Rhianon Passmore 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 ...

and

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. Since May 2016, she 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 ...

for Islwyn.

Political career

Passmore was elected to represent

Risca Risca () is a town in the Caerphilly County Borough and within the Historic counties of Wales, historic boundaries of Monmouthshire (historic), Monmouthshire in south-east Wales. It is split into two Community (Wales), communities; Risca East an ...

east on Caerphilly County Borough Council in 2004, defeating incumbent

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 ...

councillor Harry Styles. She was re-elected at elections in 2008 and 2012, before standing down in 2016 after her election to the Senedd. Her daughter, Arianna Passmore, successfully contested the by-election on her resignation. Passmore stood unsuccessfully on Labour party lists for Mid and West Wales at the 2003 Welsh Assembly elections and for South Wales East in the 2007 elections. In July 2015, Passmore was selected as the

and

Co-operative Party The Co-operative Party () is a centre-left List of political parties in the United Kingdom, political party in the United Kingdom, supporting co-operative values and principles. The party currently has an electoral pact with the Labour Party. E ...

candidate for the Islwyn

constituency An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

of 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 ...

. On 5 May 2016, she was elected with 10,050 votes (45.0% of votes cast). She was re-elected 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 ...

with a majority of 5,239 votes. Passmore is a member of the Finance Committee, Petitions Committee and Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee. She chairs the cross-party group on Music, and a member of groups on Armed Forces and Cadets and Lung Health. Passmore was briefly suspended from the Labour group in the Senedd on 26 June 2024 after she was alleged to have used several number plates on her car, which is a criminal offence. The suspension was lifted in under 24 hours after a police investigation ruled that there was no evidence for this claim and that no offence had been committed.

2017 arrest

In October 2017 she was arrested by South Wales Police after failing to provide a breath test; as a result she was banned from driving for 20 months, fined £1,000, £100 victim surcharge and £620 in costs. Passmore alleged she was not unwilling to provide a sample, but physically unable due to her asthma, and a lack of access to her asthma medication. She was also suspended from the National Assembly for a fortnight and was suspended by the Labour Group from 10 July 2018 until 1 October 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Passmore, Rhianon Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Living people Labour Co-operative members of the Senedd Female members of the Senedd Wales MSs 2016–2021 Wales MSs 2021–2026