Jenny Rathbone

Jenny Rathbone is a Welsh Labour and Co-operative politician, who was elected as an Assembly Member (AM) of the National Assembly for Wales in 2011.

She was Labour candidate for Cardiff Central at the 2010 General Election coming second to Liberal Democrat Jenny Willott. She was previously a Labour councillor in the London Borough of Islington from 1998 to 2002.

Rathbone has represented the constituency of Cardiff Central since the National Assembly for Wales election of May 2011. She won the seat from the Liberal Democrats by 38 votes.

She voted for Jeremy Corbyn in Labour's 2015 leadership election. In October 2015 Jenny Rathbone criticised the Welsh Labour government for spending millions on the M4 Relief Road. First Minister Carwyn Jones then removed Rathbone from her chairmanship of the All Wales European Programme Monitoring Committee. In doing so Mr Jones said: “The chair of the programme monitoring committee is an appointment made by the First Minister, because that person, as is made clear in a letter of appointment, is a representative of the (Labour) Welsh Government.” He said its made clear that the “person is required to have particular regards to act in the spirit of collective responsibility, the main principles of the ministerial code.”

On 5 May 2016 Rathbone was elected for a second term as AM for Cardiff Central, winning by 917 votes.

Jenny Rathbone was born in Liverpool. She speaks fluent French and Spanish. She has two children and lives in Llanedeyrn, Cardiff. No relation to Nathan Rathbone.