Lee Waters

Lee Waters (born 12 February 1976) is a Welsh Labour and Co-operative politician who served as Deputy Minister for Climate Change from 2021 to 2024. He served as the Member of the Senedd (MS) for Llanelli from 2016 until 2026.

Early life Waters grew up in Ammanford. His father was a coal miner who was made redundant and his mother was a hairdresser.

Career After graduating, Waters received multiple job offers: from the PPS to the Secretary of State for Wales Nick Ainger, from Peter Hain MP, and from Welsh Secretary Ron Davies MP. He went on to work as the Political Secretary to Davies in August 1998 as part of the leadership campaign between him and Rhodri Morgan.

He then joined BBC Wales news as a researcher and then radio producer on Good Morning Wales. In 2001 Waters joined the ITV Wales political unit where he reported as a lobby correspondent and presented the weekly politics programme Waterfront, becoming chief political correspondent. He stated he moved out of the industry after he lost interest in learning shorthand and did not see it as a job "for a grown up".

In 2007, he became Director of the green transport organisation, Sustrans Cymru.

Waters joined sustainable cycling charity Sustrans Cymru in January 2007. He led a campaign involving his organisation Sustrans Cymru, the BMA, and the NAHT, who wrote a joint letter arguing for an independent commission to review whether the National Assembly for Wales was underfunded. leading on communications for the campaign after being appointed to the cross-party steering committee by the First Minister.

In 2013, he was appointed the director of the Welsh independent think-tank, the Institute of Welsh Affairs. Upon joining the organisation he found it to be "nearly bankrupt" with tired staff and three months of funding left, a race which he won with a majority of 382.

Transport Ministry Waters (top-right) in a joint meeting in April 2020, between Ministers from the Welsh and British Governments, to underline joint commitment to support businesses through the COVID-19 pandemic. Also present UK Government Minister for Business and Industry Nadhim Zahawi (bottom-left) and UK Government Minister for Wales David TC Davies (bottom-right) In December 2018 he became Deputy Minister for Economy and Transport with additional responsibility for the Welsh Government's Strategic Communications. He led work on creating a Digital Strategy for Wales and in developing the Foundational Economy including a £4.5m Challenge Fund to trial new approaches.

Along with Julie James, the Minister for Climate Change, Waters announced in 2021 a freeze on all new road building projects in Wales pending a Welsh Government roads review. The decision is motivated by the government's goal to cut emissions and drive modal shift to public transportation. Both Plaid and Conservative MS' voiced concerns about the plan.

In 2023, as a Welsh Government minister, Waters accidentally voted against the government, with Waters describing it as "embarrassing and frustrating".

In March 2024, Waters announced his intention to resign from his position as Deputy Minister for Climate Change following the conclusion of the 2024 Welsh Labour leadership election, as well as announcing he would be deleting his Twitter account due to unpleasant comments. Andrew RT Davies, opposition and Welsh Conservative leader, described his announcement as a "sigh of relief" for motorists and business owners, due to Waters' policies during his time in the position.

In June 2024, Waters, alongside Welsh Labour colleague Hannah Blythyn, was not present for a vote of no confidence in First Minister Vaughan Gething due to illness.

On 24 October 2024, Waters announced his retirement at the 2026 Senedd election.

Political views Transport Waters was the Minister responsible for Transportation across various ministerial jobs from 2018 to 2024.

While Minister responsible for transport he opposed the M4 Relief Road which he viewed as failing to improve transport within Wales. He was critical of the decision taken by the UK Government under Theresa May to remove the tolls on the Severn crossings, stating it would "lead to six million more vehicles a year" on the roads, and that Westminster were "unleashing" extra traffic to try to incentivise the construction of the M4 Relief Road.

In place of the Relief Road, Waters instead advocated for in Government projects including the South Wales Metro and improving bus services which make up the majority of public transport ridership in Wales. He worked towards overhauling bus transport in Wales through integrating services and focusing on passengers. Shortly before he resigned as transport minister, the Welsh Government published a report entitled "Our Roadmap to Bus Reform: Towards One Network, One Timetable, One Ticket", which outlined these policies and how they would be implemented.

Waters was a central figure in the introduction of a 20mph limit across most previously 30mph zones on Welsh roads. Its introduction faced public opposition, although Waters claimed attitudes were changing on the policy. and there was a reduction in road traffic fatalities in the last quarter of the year of 32%, from 681 (October–December 2022) to 463 (October–December 2023).

Foundational economy Waters has been a proponent of the concept of the foundational economy. The concept was developed by the University of Manchester's Centre for Research on Socio-Cultural Change. Bowman and Froud et al. describe the theory as focussing on health education and welfare, as well as "mundane activities like utilities, retail and food processing which produce necessary everyday goods and services which are used by everybody regardless of income or social status." It "focuses on how the sheltered sectors of the economy can be reorganised in ways that generate welfare gains and diffuse prosperity" after years of UK policies which its authors state failed to create competition and markets and instead focussed on job creation and GDP growth alone. His speech stated that "all the orthodox tools we can think of at growing the economy in the conventional way" have only produced static GDP over 20 years across the UK.

Personal life He has two children and resides in the Penarth area, with a house in Llanelli. He is a member of the GMB Union.