2024 in Wales

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2024
in
Wales
Centuries:
Decades:
See also:List of years in Wales
Timeline of Welsh history
2024 in
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England
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Welsh football: 2023–24

Events from the year 2024 in Wales.

Events

January

February

March

April

  • 3 April – Sinead Cook, an investigator at the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales, is suspended for posting anti-Conservative abuse on social media.[84]
  • 4 April – Cardiff is announced as the host of the 2027 EuroGames, Europe's largest LGBTQ+ sporting event, becoming the first UK city to stage the event.[85]
  • 5 AprilSwansea University announces it is cutting 200 posts due to "financial challenges" in higher education.[86]
  • 6 April – Pembrokeshire Council gives the go-ahead to a £5.7m new bridge in Haverfordwest.[87]
  • 7 AprilSophie Ingle announces she is stepping down as Wales captain after nine years in the role.[88]
  • 9 April – A two-day strike by senior consultants and doctors planned to begin on 16 April is suspended following "constructive talks" and a "significant" pay offer from the Welsh Government.[89]
  • 11 April – Steelworkers belonging to the Unite union vote to take industrial action over Tata Steel's UK restructuring plans.[90]
  • 14 AprilMuseum Wales announces the loss of 90 jobs, and says it may be forced to close its building in Cardiff, after its funding was cut by the Welsh Government.[91]
  • 15 April – Tata Steel threatens to withdraw a "significantly enhanced" redundancy package if workers go on strike.[92]
  • 16 April – The Welsh National Opera announces it is cutting back on performances because of cuts in funding from the Arts Council of Wales and the Arts Council of England.[93]
  • 17 April
    • Transport Minister Ken Skates says there will be changes to Wales's default 20 mph speed limit in built up areas, with schools, hospitals and nurseries targeted as areas where it should be applied.[94]
    • The Equality and Human Rights Commission warns that plans to enforce gender equality in the Senedd may be unlawful because it may breach the Equality Act if candidates can self-identify as female when that is not their legal sex.[95]
  • 20 April – Transport Minister Ken Skates announces that some roads will revert to a 30 mph speed limit following public backlash over the default 20 mph restrictions.[96]
  • 21 April – Cardiff teenager Lloyd Martin, who had Down's syndrome, makes history as the youngest person in his learning disability category to complete a marathon after he finishes the 2024 London Marathon.[97]
  • 23 April – Transport Minister Ken Skates announces that the process of reverting the speed limit on some roads from 20 mph back to 30 mph will begin in September.[98]
  • 24 April – Three people are injured and one other is arrested in a stabbing at Ysgol Dyffryn Aman in Ammanford.[99]
  • 25 April – A 13-year-old girl is charged with three counts of attempted murder following the previous day's school stabbing at Ammanford.[100]

May

  • 2 May – Welsh language broadcaster S4C announces that it will broadcast a Welsh language version of ITV programme The Voice. The show, titled Y Llais, will be hosted by BBC Radio 1 DJ Sian Eleri and will be broadcast in 2025.[101]
  • 8 MayMSs vote 43–16 to approve the Senedd Reform Bill that will see the number of members increase from 60 to 96 at the next election.[102]
  • 9 May
    • Members of Community, the UK's largest steelworkers' trade union, vote to take industrial action over Tata Steel's plans for restructuring, which could cost up to 2,800 jobs.[103]
    • Data shows that 1,150 drivers were caught out by the 20 mph speed limit during April, and 2,100 since January.[104]
  • 11 May – The Met Office records Wales's warmest temperature of the year so far, with a reading of 25.1 °C at Gogerddan.[105]
  • 13 May – Following a hearing at Aberystwyth Justice Centre, Toni Schiavone, who refused to pay a parking fine because it was issued in English, loses his appeal against the fine.[106]
  • 15 May – Following a trial at Mold Crown Court, headteacher Neil Foden is convicted of the sexual abuse of four girls over a four-year period.[107]
  • 17 May
  • 21 May
    • A COVID-19 vaccination centre in Ceredigion is temporarily closed following the discovery of two snakes in the building.[110]
    • The Senedd approves new regulations that will make it mandatory for all slaughterhouses in Wales to have CCTV.[111]
  • 24 May – Details of almost 70,000 Welsh Rugby Union club members have been exposed by a data security breach, the Cybernews website reports.[112]
  • 28 May – At Merthyr Crown Court, Daniel Popescu is sentenced to 17 years and four months for the attempted murder of his ex-girlfrield, who he stabbed as she walked home in December 2023.[113]
  • 29 May – The Conservatives table a motion of no confidence in First Minister Vaughan Gething following several weeks of controversy over donations to his leadership campaign. The motion is scheduled to face a Senedd vote on 5 June.[114]
  • 30 May – The Unite trade union announces plans to begin industrial action on 18 June over potential job losses at Tata Steel's Port Talbot plant.[115]
  • 31 May – Three inmates from HM Prison Parc are taken to hospital following a disturbance at the prison.[116]

