Michael John Hedges (born 8 July 1956) 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 ...

politician, who 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 Swansea East since the 2011 Senedd election.

Personal life

Hedges has lived in

Morriston Morriston (; ) is a Community (Wales), community in the City and County of Swansea, Wales, and falls within the Morriston (electoral ward), Morriston ward. It is the largest community in the Swansea county. Morriston is sometimes referred to ...

for many years but was born in the Plasmarl area of

Swansea Swansea ( ; ) is a coastal City status in the United Kingdom, city and the List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, second-largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of ...

. He is married to Anne and has a daughter, Catrin, who attends Ysgol Gyfun Bryntawe. He attended Plasmarl, Parklands and Penlan Schools, and went on to higher education at

Swansea University Swansea University () is a public university, public research university located in Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom. It was chartered as University College of Swansea in 1920, as the fourth college of the University of Wales. In 1996, it chang ...

and

Cardiff University Cardiff University () is a public research university in Cardiff, Wales. It was established in 1883 as the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire and became a founding college of the University of Wales in 1893. It was renamed Unive ...

. Active in local sport, Hedges has been a football referee and coach, and was secretary of Morriston town for several years. Hedges is president of Ynystawe Cricket and Football Club and is a social member of both Morriston RFC and Glais RFC.

Professional background

Originally a research scientist for British Steel Corporation at

Port Talbot Port Talbot (, ) is a town and community (Wales), community in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, situated on the east side of Swansea Bay, approximately from Swansea. The Port Talbot Steelworks covers a large area of land which d ...

, Hedges has spent the last 27 years as a senior lecturer in

Pontypridd Pontypridd ( , ), Colloquialism, colloquially referred to as ''Ponty'', is a town and a Community (Wales), community in Rhondda Cynon Taf, South Wales, approximately 10 miles north west of Cardiff city centre. Geography Pontypridd comprises the ...

, specialising in computing and information technology.

Political history

Hedges was elected to represent

on the City and County of Swansea Council in

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

. He was re-elected in

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

, 2004 and 2008. He was previously a member of West Glamorgan County Council from 1989. He held a number of senior posts on the Council, including Council Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance & Technical Services. He was also Vice-Chair of the Council's Scrutiny Committee and the Welsh Local Government Association spokesperson on both social services and information. Taking an active interest in education, Hedges has been a governor of

, Swansea Institute, Mynyddbach and Morriston Comprehensives, Swansea College. He is currently chair of the governors of Glyncollen Primary School and Ynystawe Primary School. Hedges was a non-executive director of Swansea NHS Trust between 1999 and 2005. His political interests include education, health, local government, sports provision and social deprivation.

Parliamentary career

Hedges was first elected as an Assembly Member for Swansea East in May 2011 and re-elected in 2016 and 2021. He has sat as a Labour Co-operative member since re-election in

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

. In February 2022, Hedges was one of three Labour MSs to support introducing rent controls in Wales.

Committee membership and cross party group membership

Hedges currently sits as a member on the Senedd's Finance Committee, Public Accounts Committee and Health and Social Care Committee. He is also Chair of the Cross Party Group (CPG) on Rented Housing and Leasehold Properties and the CPG on Older People & Ageing as well as a member of the CPGs on Autism, Beer & The Pub, Co-operatives & Mutuals, Cancer, Deaf Issues and PCS Union.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hedges, Mike 1956 births Living people Welsh Labour members of the Senedd Labour Co-operative members of the Senedd Wales AMs 2011–2016 Wales MSs 2021–2026 Welsh Labour councillors Leaders of local authorities of Wales