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2025 in Wales

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Events from the year 2025 in Wales.

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Events

January

  • 1 January
    • The Met Office issues a yellow weather warning for snow in Wales for the weekend of 4–5 January.[7]
    • The mystery runner at the Nos Galan race is revealed as boxer Lauren Price.[8]
    • The Welsh Ambulance Service officially declares the end of a "critical incident" that began on 30 December.[9]
  • 6 January – The UK bank accounts of Daniel Andreas San Diego, one of the United States' most wanted fugitives who was arrested in Wales after 21 years on the run, are frozen for 12 months following a hearing at Llandudno Magistrates' Court.[10]
  • 7 January
  • 8 January – Proposals are published to give Members of the Senedd a 6% pay rise, taking the wages for a backbench MS to £76,380 in 2025–26, up from £72,057.[13]
  • 9 January – James Howells loses his attempt to sue Newport Council to make them recover a Bitcoin hard drive estimated to be worth about £598m from a rubbish tip.[14]
  • 10 January
    • The actor Michael Sheen announces he is to fund a new theatre company, the Welsh National Theatre, to replace the National Theatre Wales, which folded in 2024.[15]
    • Le Pub, a music venue in Newport which was threatened with closure, has been bought by a community enterprise, Music Venue Properties (MVP), which aims to protect live music locations.[16]
  • 11 January – The death is reported of Leon Adams, who spent two years in a coma and was left paralysed and brain damaged following an attack in Cardiff on 14 February 2002.[17]
  • 14 January – Welsh Conservative leader Darren Millar accuses Senedd Presiding Officer Elin Jones of "inappropriately interrupting him" after she tells him to "tone down" a question about grooming gangs while he called for a fresh inquiry into child sexual abuse.[18]
  • 15 January – A burst water pipe at Dolgarrog, Conwy county causes disruption, leading to the closure of schools and businesses. Around 40,000 properties are reported to be affected by the incident, with many remaining without water for several days despite supplies being restored.[19]
  • 16 January – Holyhead Port partially reopens following damage caused by Storm Darragh in December 2024.[20][21]
  • 19 January – Seven outdoor educational activity centres for schools run by the Inspiring learning Group are to close with immediate effect after the company went into administration.[22]
  • 21 January – First Minister Eluned Morgan tells the Senedd she is lobbying the UK government to give the Welsh Government powers over the Crown Estate in Wales, after a UK government minister suggested otherwise.[23]
  • 22 January – Following a trial at Cardiff Crown Court, Courtney Matthew is found guilty of throwing a cup of excrement at a prison officer while he was a prisoner at HM Prison Parc in Bridgend.[24]
  • 24 January
    • Dylan Thomas, the grandson of Peter's Pies founder Stanley Thomas, is sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of his friend William Bush, who he stabbed to death on 24 December 2023.[25]
    • First Minister Eluned Morgan warns Wales' health bosses they will not get extra funds for their services unless they cut waiting times.[26]
  • 25 January – A group of seven students are rescued by lifeboat from Worm's Head on the Gower Peninsula after becoming trapped on the tidal island in stormy conditions.[27]
  • 28 January – Cardiff University announces plans to cut 400 full time posts because of a funding shortfall.[28]
  • 29 January – Andrew RT Davies, former leader of the Welsh Conservatives, is warned by Senedd authorities he will face punishment for any future rule breaking after failing to declare his interest as a farmer when asking questions about inheritance tax for farms.[29]
  • 31 January

