UK Parliament

Wigley was elected as a Plaid Cymru councillor for Merthyr Tydfil in 1972 and was then the MP for Caernarfon from 1974 until 2001,^[4] first elected at the February 1974 general election.

The election for president was seen as instrumental in deciding the future direction of Plaid Cymru. Wigley represented a moderate, pragmatic social democracy, in sharp contrast with rival candidate Dafydd Elis Thomas's socialism. In 1981 Wigley won the presidency, but Elis Thomas had greater influence over the party's ideology throughout the 1980s. In 1984 Wigley resigned from the presidency because of his children's health, but he returned in 1991 for a second term after the resignation of Elis Thomas. Wigley led Plaid until 2000. He stood down as an Member of Parliament at the 2001 General Election to concentrate on his role in the Assembly.^[5] Having served 27 years as an MP, Wigley is the longest-ever serving post-war MP from a nationalist party.

National Assembly for Wales

Wigley was the Assembly member for Caernarfon from 1999 to 2003.^[4]

House of Lords

He secured a Plaid Cymru nomination for a peerage alongside Eurfyl ap Gwilym and Janet Davies.^[6] He initially withdrew his candidature after complaining about how long the process was taking.^[7]

On 19 November 2010 it was announced that he had been granted a life peerage by the Queen,^[8] and he took his seat in the House of Lords as Baron Wigley, of Caernarfon in the County of Gwynedd on 24 January 2011,^[9] supported by fellow Plaid peer Lord Elis-Thomas and by Lord Faulkner of Worcester.^[10] He made his maiden speech on 27 January during a debate on tourism.^[11] Having been one of the first MPs to take the House of Commons oath of allegiance in the Welsh language in 1974, he took the oath of allegiance in Welsh on entering the Lords.^[12]

In 2024, Wigley criticised the Senedd Reform Bill due to the introduction of a closed list PR system for elections to the Senedd.^[13]