Mark Williams (politician) - Political Career

Political Career

Within a week of arriving in Aberystwyth, Williams became secretary of the student group and had met local Liberal MP Geraint Howells. After graduating, he became a part-time researcher to the Liberal Peers in the House of Lords, but was determined to stay in Ceredigion and spent half the week and all Parliamentary holidays as assistant to Geraint Howells in Ceredigion until Howells lost Ceredigion in the 1992 General Election.

He then returned to student life at the teacher training college in Exmouth, part of the University of Plymouth. After securing this qualification he taught in primary schools in Penzance and Barnstaple before becoming a Deputy Head teacher in Llangors School, Powys, in 2000.

In February 2000, after a spell as President of Ceredigion Liberal Democrats, Williams was selected to fight the Ceredigion seat in the by-election caused by the resignation of Cynog Dafis. In that by-election the Liberal Democrats rose back into second place, and in the general election of 2001 consolidated that second, and were just 3,944 votes behind Plaid Cymru. In May 2005, 13 years after Geraint Howells had been defeated, the Liberal Democrats regained Ceredigion with Mark Williams as MP by a very narrow majority of 219 votes. Williams is the first non Welsh-speaking Member of Parliament to represent the constituency since the widening of the electoral franchise in 1867. In 2010, Williams substantially increased his majority, winning just over 50% of the vote; this was the first time any candidate had won more than 50% of the vote in Ceredigion since 1959.

He has called for Saint David's Day to be made a public holiday.