February

  • 3 February – A 14-year-old girl who stabbed two teachers and a student at Amman Valley School in Carmarthenshire is found guilty of attempted murder.[32]
  • 4 February – Welsh Conservatives leader Darren Millar and his colleague Russell George miss a Senedd vote on the Eluned Morgan government's budget for 2025–26 because they have travelled to the United States for the annual National Prayer Breakfast.[33]
  • 5 February – The Welsh Conservatives are absent from a Senedd debate concerning their former leader, Andrew RT Davies, but reject allegations they are boycotting the chamber's disciplinary process.[34]
  • 12 February – St Athan Primary School, in the Vale of Glamorgan, is evacuated following a fire, and will be closed for the rest of the week.[35]
  • 14 February – Network Rail is fined £3.75m after two workers were struck and killed in Port Talbot by a train travelling from Swansea to London in July 2019 following safety failures.[36]
  • 16 February
    • St Mary's Church, Swansea, is dedicated as Swansea Minster, the first in Wales.[37]
    • Whitehead-Ross, a company that was providing retraining for those affected by the redundancies at Tata Steel's Port Talbot site, closes its offices in the town.[38]
  • 17 February – After residents indicated 140 roads where they believed the 30 mph speed limit should be restored, Monmouthshire Council has concluded a review and decided that no roads with a 20 mph speed limit will be reverted.[39]
  • 18 February
  • 19 February – Edmund Burke, Vice Chancellor of Bangor University, confirms that the university is to cut around 200 jobs in order to make £15m of savings.[42]
  • 20 February
    • Welsh Labour and the Welsh Liberal Democrats agree a deal that will see the Liberal Democrats support Labour's 2025–26 budget. This will include a £1 bus fare cap on journeys for those between the ages of 18 and 21, as well as the previously mentioned ban on greyhound racing, and more money for the NHS in Wales and universal childcare.[43] There is also an extra £4.4m for arts and culture.[44]
    • The latest data from NHS Wales shoes there are 800,395 waiting for NHS treatment, a fall of 2,268 since the previous figures were published in January.[45]
    • Nathan Gill, the former leader of Reform UK in Wales, is charged with offences relating to bribery and is scheduled to appear in court on Monday 24 February.[46]
  • 21 February – Social Justice Secretary Jane Hutt, who is the UK's longest serving minister after service in successive Welsh Governments since 1999, announces she will retire from the Senedd in 2026.[47]
  • 23 February – The Met Office issues an amber weather warning for heavy rain and floods for mid and south west Wales; there are also high guts of wind further inland.[48]
  • 24 February – The UK government rejects a call from Plaid Cymru to devolve responsibility for the Crown Estate in Wales to the Welsh Government, saying it would make no sense to do so.[49]
  • 28 February – Former train manager Nicholas McMurray is sentenced to seven years in prison after he is convicted of sexually assaulting an 18-year-old woman while checking her train ticket in June 2024.[50]

March

  • 2 March – Train fares on Transport for Wales services are scheduled to increase, with off peak and day return tickets increasing by 6%, while single tickets increase by 3% and seven-day season tickets by 3.5%.[51]
  • 3 March – Richard Jones is sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 20 years for the July 2024 murder of Sophie Evans, his son's partner, who he wrongly believed had scammed him.[52]
  • 4 March
    • The Senedd votes 29–28 to approve the Welsh Government's £26bn budget for 2025–26 after Labour secured the support of Liberal Democrat Jane Dodds to achieve a majority.[53]
    • Oakwood Theme Park, the largest theme park in Wales, announces its closure with immediate effect following a decline in the number of visitors.[54]
  • 7 March
  • 9 March
    • Police began a murder investigation after a 40-year-old woman, subsequently named as Joanne Penney, is shot dead at a block of flats in Talbot Green. A man is arrested in connection with the incident.[57]
    • Following an unseasonably warm spell of weather, the highest temperature of the year so far is recorded at Hawarden in north Wales, with a high of 18.7 °C.[58]
  • 11 March
    • Police investigating the shooting of Joanne Penney make a further four arrests; they are also investigating the possibility she was killed following a case of mistaken identity.[59]
    • The Democracy and Boundary Commission has decided that all Senedd seats will have Welsh language only names from 2026.[60]
  • 12 March
  • 14 March
    • A hearing at the Old Bailey sets a trial date of 29 June 2026 for Nathan Gill, who is accused of accepting bribes to make statements in the European Parliament that would have been beneficial to Russia.[64]
    • At Swansea Crown Court, three men are sentenced to eight years and one month in prison after pleading guilty to the attempted kidnapping of Israeli record producer Itay Kashti, who was lured to an isolated farm by the three, who posed as representatives of Polydor Records.[65]
  • 15 March – South Wales Police confirm that five people have been charged in connection with the death of Joanne Penney; four have been charged with murder and a fifth with assisting an offender.[66]
  • 17 March – South Wales Police launch a murder investigation following the disappearance of Charlene Hobbs, a 36-year-old woman from Cardiff, who was last seen in the city in July 2024.[67]
  • 18 March – Six people are remanded in custody in connection with the death of Joanne Penney. A plea hearing is set for 7 July, while a trial could take place at the end of October.[68]
  • 21 March –
  • 25 March – An inquest into the death of Joanne Penney hears that she died following a gunshot wound to the chest.[74]
  • 28 March – First Minister Eluned Morgan refuses to give her backing to welfare cuts outlined by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in the 2025 spring statement until she has more information about their potential impact, and conforms she has written to Liz Kendall, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, to request an impact assessment for Wales.[75]
  • 29 March – Launch of the Black Welsh Music Awards, designed to recognise talented black musicians in Wales.[76]
  • 31 March –
    • The Welsh Government says it will not publish Liz Kendall's response to Eluned Morgan regarding the impact of welfare cuts in Wales.[77]
    • The Welsh Government publishes legislation to bring control of bus services in Wales back under public control, creating a London-style franchised bus service controlled by Transport for Wales.[78]

