Vikki Howells

Vikki Howells is a Welsh Labour and Co-operative politician. She is a Member of the Senedd, initially for Cynon Valley from 2016 to 2026, and then for Pontypridd Cynon Merthyr. She served as Minister for Further and Higher Education from September 2024 to May 2026. Before her election to the Senedd, Howells was a teacher, with a background in History.

Background and personal life Howells was brought up in Cwmbach, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. She studied International and Welsh history at the University of Wales, Cardiff, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree.

Career

Teaching career Before her election to the Senedd, Howells was a history teacher and the assistant head of sixth form at St Cenydd Comprehensive School in Caerphilly, South Wales.

Political career Howells has been a Member of the Labour Party since she was 17. On 5 May 2016, she was elected as a Member of the Welsh Assembly, she received 9,830 votes (51.1% of the votes cast, and a majority of 5,994). She was re-elected as a Labour and Co-operative Party candidate at the 2021 Senedd election with an increased majority of 7,468 votes.

Howells supported Vaughan Gething in the 2018 and February–March 2024 Welsh Labour leadership elections.

Howells chaired the Welsh Labour Group of MSs from 2017 to 2024. She is also president of the mental health charity Friends R Us and vice-president of Cwmbach Male Voice Choir.

She was appointed as Minister for Further and Higher Education under First Minister Eluned Morgan in September 2024.