26 Facts About Huw Irranca-Davies

Ifor Huw Irranca-Davies is a Welsh Labour and Co-operative politician who has served as Deputy First Minister of Wales since August 2024, and as Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs since March 2024.

Huw Irranca-Davies has been the Member of the Senedd for Ogmore since 2016.

Huw Irranca-Davies resigned his seat in parliament in March 2016 to stand to represent the constituency in the Senedd, winning the seat in the elections held in May 2016.

Huw Irranca-Davies campaigned as a boy in general elections for his step great-uncle, Ifor Davies, MP for Gower and deputy to Cledwyn Hughes at the Welsh Office during Harold Wilson's government.

Huw Irranca-Davies attended Gowerton Comprehensive School, and later earned a BA at Crewe and Alsager College, and an MSc from Swansea Metropolitan University.

Huw Irranca-Davies sat on Standing Committees for a number of bills, including the Police Reform Act 2002, Fireworks Bill and Communications Bill, among others.

Huw Irranca-Davies held positions on the Welsh Grand Committee and the Northern Ireland Grand Committee.

Huw Irranca-Davies worked on Parliamentary Labour Party Committees on Welsh Affairs, Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Home Affairs and International Development.

Huw Irranca-Davies was the backbench MP representative on the board of the Coal Health Claims Monitoring Subgroup for Wales.

Huw Irranca-Davies has spoken in the House of Commons on topics as varied as international trade union rights, compulsory voting, anti-social behaviour, renewable energy and climate change, fair trade, social justice and poverty and inequality.

Huw Irranca-Davies served as PPS to Ministers of the Department for Work and Pensions and Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Huw Irranca-Davies worked as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State of Wales, and as an Environment Minister in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Huw Irranca-Davies belonged to a number of All Party Groups within Parliament, including the All Party Groups for British Council, China Group, Citizens Advice, Clean Coal, Coalfield Communities, Energy Intensive Industries, Manufacturing, Maritime and Ports, Steel and Metal Related Industry, Children in Wales, Patient and Public Involvement in Health and Social Care, University Group, and Waterways.

Huw Irranca-Davies served as Chair of the All Party Group for the Recognition of Munitions Workers which aims "work with the government to find a means of recognising those munitions workers who served during the first and second world wars".

On 19 June 2015, Huw Irranca-Davies was elected to the chairmanship of the Environmental Audit Select Committee.

Huw Irranca-Davies was one of 36 Labour MPs to nominate Jeremy Corbyn as a candidate in the Labour leadership election of 2015.

In October 2015, Huw Irranca-Davies announced his wish to transition from Westminster to Cardiff Bay.

Huw Irranca-Davies won the Assembly seat, with a majority of 9,468.

Huw Irranca-Davies was appointed as Minister for Children and Social Care in November 2017 by First Minister Carwyn Jones.

Huw Irranca-Davies served in the role for just over a year, before returning to the Backbenches in December 2018.

In July 2024, after Vaughan Gething stood down as leader of the Welsh Labour party, Huw Irranca-Davies was initially tipped as a candidate to replace him.

However, Huw Irranca-Davies declined to run for the leadership, instead forming a unity ticket with Eluned Morgan, under which he would be Deputy First Minister of Wales.

In 2011, Huw Irranca-Davies was shortlisted for the first Sports Parliamentarian of the Year award, an initiative introduced by the Sport and Recreation Alliance for the work he has done to promote archery.

Huw Irranca-Davies was nominated by the Archery GB after he hosted the first sporting event to ever take place in Parliament in September 2011.

In February 2013 Huw Irranca-Davies was named Total Politics MP of the Month.

Huw Irranca-Davies won the award for his work in standing up for farmers and consumers in the Ogmore constituency and across the nation by persuading the government to u-turn on the Groceries Code Adjudicator Bill.