April

May

June

  • 3 June
    • Denbigh High School is evacuated after "potentially harmful chemicals" were found in a science department store cupboard.[127]
    • Lucy Langmead, a former police administrator with South Wales Police, is sentenced to two years and 11 months in prison for passing confidential information to her drug dealer boyfriend.[128]
  • 5 June – Former workers at a poultry factory in Anglesey are given the go-ahead to proceed with legal action against the factory's parent company over an outbreak of COVID-19 in June 2020.[129]
  • 6 June – Alexander Walker, the youngest member of Rhyl Town Council, is elected as the town's mayor at the age of 25.[130]
  • 9 June
  • 10 June – Teachers in Wales are offered a 4% pay rise, but unions express their dismay that the offer is below the 4.8% recommended by the Independent Welsh Pay Review Body.[133]
  • 11 June – 2025 Spending Review: Funding for five new railway stations in Cardiff, Newport and Monmouthshire are announced as part of the Spending Review, as well as upgrades to the existing rail network in Wales.[134]
  • 12 June – North Wales Police confirm that two women have been killed during an incident in Snowdonia National Park the previous evening during which both were pulled from the pools on the Watkin Path.[135]
  • 13 June – Alexander Dighton, who attempted to murder a police officer with a Molotov cocktail during an incident outside Talbot Green police station in January 2025, is sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 22 years by the Old Bailey.[136]
  • 18 June – An inquest is opened and adjourned into the deaths of two sisters who drowned at Snowdonia National Park on 11 June.[137]
  • 19 June
    • Wales becomes the first part of the UK to ban wet wipes containing plastic after the Senedd votes to make their sale illegal from December 2026.[138]
    • Firefighters tackle a fire in the Conwy Tunnel on the A55 after a vehicle catches fire.[139]
  • 22 June – Former Pembrokeshire councillor Andrew Edwards is disqualified from holding public office for four years over a racist voice note he posted on WhatsApp.[140]
  • 24 June – A report by Arts Council Wales warns that Welsh folk music could be extinct within a generation unless the situation is urgently addressed.[141]
  • 26 June – Protection zones are put in place following the discovery of bird flu at poultry farms in Haverfordwest and Wrexham.[142]
  • 27 June – Andrew John announces his retirement from the post of Archbishop of Wales with immediate effect.[143]
  • 28 June – The Welsh Government announces that smokers and ex-smokers aged between 55 and 74 will be offered screening for lung cancer.[144]

