First Minister Eluned Morgan MS, has announced the new Welsh Government Cabinet, including the appointment of Julie James MS as Counsel General Designate and Minister for Delivery.
Until she was elected as a Labour Assembly Member for Swansea West, Julie was a leading environmental and constitutional lawyer. Prior to this, she was assistant chief executive at Swansea Council. She spent most of her legal career in local government, working as a policy lawyer with the London Borough of Camden before returning to Swansea to work for West Glamorgan County Council and then the City and County of Swansea.
The new Cabinet announcement follows a summer ‘listening tour’ by the First Minister. In a statement today, Morgan said:
“The changes I am announcing today offer stability, draw on experience, and bring our collective talents together. The new portfolios reflect modern Wales and are designed to address the key challenges that face us all.
“I have spent the summer listening to the people of Wales, and my new Cabinet appointments will now focus relentlessly on the priorities I heard from them.
Morgan added that her new ministerial team represented ‘all of Wales’ and would ‘offer stability, draw on experience, and bring our collective talents together’.
On the announcement of Julie James MS’s appointment as the Welsh Government’s Counsel General Designate, Jonathan Davies, Head of Wales at the Law Society, said:
“The Law Society are extremely pleased that the First Minister heeded our call for a return to a political Counsel General to provide a dedicated political advocate at the cabinet table.
“We hope that this will bring a renewed focus on the recommendations from The Thomas Commission and The Independent Commission on the Constitutional Future of Wales to create a Welsh Ministry for Justice.”
He added that the Law Society Wales office will continue its policy work with the incoming Counsel General ‘to address our members concerns around recruitment and retention in Welsh law firms’.
The full Welsh Government Ministerial team is as follows:
- Huw Irranca-Davies MS – Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs
- Jeremy Miles MS – Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
- Mark Drakeford MS – Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Welsh Language
- Rebecca Evans MS – Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Planning
- Jayne Bryant MS – Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government
- Lynne Neagle MS – Cabinet Secretary for Education
- Ken Skates MS – Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales
- Jane Hutt MS – Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Trefnydd and Chief Whip
- Jack Sargeant MS – Minister for Culture, Skills and Social Partnership
- Vikki Howells MS – Minister for Further and Higher Education
- Sarah Murphy MS – Minister for Mental Health and Wellbeing
- Dawn Bowden MS – Minister for Children and Social Care
- Julie James MS – Counsel General Designate and Minister for Delivery