June

  • 3 June – The Welsh Government shelves plans to legislate for shorter school summer holidays until after the next Senedd election.[117]
  • 5 June – First Minister Vaughan Gething loses a nonbinding vote of no confidence in the Senedd with members voting 29–27 in favour of a motion put forward by the Welsh Conservatives. It follows an investigation into the activities of a leading donor to his election campaign.[118] Gething says he will not resign following the vote.[119]
  • 7 June
    • Plaid Cymru withdraws its support for Sharifah Rahman, who was scheduled to represent the party as a candidate in Cardiff South and Penarth, following social media posts about the "situation in the Middle East" that "do not reflect the views and values of Plaid Cymru".[120]
    • Doctors' leaders recommend that doctors in Wales accept the latest pay offer, which the Welsh Government says is in line with that offered to doctors in Scotland. Junior doctors have been offered an additional 7.4%, taking the total to 12.4% for 2023–24. There is also the potential for an additional 10.1% for some senior consultants if the offer is accepted.[121]
    • The Senedd Reform Bill Committee has warned that plans for gender quotas at the next Senedd election could face legal challenges, and urges the Welsh Government to take urgent action to protect the election.[122]
  • 8 June – Stewart Sutherland, the Reform UK candidate for Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney, withdraws his candidacy after allegations he reposted racist content.[123]
  • 11 June – Vaughan Gething tells the Senedd he regrets the "impact" of his decision to accept a £200,000 donation from a man whose company was convicted of illegally dumping waste.[124]
  • 13 JunePlaid Cymru launches its 2024 election manifesto, which includes plans for Welsh independence, 500 extra GPs and funding from rail improvements.[125]
  • 14 June
    • In the 2024 Birthday Honours, former Llandudno subpostmaster Alan Bates receives a knighthood. Other Welsh recipients include former MP Wayne David (knighthood), broadcaster Roy Noble (CBE) and dancer Amy Dowden (MBE).[126]
    • BBC Wales sees a series of text messages from the mobile phone of Welsh Conservative Senedd member Laura Anne Jones in which she appears to ask an employee to maximise her expenses claims.[127] Jones is subsequently asked to step back from Wales's Shadow Cabinet as a result of the revelation.[128]
    • At a Cardiff Crown Court hearing, teacher Ieuan Bartlett is given a life ban from teaching after he admitted repeatedly having sex with a vulnerable 15-year-old pupil; Bartlett was previously sent to prison for the offences.[129]
  • 15 JuneSouth Wales Police warn residents near a chemical plant in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, to close doors and windows after a white mist was seen to be leaking from the facility.[130]
  • 16 JuneITV Wales holds an election debate between senior figures from the three main political parties in Wales; David TC Davies (Conservative), Jo Stevens (Labour) and Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru).[131]
  • 20 June – The Welsh Government confirms that a section of the River Wye near Hay-on-Wye that is popular with bathers will be granted official bathing water status.[132]
  • 21 June
    • BBC Wales airs a televised election debate featuring Vaughan Gething (Labour), Jane Dodds (Liberal Democrat), Rhun ap Iorwerth (Plaid Cymru) and David TC Davies (Conservative).[133]
    • The Unite union announces that 1,500 steelworkers at Tata Steel will begin an indefinite strike in July over plans to restructure the company that will result in the loss of 2,800 jobs.[134]
  • 26 JuneWelsh Labour suspends Rhianon Passmore, the Senedd member for Islwyn, pending investigation following an allegation she was seen driving a car with two different number plates.[135]
  • 27 June – Labour lifts its suspension of Rhianon Passmore after police find that no offence was committed regarding the licence plates on her car.[136]
  • 28 June – Junior doctors, consultants and specialist doctors in Wales accept a revised pay offer from the Welsh Government, worth an extra 7.4%, giving them a total increase of 12.4% for the 2023–24 financial year.[137]