July

  • 1 July
  • 2 July – A report by the Senedd Standards Commission finds that First Minister Eluned Morgan failed to declare a donation from the Unite union.[147]
  • 3 July – Student Evan Powell, who in October 2024, broke into the homes of three Swansea women while they slept and watched them sleeping, is sentenced to five years in prison by Swansea Crown Court, together with a further four years on extended licence.[148]
  • 5 July – A new water park is scheduled to open at Cosmeston Country Park in the Vale of Glamorgan.[149]
  • 6 July – BBC News reports that Reform UK would be highly unlikely to introduce an insurance based healthcare system in Wales should it win the 2026 Senedd election, largely because of the timescale and potential legal implications of doing so.[150]
  • 8 July – Members of the Senedd vote to approve a tourism tax for accommodation in Wales that would see a daily fee of £1.30 added to the cost of staying overnight in Wales.[151]
  • 9 July – Secretary of State for Wales Jo Stevens says public services in Wales will not face cuts despite a shortfall in covering a rise in employers' National Insurance contributions. Her comments follow a warning from Welsh Government Finance Secretary Mark Drakeford, who warned Wales was facing a £36m financial black hole.[152]
  • 12 July – 2025 United Kingdom heatwaves: Train services between Pontypridd, Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare are cancelled after rail tracks buckle in the heat, affecting concertgoers travelling to a Stereophonics concert in Cardiff.[153]
  • 13 July – Train services continue to be disrupted after heat damage to tracks the previous day.[154]
  • 14 July – Former Conservative MP Katie Wallis (formerly Jamie Wallis) is given a fine and a community order for her ex-wife.[155]
  • 15 July –
    • Following a trial at Mold Crown Court, Michael and Kerry Ives are found guilty of the murder of their two-year-old grandson, Ethan Ives-Griffiths, after he suffered "catastrophic" head injuries at their home in Garden City, Flintshire, in August 2021. Ethan's mother, Shannon Ives, is found guilty of causing or allowing the death of a child and cruelty to a child.[156]
    • ASDA is fined £640,000 for selling a number of out-of-date items, some as much as two weeks past their sell by date, at two of their stores in Cardiff.[157]
  • 16 July – A further two people are charged in connection with the death of Joanne Penney in March.[158]
  • 18 July
  • 19 July
  • 21 July – Following the publication of a review by the Independent Water Commission, the UK government announces the water regulator Ofwat is to be scrapped, with new separate bodies created for England and Wales to replace it. The Welsh Government must decide whether responsibility should fall to Natural Resources Wales, which regulates Welsh Water over pollution, or if a newly created body.[164]
  • 22 July – Welsh Conservative member of the Senedd Laura Anne Jones joins Reform UK.[165]
  • 25 July – Jacqueline Totterdell is appointed as the next chief executive of NHS Wales, and is expected to succeed Judith Paget at the end of September.[166]
  • 30 July – The Most Reverend Cherry Vann is named as the new Archbishop of Wales, becoming the first woman elected as an Anglican archbishop in the UK and the first openly gay and partnered bishop to serve as a primate in the Anglican Communion.[167][168]
  • 31 July – Tata Steel is fined £1.5m over the death of contractor Justin Day, who was crushed to death while working at the Port Talbot plant in September 2019.[169]

