New Presiding Officer and First Minister elected by the National Assembly for Wales

11 May 2011

Rosemary Butler AM has been elected as the new Presiding Officer of the National Assembly for Wales.

She becomes the first female Presiding Officer of any devolved UK administration and only the second, after Baroness Boothroyd, of any UK legislature.

The Assembly Member for Newport West was elected during the first Plenary meeting of the new Assembly at the Senedd. Rosemary was Deputy Presiding Officer between 2007 and 2011 and succeeds Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas AM, who has been Presiding Officer since the First Assembly in 1999.

In paying tribute to her predecessor Rosemary said: “Lord Elis-Thomas has been an exceptional Presiding Officer who helped guide the National Assembly from its first tentative steps as a devolved legislature in 1999 to its current position as a forward-thinking, ambitious and mature body which truly represents the interests of the people of Wales today.”

David Melding AM has been elected as Deputy Presiding Officer. The Assembly Member for South Wales Central has previously chaired the Assembly’s former Audit, Standards of Conduct and Health and Social Services committees.

Members also today nominated Carwyn Jones AM First Minister of the Welsh Government.

He is the leader of the largest party in the new Assembly after last week’s elections.

The newly-elected Presiding Officer will immediately recommend to Her Majesty the Queen that Mr Jones be appointed as First Minister.

The First Minister will now select a cabinet comprising of no more than 12 Ministers and Deputy Ministers plus a Counsel General.