July

August

September

  • 1 September
    • A 41-year-old woman is charged with the murder of a six-year-old boy in Swansea.[185]
    • Cyngor Gwynedd adopts new rules that require homeowners in the area to submit a planning application if they wish to turn a property into a second home or a holiday let.[186]
  • 6 September – Following a hearing at Cardiff Crown Court, National Grid is fined £3.2m after an electricity pylon worker sustained "catastrophic and lifechanging injuries" after receiving a 33,000 volt shock and 40% burns when the electricity supply was not turned off while he carried out maintenance work at Treforest in December 2020.[187]
  • 7 September – Former First Minister Vaughan Gething confirms he will not stand for re-election at the 2026 Senedd election.[188]
  • 9 September
    • Transport for Wales expands its penalty fare zone to include trains travelling on lines in South Wales, and the Welsh Marches line, meaning anyone travelling without a ticket could face a fine worth £20 or double their train fare, whichever is more expensive.[189]
    • Former Gwent Police officer John Stringer is found guilty of sexually abusing a girl under the age of 13 following a trial at Cardiff Crown Court.[190]
  • 10 September – Swansea resident Emma Cullen, who has multiple sclerosis, becomes the person in the UK to receive the drug ocrelizumab.[191]
  • 11 September
  • 13 September
    • The Why Not Bar in Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, wins a legal case at the Court of Appeal in an ongoing £1.5m insurance case for compensation over losses when it was forced to close in March 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.[194]
    • A criminal gang who admitted flooding Aberystwyth with drugs, after setting up a carwash and barber's shop as a front for the operation, are sentenced at Swansea Crown Court, receiving sentences ranging from an 18 month suspended sentence to imprisonment of twelve years.[195]
  • 14 September – Former transport minister Lee Waters says that "more common sense" should have been applied to the introduction of Wales's 20 mph speed limit.[196]
  • 16 September
    • Huw Edwards, formerly the BBC's most senior news presenter, is given a six-month suspended jail sentence for child abuse image offences. He is placed on the sex offenders' register for seven years and is required to complete a rehabilitation programme.[197]
    • The Welsh Government scraps plans to force parties in the Senedd to ensure 50% of their candidates are women.[198]
  • 19 September – Ten new Welsh words are included in the Oxford English Dictionary because of their everyday use in Wales; they include twp (meaning foolish or daft), sglods (chips) and Senedd (the Welsh Parliament).[199]
  • 24 September
    • Senedd members vote to withdraw proposals to require parties to ensure 50% of their candidates are women.[200]
    • Flintshire County Council rejects a proposal that would have required anyone working in teaching to swear an oath not to engage in an inappropriate relationship with a pupil.[201]
  • 25 September – Conservative Senedd member Natasha Asghar is reprimanded by Senedd authorities for calling Wales' 20 mph speed limit a "blanket" policy on social media, while signing off a report advising her party to refrain from using the term.[202]
  • 27 September – The Senedd Commission forecasts it will need an extra £1.2m in 2025–26 to prepare for a larger Senedd at the 2026 election.[203]
  • 28 September – Three cases of the Bluetongue 3 virus are discovered in sheep in Wales for the first time.[204]
  • 30 September – The final blast furnace at the Port Talbot steelworks ceases operation, ending the traditional method of making steel in South Wales.[205]

