Neil McEvoy

McEvoy was born in 1970 in Cardiff. His maternal grandfather was a Yemeni who came to Cardiff to work on the docks, and he has spoken about the contribution that Yemenis made to Britain in the Second World War. McEvoy previously trained and worked as a teacher of modern languages. ==Political career==

McEvoy was elected to Cardiff Council as Welsh Labour Councillor for Riverside in 1999 and later became vice-chair of the Labour council group, he defected to Plaid Cymru in 2003. He lost his seat in Riverside in 2004, In September 2012, despite Plaid's decision not to put forward any candidates for Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) elections, McEvoy said that he wanted to stand for the PCC for South Wales Police. McEvoy did not stand, Plaid did not put forward a candidate, and subsequently former MP Alun Michael won the position for Welsh Labour. Member of the Senedd In July 2015, McEvoy was narrowly beaten by Plaid Cymru Party leader Leanne Wood in the contest for first place on the party list for the 2016 Assembly election, but gained second place. In May 2016, he was elected as Member of the Senedd, then known as the Welsh Assembly, on the Plaid Cymru regional list, under the Additional Member System. McEvoy also stood as a constituency candidate for Cardiff West once more in the 2016 Assembly elections, which saw Plaid Cymru's share of the vote increase by 11.9%. The incumbent AM, Labour's Mark Drakeford, saw his majority reduced to 1,176 votes, with the Conservatives in third place. McEvoy was elected for the regional seat of South Wales Central. After election to the Assembly, McEvoy continued to serve as a councillor on Cardiff Council, receiving the councillor's basic allowance of £13,300 in addition to the Senedd salary of £64,000. His Labour Party opponents described this as hypocrisy, saying that he had previously said it was wrong for people in public office to be a councillor and to work in another job. McEvoy later commented that there was a complete synergy between the two roles, making him more effective at both, and that he was donating his pay as a councillor to his community. McEvoy has, contrary to the policy of Plaid Cymru, supported the continuation of the Right to Buy scheme in Wales. He opposed the Welsh Government's Children (Abolition of Defence of Reasonable Punishment) (Wales) Act 2020 which saw most forms of corporal punishment of children prohibited. In August 2019 McEvoy gave an Assembly speech informing First Minister of Wales Mark Drakeford of costs of up to £245 to change lightbulbs under the Welsh Government Warm Homes/Arbed Am Byth scheme. Drakeford responded to the claims with a letter stating that costs of £245 represented work including lighting fitting in "not less than 80% of all fixed outlets" in homes, as opposed to £245 for individual lightbulb fittings. He was described as budgeting £115,865 for his office, which McEvoy described as necessary to deal with "an enormous amount of casework" and stated his "office is far busier than the local Westminster MP". His budget was the largest of any AMs in the Assembly. He was also Propel's lead candidate on the regional list, though the party finished seventh overall, polling 5,552 votes (2.2%). As he was not re-elected, McEvoy was entitled to a payout given to Senedd members who lost their seats, receiving £28,187. Post-Senedd He was reelected councillor in Fairwater in the 2022 Cardiff Council election. At the 2024 general election, McEvoy was the only Propel candidate to stand. He took 1,041 votes (2.3%), coming seventh in Cardiff West. At the 2026 Senedd election he will stand as a Propel candidate in Caerdydd Penarth. ==Controversies==

In November 2011 in a Facebook post, McEvoy accused the charity Welsh Women's Aid of "publicly funded child abuse" and claimed they supported women in breaking court orders on fathers' access to children. He was subsequently suspended by Plaid Cymru, and after investigation was allowed to return. McEvoy apologised for the words he used, but did not withdraw the allegations. In Council elections in May 2011, Welsh Labour ward opponent Michael Michael distributed leaflets of Only Fools and Horses character Del Boy with McEvoy's face imposed on them. McEvoy subsequently sued Michael for libel, but withdrew the case in December 2015. By withdrawing the case, McEvoy became liable for Michael's legal costs, and in January 2016, McEvoy agreed to pay Michael £120,000 in respect of those costs. The sum represented a quarter of the cost of the preliminary issues, and all costs after April 2013. McEvoy paid an initial sum of £50,000, and agreed a payment plan with Michael and his lawyers, which included Michael having a legal charge imposed on McEvoy's home. The Adjudication Panel for Wales ruled he broke Cardiff council's code of conduct but did not bring the council into disrepute. After the hearing, Mr McEvoy described the panel proceedings as a "farce", but Plaid chairman Alun Ffred Jones said the matter was "serious because it involves bullying". McEvoy was subsequently suspended from the Plaid Cymru Senedd group on 7 March 2017 A Plaid Cymru disciplinary panel was to consider the complaints later in the Autumn. In September 2017, McEvoy was suspended again, after a unanimous decision by Plaid's Assembly group, following accusations that he had undermined Plaid Cymru's policy on council housing. In December 2018 McEvoy was referred to the Assembly Standards Commissioner after he was accused by his former office manager, Michael Deem, of misusing Assembly funds for printing leaflets and recruiting staff for party political, rather than Assembly work. with a spokesperson stating that "his ongoing behaviour has left Assembly Member colleagues feeling undermined and demoralised". He then sat as an independent. McEvoy posted to Twitter in March 2018, and later deleted, a response to an earlier post about former Plaid leader and AM Leanne Wood with an image of himself and Dafydd Elis-Thomas wearing boxing gloves outside the Senedd. The tweet was captioned "we're ready for her", and was deleted after AMs including Plaid minister Bethan Sayed said the tweet was "absolutely not funny". In July 2019, McEvoy was again investigated for allegedly intimidating behaviour towards a care home worker. McEvoy contended that the case involved a child who had suffered "the worst case I've come across in 30 years". The investigation by the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales came during McEvoy's request in June to be re-admitted to the party, following over a year outside it. The Plaid Membership, Discipline and Standards Committee was described as "evenly split" during deliberations into the case. However shortly after, the committee's panel saw "two instances of unauthorised disclosure" of information which stated the panel had failed to reach a decision. The news leak led to the party deciding to disband the panel and form a new panel with new members. Plaid AM Helen Mary Jones however stated that the process was fair, and that the issue had consumed too much of "our time and our resources". She has indicated the Party would likely contact McEvoy through its solicitors regarding his claims. Senedd Commissioner for Standards Sir Roderick Evans resigned on 11 November 2019 after audio transcripts were published containing what McEvoy described as "bias", "really sexist views" about "female lawyers" as well as comments that former Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood should "wind her neck in". after a Senedd Committee found him to have breached Senedd rules following an altercation with Labour MS Mick Antoniw where he behaved in a threatening and intimidatory way and employed physical and verbal aggression to do so. In 2021, Cardiff Magistrates' Court issued McEvoy with a single justice procedure notice for breaching COVID-19 Alert Level 4 restrictions. McEvoy was accused of distributing election leaflets in February 2021, which was prohibited because of coronavirus legislation. McEvoy denied the allegation. A judge dismissed the case on the 21 October 2021 because the prosecution had made mistakes in the preparation of the case. ==Personal life==

McEvoy lives in Cardiff with his wife Ceri. He has a daughter. His sister Lisa Ford was a Cardiff councillor for Propel, having resigned from Plaid Cymru at the same time as McEvoy. ==References==