Anthony Slaughter
British politician
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Anthony David Slaughter (born 1962) is a British politician who has been the leader of the Wales Green Party since December 2018.[2] He previously served as Deputy Leader from 2014 to 2015.[3] In 2024 Slaughter was appointed as the President of Wales for Europe.[4] He has previously been a candidate for general, local authority and town council seats.[3] Slaughter regularly appears in the media on behalf of the party to discuss political issues including BBC Radio Wales[5] and S4C.[6]
Anthony Slaughter | |
|---|---|
Slaughter in 2026 | |
| Leader of the Wales Green Party | |
| Assumed office December 2018 | |
| Preceded by | Grenville Ham |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Anthony David Slaughter 1962[1] |
| Party | Green |
| Occupation | Politician |
| Website | https://wales.greenparty.org.uk/green-party-wales-leader/ |
Early life
Slaughter was born in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire in 1962. As an infant, he and his family emigrated to Australia as "ten pound Poms", before returning to Hull due to homesickness. They then moved to Apartheid South Africa in 1970, where the young Slaughter grew up.[7][1]
He later moved to London to avoid conscription to the South African Defence Force, where he would have had to serve two years in the "apartheid army". "I spent two and a half decades more or less in London, living as a squatter for a long time in the anarcho-punk scene," Slaughter said in 2026. He formed a punk band called Riot Squad (later Riot Squad SA after the discovery of a British band with the same name), who were the first South African punk band to get a record released in Europe.[1]
Political career and campaigning
Slaughter joined the Green Party in 2010.[7] He was the Green candidate for the 2012 Cardiff South and Penarth by-election and came in 6th place.[8] He contested Cardiff South and Penarth in the 2016 National Assembly for Wales election and was 2nd candidate on the party list in South Wales Central behind Amelia Womack.[9]
In the 2017 Vale of Glamorgan Council election, Slaughter stood in the local authority ward of St Augustine's, a target seat.[3] In the 2019 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom he was the lead candidate for the Green Party in the Wales constituency.[10] In the 2019 UK general election, Slaughter stood as the Green candidate in the Vale of Glamorgan UK parliament constituency, coming third, with a 5.9% vote share.[11] The seat was supported by Unite to Remain as part of a coordinated effort with Plaid Cymru and the Liberal Democrats, in the interest of a proposed referendum on the Brexit withdrawal agreement.[12] Slaughter was also a co-founder of the Vale for Europe campaign group, a Vale of Glamorgan grassroots group that campaigned for a people's vote concerning Brexit.[4]
For the 2021 Senedd election, he stood in the Vale of Glamorgan Senedd constituency, obtaining 2.9% in fifth place.[13] During the 2024 UK general election he stood as the Wales Green Party candidate for Cardiff South and Penarth coming second, increasing his vote share to 14.5%.[14] In September 2024 Slaughter announced "...we will get our first Green elected to the Senedd in 2026" at the Green Party of England and Wales autumn conference in Manchester.[15]
After the leadership election in which Zack Polanski won, the party membership in Wales trebled.[16] In the 2026 Senedd election, he will be a candidate in Caerdydd Penarth.[17]
Policies and views
Since the Brexit referendum he has consistently campaigned for Wales to have closer ties with Europe.[4] Slaughter supports Welsh independence, and in 2021 he joined YesCymru.[18]
In November 2023, Slaughter voiced his support for an "immediate ceasefire in Gaza", condemning the "indiscriminate killing of civilians and collective punishment of a population".[19]
Slaughter supports a tax for the "super-wealthy" to help fund services like the NHS.[20] He also supports public ownership of the steel industry.[21]
In 2024, Slaughter released the book Future Wales: A Vision for Green Democracy, which outlined his views concerning "the possible ways forward for our country in an uncertain global future."[22]
Personal life
He stated in 2021 that he had lived in "Penarth in the Vale of Glamorgan for the last 17 years".[23] He has worked as a garden designer and landscaper.[4] Slaughter has been involved with, and was chair of, the local community organisation Gwyrddio Penarth Greening, a grassroots community organisation focused on planting and maintenance of the GPG Community Orchard that serves the local community.[24]