Lynne Neagle (born 18 January 1968) is a

Welsh Labour Welsh Labour (), formerly known as the Labour Party in Wales (), is an autonomous section of the United Kingdom Labour Party (UK), Labour Party in Wales and the largest party in modern Welsh politics. Welsh Labour and its forebears have won a p ...

Co-operative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democr ...

politician serving as Cabinet Secretary for Education since 2024. Born in

Merthyr Tydfil Merthyr Tydfil () is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Tydfil, daughter of K ...

Glamorgan Glamorgan (), or sometimes Glamorganshire ( or ), was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It is located in the South Wales, south of Wales. Originally an ea ...

, Wales, Neagle has been the

Member of the Senedd A member of the Senedd (MS; plural: ''MSs''; ; , plural: ) is a representative elected to the Senedd (Welsh Parliament; ). There are sixty members, with forty members chosen to represent individual Senedd constituency, Senedd constituencies, a ...

(MS) for the constituency of

Torfaen Torfaen (; ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county borough in the South East Wales, south-east of Wales. Torfaen is bordered by the county of Monmouthshire to the east, the City status in the United Kingdom, city of Newport, Wales, Newport to t ...

since the

Senedd The Senedd ( ; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and () in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, Its role is to scrutinise the Welsh Government and legislate on devolve ...

was established in 1999.

Background

Neagle was educated at Cyfarthfa High School, Merthyr Tydfil, and the

University of Reading The University of Reading is a public research university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as the University Extension College, Reading, an extension college of Christchurch College, Oxford, and became University College, ...

, where she read French and Italian. She is a former Voluntary Sector Carer and Careers Development Officer. Neagle was also a research assistant to

Glenys Kinnock Glenys Elizabeth Kinnock, Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead, (; 7 July 1944 – 3 December 2023), was a British politician and teacher who served as Minister of State for Europe from June to October 2009 and Minister of State for Africa and the U ...

MEP from 1994 to 1997.

Political career

First and Second Senedds (1999-2007)

Neagle was elected to the Senedd in 1999 as a Labour candidate to represent Torfaen. Neagle was an ally of Alun Michael during his leadership of the Welsh Labour party. Later in the first term, she was appointed to the role of Chair of the Welsh Labour group in the Senedd. She initially opposed coalition with the

Welsh Liberal Democrats The Welsh Liberal Democrats () is a Liberalism, liberal, Federalism, federalist political party in Wales, part of UK Liberal Democrats (UK), Liberal Democrats. The party is led by Jane Dodds, who has served as an Member of the Senedd, MS for Mid ...

, and supported a motion that would have required any coalition from the 2003 Assembly election onward to go to a vote of Welsh Labour members. However, she later said that the 'alternative was worse' and supported the formation of a coalition. She was occasionally critical of policy of the Morgan government, including the party's health policy, around a lack of targets and around funding, and the elimination of school league tables. She was re-elected in 2003 with a majority of 6,964 votes. She was a member of the Standards committee during the Second Assembly.

Third Senedd (2007-2011)

Neagle was critical of the creation of a coalition with

Plaid Cymru Plaid Cymru ( ; , ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, and often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left, Welsh nationalist list of political parties in Wales, political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from th ...

. In emails leaked to the Western Mail at the time, she stated she wanted "no stone left unturned" in terms of avoiding a Labour-Plaid coalition, by re-engaging the

in talks. She wrote to criticise the coalition in the Western Mail, saying "The facts as I see them in the One Wales document points to a fundamental and detrimental change in direction for Welsh politics. They are not facts I can ignore." Neagle was appointed a member of the Finance committee in the Third Assembly. She was also appointed as one of four Labour AMs to sit on the steering group of the 2007 All Wales Convention, on Wales' constitutional future, chaired by Sir Emyr Jones Parry. In 2009 Neagle proposed to make the

MMR vaccine The MMR vaccine is a vaccine against measles, mumps, and rubella (German measles), abbreviated as ''MMR''. The first dose is generally given to children around 9 months to 15 months of age, with a second dose at 15 months to 6 years of age, w ...

compulsory, amid an outbreak of

Measles Measles (probably from Middle Dutch or Middle High German ''masel(e)'', meaning "blemish, blood blister") is a highly contagious, Vaccine-preventable diseases, vaccine-preventable infectious disease caused by Measles morbillivirus, measles v ...

in Wales. She supported her husband, Huw Lewis's effort to become leader of the Welsh Labour Party in the 2009 leadership contest. He was not successful, with

Carwyn Jones Carwyn Howell Jones, Baron Jones of Penybont, (born 21 March 1967), is a Welsh politician who served as First Minister of Wales and Leader of Welsh Labour from 2009 to 2018. He previously served as Counsel General for Wales from 2007 to 20 ...

being selected to lead the party. Ahead of the 2011 elections she was adopted as a Labour & Co-operative candidate.

Fourth and Fifth Senedd (2011-2021)

Neagle was re-elected at the 2011 Assembly elections, with a majority of 6,088 votes. She was appointed to the children and young people and health and social care committees for the fourth assembly. At the 2016 Senedd election she was again re-elected, with a majority of 4,498 votes. She was appointed to chair the children, young people and education committee. Neagle was one of a number of AMs to back a statement calling for the UK to remain within the

European Economic Area The European Economic Area (EEA) was established via the ''Agreement on the European Economic Area'', an international agreement which enables the extension of the European Union's single market to member states of the European Free Trade Asso ...

. She supported

Vaughan Gething Humphrey Vaughan ap David Gething (born 15 March 1974) is a Welsh Labour Co-op politician who served as First Minister of Wales from March to August 2024, and served as leader of Welsh Labour from March to July 2024, making him the first blac ...

in the 2018 Welsh Labour leadership election.

Sixth Senedd (2021-)

Neagle was re-elected at the

2021 Senedd election The 2021 Senedd election took place on Thursday 6 May 2021 to elect 60 members to the Senedd (Welsh Parliament; ). It was the sixth Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved general election since the Senedd (formerly the National Assembly for ...

, with a majority of 5,321 votes. Neagle was appointed as Deputy Minister for Mental Health and Wellbeing by First Minister Mark Drakeford shortly after. Neagle supported Vaughan Gething in the February-March 2024 Welsh Labour leadership election. After Gething won the leadership election, Neagle was appointed as Cabinet Secretary for Education in the Gething government.

Personal life

Neagle is married to Huw Lewis, the former Senedd Member for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney. They have two children, James and Sam.

References

External links

Senedd Member profileWelsh Labour websiteWebsite of the Senedd Government

Offices held

{{DEFAULTSORT:Neagle, Lynne 1968 births Living people Welsh Labour members of the Senedd Labour Co-operative members of the Senedd Wales AMs 1999–2003 Wales AMs 2003–2007 Wales AMs 2007–2011 Wales AMs 2011–2016 Wales MSs 2016–2021 Wales MSs 2021–2026 Alumni of the University of Reading People from Merthyr Tydfil Female members of the Senedd 20th-century British women politicians