August

  • 1 August – The Baptist Union of Wales confirms that a campaign group set up to save Capel Rhondda in Hopkinstown, Rhondda Cynon Taf, where the hymn "Cwm Rhondda" was first performed in December 1907, will be allowed to buy the building.[170]
  • 2 August – Police have arrested seven people in Newport following a violent disturbance in the town the previous day.[171] They are subsequently charged with violent disorder.[172]
  • 4 August – Owain Rhys wins the Crown at the National Eisteddfod in Wrexham.[173]
  • 5 August – Plans are unveiled for a 50-storey building in Cardiff, which if approved, would become Wales's tallest, and the UK's second tallest.[174]
  • 8 August
  • 12 August
    • Police launch an investigation after a group of children were filmed at a scouting camp in Caerphilly after being mistaken for asylum seekers, then subjected to online abuse when the footage was posted on social media.[177]
    • A double heatwave is forecast for parts of Wales, with temperatures reaching 33 °C on Tuesday 12 August, then rising again towards the weekend after a cooler period.[178]
    • A planned three week strike by Unite members at Cardiff Bus starting on 17 August is called off after staff received a better pay offer.[179]
  • 13 August – Thirteen children and one adult receive minor injuries after an accident involving a ride at Coney Beach Pleasure Park in Porthcawl.[180]
  • 14 August – Natural Resources Wales declares a drought in parts of Wales following the driest six-month period since 1976.[181]
  • 14 August – At a by-election in Grangetown the Green Party wins their first ever seat on Cardiff Council and their first ever by-election win in Wales.[182]
  • 16 August – A 36-year-old man dies after falling from Mount Snowdon.[183]
  • 19 August – Beachgoers are warned not to venture into the sea at Llandudno's West Shore after harmful levels of bacteria were found in the water.[184]
  • 20 August – Former Conservative MP Sarah Atherton leaves the party, describing it as "impotent" and something that "no longer aligns" with her "values or ideology", and announces plans to stand in the 2026 Senedd election.[185]
  • 26 August – An inquest opens into the death of Welsh Labour Senedd member Hefin David.[186]
  • 27 August – A multi-agency report into a girl who stabbed a pupil and two teachers at Amman Valley School in Carmarthen, finds that she would have benefited from "targeted help" if "information had been fully shared and assessed".[187]
  • 29 August – A drought is declared in North Wales following the driest six months since 1976.[188]
  • 30 August – Figures published by Wales's fire services indicates the number of wildfires during 2025 has surpassed the number of wildfires in 2020.[189]
  • August – Two pots containing between 10,000 and 15,000 Roman coins were found by metal detectorists in Wales, probably the largest such find in the country ever.[190]

September

October

November

  • 2 November – Gwent Police report that a nine-month-old baby has been killed by a dog attack in Monmouthshire.[236] The dog responsible is later confirmed to have been an American XL bully.[237]
  • 4 November
    • The Welsh Government publishes plans for providers of self-catering accommodation in Wales to obtain a licence showing they have met certain safety standards.[238]
    • Heavy rain brings flooding to parts of Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire and Swansea.[239]
  • 5–6 November – A major incident is declared in parts of south west Wales as a result of floods caused by heavy rain.[240] A severe flood warning ("threat to life") continues in place for a caravan park in Tenby and parts of Carmarthen.[241]
  • 7 November – The Independent Office for Police Conduct announces that six officers from Gwent Police will face a misconduct process over their actions after it took them two days to find a car that had crashed and killed three people in March 2023.[242]
  • 8 November –
    • Votes for the 2026 Senedd election will be counted the day after election day rather than overnight after the polls close.[243]
    • Robert James and Sean Morgan, two former Labour council leaders, of Carmarthen and Caerphilly respectively, defect to the Green Party.[244]
  • 10 November – The Unite union announces that bus drivers at First Cymru will stage a two-month strike from 20 November in a row over pay.[245]
  • 11 November – A yellow weather alert is in place for heavy rain in Wales.[246]
  • 12 November – The Senedd Standards Commission recommends Laura Anne Jones, the Senedd's only Reform UK member, face a two-week suspension from the chamber for her use of a racial slur against Chinese people in a WhatsApp group in August 2023, while she was a member of the Welsh Conservatives.[247]
  • 14 November – A man is charged following an investigation into a fake admiral at a wreath-laying ceremony in Llandudno on 9 December.[248]
  • 15 November
    • A major incident is declared in Monmouth following severe and widespread flooding caused by Storm Claudia.[249]
    • An 18-year-old man is charged with the murder of 17-year-old Lainie Williams and the attempted murder of another woman at a property in Cefn Fforest in Caerphilly on 13 November.[250]
  • 18 November – At a hearing at Mold Crown Court, Miles Cross pleads guilty to four counts of intentionally committing an act capable of encouraging or assisting suicide after selling chemicals online that could be used as a suicide aide.[251]
  • 19 November – Laura Anne Jones is suspended from the Senedd chamber for 14 days for breaking the parliamentary code over her use of a racial slur in a WhatsApp message.[252]
  • 20 November –
    • At a hearing at the Old Bailey, Nathan Gill, the former leader of Reform UK in Wales, pleads guilty to eight counts of bribery relating to a pro-Russian influence campaign in the European Parliament during 2018 and 2019.[253]
    • COVID-19 in Wales: Publication of the second report by the UK COVID-19 Inquiry, which describes the Welsh Government's initial response to the pandemic as "inadequate", and says ministers were "overly reliant" on the UK government to take the lead.[254]
    • Snow and ice causes disruption across Wales, with several hundred homes without power and a number of schools closed for the day.[255]
  • 21 November –
    • At the Old Bailey, Nathan Gill, former UKIP and later Reform UK leader in Wales, is sentenced to 10 and a half years in prison for accepting Russian bribes while in the European Parliament during 2018 and 2019.[256]
    • Around 60 schools are closed as snow and ice continues to cause disruption, and after overnight temperatures fell to as low as −6°C.[257]
  • 24 November – A study published by Natural Resources Wales reveals a list of endangered species in Wales. It includes the high brown fritillary butterfly and Snowdon leaf beetle.[258]
  • 27 November – A hearing in Cardiff rules that plans introduced by Cyngor Gwynedd in September 2024 that required a planning application for properties to be turned into second homes or holiday lets is unlawful.[259]
  • 28 November – Former Swansea headteacher James Richards, who exposed himself to other staff members while on a school trip, is banned from teaching in Wales for at least 15 years.[260]
  • 30 November – Public Health Wales launches an investigation after a number of cases of acute respiratory infections associated with Blaenhonddan Primary School in Bryncoch, Neath.[261]