October

November

  • 2 November – Two women are killed, and two men taken to hospital, one of them in a serious condition, following a crash on the A4050 at Barry, Vale of Glamorgan.[235]
  • 5 November – A report into the train crash that occurred in mid Wales in October indicates that a safety system designed to help stop the train failed on one of the trains involved.[236]
  • 8 November
    • Mateusz Sikorski is sentenced to 28 months in prison after he killed a taxi driver in a crash while driving on the wrong side of the road in Pembrokeshire in September.[237]
    • Former nurse Charlotte Brown, who caused a man life changing injuries during a crash while she was drink driving, is struck off the nursing register.[238]
  • 12 November
    • Former Welsh government legal advisor Mick Antoniw and ex-minister Julie Morgan tell BBC News that subject to being passed at Westminster, the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill would require a vote in the Senedd to become legal in Wales.[239]
    • Geraint Evans is appointed as the new chief executive of S4C.[240]
    • The Welsh Government announces that registered childcare premises in Wales will retain their small business rates relief status on a permanent basis, meaning they will not have to pay tax.[241]
  • 26 November – The Senedd is expected to introduce the Levy and Registration bill to allow councils in Wales to raise a tax from visitor accommodation.[242]
  • 15 November – Darren Brown, a former member of Bridgend Town Council, is sentenced to 18 years in prison for the attempted murder of his wife, who he stabbed while she tried to soothe their baby in July 2023.[243]
  • 16 November – Protesters gather outside Welsh Labour's party conference to oppose changes to inheritance tax for farmers outlined in the October budget as Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer defends the government's changes.[244]
  • 17 NovemberSir Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, says that Jane Dodds, who leads the party in Wales, should reflect on her position after a report found she made a "grave error of judgement" in her handling of a sexual abuse scandal when she worked for the Church of England.[245]
  • 19 November
    • First Minister Eluned Morgan offers Plaid Cymru an open invitation to support the Welsh Government's budget, scheduled to be delivered by Finance Secretary Mark Drakeford on 10 December.[246]
    • Health Secretary Jeremy Miles announces that private healthcare will be used to help reduce the patient backlog in the NHS, with £50m allocated for health to be given to Wales's health boards to provide more appointments, tests and treatments.[247]
  • 22 November
    • Dilshad Shamo and Ali Khdir, two men who ran a people smuggling operation from a car wash in Caerphilly and asked those they smuggled to give a TripAdvisor-style rating for their journey, plead guilty to people smuggling midway through their trial.[248]
    • Appearing at Swansea Crown Court, Papaipit Linse, of Haverfordwest, pleads guilty to the manslaughter of her seven-year-old son, Louis Linse, in January 2024, on the grounds of diminished responsibility. She will be sentenced on 13 December.[249]
  • 23 November
    • Storm Bert:
      • Five adults and five children are rescued from a house in Denbighshire following a landslide as high winds and heavy rain bring disruption to Wales.[250]
      • A search begins for a man in his 70s believed to have been swept away while walking a dog with his wife in Conwy County.[251]
  • 24 November
  • 25 November
    • South Wales politicians, including MP Sir Chris Bryant and MS Heledd Fychan, have criticised what they describe as a lack of preparation and insufficient warnings ahead of the arrival of Storm Bert.[254]
    • The Welsh Government publishes the Levy and Registration bill to allow councils in Wales to raise a tax from visitor accommodation, with the £1.25 per person per night levy expected to be introduced from 2027.[255][256]
    • Two teenage boys are arrested following the stabbing of a 12-year-old girl in Barry Island the previous day.[257]
  • 26 November
  • 28 November – BBC News Wales reports that Senedd Conservatives will hold a vote of confidence in Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies on 3 December following a series of criticisms about his leadership.[260]
  • 29 November – New rules come into law requiring tattoo artists in Wales to meet stricter hygiene and safety standards to be awarded a licence.[261]

December

Arts and literature

National Eisteddfod of Wales at Pontypridd

Source:[291]

  • Chair: Carwyn Eckley[292]
  • Crown: Gwynfor Dafydd, "Atgof"[293]
  • Prose Medal: Eurgain Haf[294]
  • Drama Medal: not awarded
  • Gwobr Goffa Daniel Owen: withheld[295]

Awards

Music

Albums

New classical works

Broadcasting

English language television

Welsh language television

Video games

Sport

Deaths

JPR Williams
Owen John Thomas
Dewi 'Pws' Morris
John Prescott

Holidays

Source:[366][367]

See also

References

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