Wales Green Party to pick new leader to replace Anthony Slaughter

Green Party members in Wales will vote later this year to decide who will take over from Anthony Slaughter as party leader.

Slaughter, who has led the party since 2018, is required by party rules to step away from the job after completing three terms.

With his fellow Member of the Senedd (MS) Paul Rock ruling himself out, it means the next leader will be from outside the Welsh Parliament.

Monmouthshire councillor Ian Chandler has put himself forward, telling the BBC he wants to help build the party into a "real electoral force".

A ballot is expected to take place later this month and in early December.

Slaughter and Rock made history for the party by becoming its first-ever MSs in May's election.

In September, Slaughter revealed he had been diagnosed with cancer, telling a Senedd debate he had a "scheduled and serious operation". His party said at the time his recovery was going well.

On X, the Green Party leader for England and Wales, Zack Polanski, said Slaughter, the MS for Caerdydd Penarth, was a "huge voice for Wales, fiercely committed to environmental & social justice and a brilliant friend".

Chandler lives in Monmouth and is in a coalition with Labour in the Monmouthshire authority, where he is a cabinet member for social care and safeguarding.

"I want to help really build the Wales Green Party in to become a real electoral force," he told BBC Wales.

"I want to just take us to the next level because I think we should be a much stronger and dominant force in Welsh politics that's trying to set the agenda.

"There's a real appetite for our green vision of tackling the climate and nature emergency, and tackling the inequality and cost of living crisis that Wales is facing."

The party is hosting a conference in Bangor this month where, as well as the leadership campaign, it is also expected to discuss a motion on whether the Welsh part of the party should become independent from the English side by 2034.

Chandler said it was "inevitable" the Welsh Greens would form their own organisation.

"I think the only question is, is when it happens and how it happens. It's not going to be a sudden process," he said.

Chandler said the timeline in the motion was "very cautious".

"I would be happy if we could do it quicker than that, but at the same time I don't want to rush it either," he said, hoping it could be "possibly" be done before the next Senedd elections in 2030.