Former Liberal Democrat Assembly Member Jenny Randerson has died, she was 76. Her death was announced in a statement from her party who called her someone who “left an indelible mark on our politics and society”.
Mrs Randerson is credited with being the person who decided to build the Wales Millennium Centre and give free entry to Wales’ national museums. She was the first female Liberal Democrat minister anywhere in the UK as Minister for Culture, Sport, and the Welsh Language from 2000 to 2003, and was acting Deputy First Minister from July, 2001, to June, 2002.
After leaving the Assembly, now Senedd, in 2011, she was appointed a life peer as Baroness Randerson of Roath Park. In the House of Lords, she was parliamentary under-secretary of state for Wales from September, 2012, to May, 2015, making her the first ever female Welsh Liberal Democrat to hold ministerial office at Westminster, and the first Welsh Liberal to hold a UK ministerial post since Gwilym Lloyd-George in 1945.
She had been chancellor of Cardiff University since 2019 and patron of various charities including Wales Council for Deaf People, the Cardiff and Vale Youth Wind Band and the African Mothers’ Foundation. For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation, sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here
She is survived by her husband, Peter, two children and three grandchildren.
She studied a history degree at Bedford College, University of London, and a PGCE at the Institute of Education, before beginning her career as a secondary school teacher and later as a lecturer at Coleg Glan Hafren in Cardiff. She also served as a Cardiff councillor from 1983 to 2000, leading the council’s official opposition for four years. She was also a magistrate in Cardiff from 1982 to 1999.
Jenny Randerson (right) on the campaign trail for the general election in 2015 pictured with co-founder of the SDP Baroness Shirley Williams, Eluned Parrott and Jenny Willott
(Image: Western Mail)
Jane Dodds MS, leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, said: “I am deeply saddened by the news of Jenny Randerson’s passing. Jenny dedicated her life to serving the people of Cardiff and Wales. From free entry to Wales’s national museums to the decision to build Wales Millennium Centre, her work as a minister left an indelible mark on our politics and society. She will be deeply missed by her family, friends, colleagues, and the many individuals whose lives she touched through her public service.”