed ...

as the

to promote the use of the

Welsh language Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic language of the Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales, by some in England, and in Y Wladfa (the Welsh colony in Chubut Province, Argentina). Historically, it has ...

. In 2022, he considered opening an investigation into

Monmouthshire County Council Monmouthshire County Council (or simply Monmouthshire Council) ( cy, Cyngor Sir Fynwy) is the governing body for the Monmouthshire principal area – one of the unitary authorities of Wales. The current unitary authority was created in 1996 ...

for adopting a policy of only printing signs in English, omitting Welsh.

Death

Roberts died in office on 13 February 2022, at the age of 59. He was married and had two sons.

References

External links

National Assembly for Wales
Member profile
Official website (non-Assembly)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Aled 1962 births 2022 deaths Place of birth missing Ombudsmen in Wales Liberal Democrat members of the Senedd Wales AMs 2011–2016 Welsh solicitors People from Rhosllanerchrugog Alumni of Aberystwyth University Welsh-speaking politicians Welsh language