December

  • 1 December – Heavy rain causes some disruption, with an amber weather alert for south Wales and a yellow alert for north Wales.[262]
  • 2 December – Plaid Cymru confirms it is in talks with Welsh Labour over the Welsh Government's budget.[263]
  • 5 December
    • Joe Cooper is sacked as Director of Music at Bangor Cathedral following a disciplinary hearing over an inappropriate song performed by a choir on 31 August as part of a protest about cuts.[264]
    • Holyhead Port temporarily closes Terminal 5 following a "berthing incident" involving a ferry during severe weather.[265]
  • 9 December – The Welsh Government and Plaid Cymru agree a deal to pass the Welsh budget after an agreement to supply more money to local authorities and healthcare.[266]
  • 10 December – It is reported that 43 people have fallen ill from food poisoning after eating a Sunday lunch at a pub in Llangynwyd near Bridgend.[267]
  • 12 December – Two people are killed following an explosion in the garden of a house in Caerphilly.[268]
  • 15 December – With the Met Office issuing separate weather warnings for north, mid and south Wales,[269]heavy rain and flooding causes widespread disruption, with some "possible risk to life" warnings in place.[270]
  • 17 December –
  • 19 December – At a hearing at Swansea Crown Court, Michelle Mills and her lover Geraint Berry are sentenced to 19 years in prison for conspiracy to murder Mills' husband Christopher, who was attacked in a caravan by two masked men.[273]
  • 24 December – The Met Office issues a yellow weather warning for high winds for much of Wales on Christmas Day.[274]
  • 25 December – Around 1,800 people participate in the annual Christmas Day swim at Porthcawl to mark the event's 60th anniversary, despite warnings of 85mph winds.[275]
  • 29 December – Jonathan Davies receives the CBE in the 2026 New Year Honours list issued today. Other Welsh recipients include Gabby Logan (OBE), campaigner Marcus Fair (MBE) and wildlife photographer Sue Flood (OBE).[276]
  • 31 December – A yellow weather warning for ice and snow is issued for parts of Wales on Friday 2 January.[277]

Arts and culture

Music

Albums

Film

English language films

Welsh language films

  • Hud y Lleisiau Bach (short)[292]

Broadcasting

English language television

Welsh language television

Radio

Sport

Holidays

see Public holidays in Wales

Deaths

Jenny Randerson
Dafydd Elis-Thomas
Mike Peters
Iris Williams

See also

References

External links

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