Welsh Liberal Democrats in the context of Scottish Liberal Democrats

A member of the Senedd (MS; plural: MSs; Welsh: aelod o'r Senedd; AS, plural: ASau), also known as a member of the Welsh Parliament, is a representative elected to the Senedd (Welsh Parliament; Welsh: Senedd Cymru). There are sixty members, with forty members chosen to represent individual Senedd constituencies, and twenty to represent the five electoral regions of the Senedd in Wales.

Each person in Wales is represented by five MSs: one for their local constituency (encompassing their local area where they reside), and another four covering their electoral region (a large grouping of constituencies). Wales's five electoral regions are Mid and West Wales, North Wales, South Wales Central, South Wales East and South Wales West.

The 1999 National Assembly for Wales election was held on Thursday 6 May 1999 to elect 60 members to the Senedd, at the time called the National Assembly for Wales (Welsh Parliament; Welsh: Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru). It was the first devolved general election held in Wales after the successful 1997 Welsh devolution referendum. The election was held alongside the Scottish Parliament election (also the first of its kind) and English local elections.

Although Welsh Labour were the biggest party, they did not gain enough seats to form a majority government and instead entered into coalition with the Liberal Democrats. The election was marked by the historically high level of support for Plaid Cymru, who won their highest share of the vote in any Wales-wide election and remains their highest number of seats in a Senedd election to date. The party won considerable support in traditionally safe Labour areas such as the South Wales Valleys, winning Rhondda and Islwyn and narrowly failing to win a number of other seats.

The fourth Rhodri Morgan government (19 July 2007 – 10 December 2009) was a Labour–Plaid Cymru coalition government of Wales led by First Minister for Wales, Rhodri Morgan.

After the collapse of talks for a rainbow coalition between Plaid Cymru, the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats, the Labour Party started talks with Plaid Cymru, reaching the "One Wales" agreement. A new cabinet was appointed on 19 July 2007.

The deputy first minister of Wales (Welsh: dirprwy brif weinidog Cymru) is the deputy leader of the Welsh Government. The post was created in October 2000 when Mike German of the Welsh Liberal Democrats was appointed Deputy First Minister as part of a coalition government with Welsh Labour. Since the office was created, the holder has traditionally been the party leader of the junior partner in coalition with Welsh Labour, though this changed in 2024 with the appointment of Labour's Huw Irranca-Davies in the Labour government of Eluned Morgan.

The last holder was Ieuan Wyn Jones of Plaid Cymru who was also the minister for the Economy and Transport. Ieuan Wyn Jones served in the office as part of the One Wales agreement between Plaid Cymru and Welsh Labour between 2007 and 2011.

The Liberal Democrat Headquarters is the principal centre of operations and offices of the British Liberal Democrats. As of September 2025, the headquarters of the party is located at 66 Buckingham Gate, London, SW1E 6AU. The headquarters is located within two miles of the Houses of Parliament, as are the Labour Party Headquarters and the Conservative Campaign Headquarters (formerly known as Conservative Central Office).

Scottish Liberal Democrats have their own headquarters, which are located at Clifton Terrace in Edinburgh, whilst the Welsh Liberal Democrats' headquarters are based at Bute Street, in Cardiff.