Anthony Slaughter: The punk pioneer making Senedd history for the Greens

Wales' Green leader Anthony Slaughter is a "record maker" in more ways than one as sees his party sit in the Welsh Parliament for the first time in its history.

Slaughter, who takes one of two Green seats in the Senedd, was the singer in a South African punk band, Riot Squad SA, who were the first-ever band from the country to release a punk record in the UK.

The anti-apartheid campaigner came to the UK in the 1980s to avoid conscription to the "apartheid army" where he became part of the "anarchist squatting scene".

He says his party would freeze rent for a year before giving councils powers to apply caps on what tenants pay.

He also pledged to cap bus fares to £1 for most people, with free travel for under 22s and to replace council tax.

It will be interesting to see if any these policies become part of any talks about supporting Plaid Cymru.

Born in Yorkshire in 1962, Slaughter emigrated as a child first to Australia and then South Africa.

Slaughter says growing up in apartheid South Africa gave him "a real grounding in what politics is and what power is about".

It was while living in Cape Town he formed the punk rock band Riot Squad SA.

Aligning themselves with the anti-apartheid movement, they released the 7" vinyl EP "Total Onslaught".

This went on to be banned by the South African authorities but was later released in the UK and Europe.

A big fan of The Clash, citing songs such as Clampdown as influences, Slaughter also likes reggae with Two Sevens Clash by Culture being one of his favourites.

He came to London in the early 1980's to avoid conscription to what he says was the "apartheid army".

It was while in Hackney he says he became "involved in the anarchist squatting scene" - adding that his politics were "formed by the miners' strike and the poll tax".

He says it was the Green Party that "chimed" with the politics of all that.

Slaughter has been living in Penarth, just outside Cardiff, for more than 15 years now working as a garden designer.

While in Wales he began to concentrate seriously on politics, joining the Green Party in 2010 and standing in the Cardiff South and Penarth UK parliamentary by-election in 2012. He came sixth.

He was elected Wales Green Party Leader in 2018, having previously served as deputy in 2014 and 2015.

He then stood in various Senedd, Westminster and European elections, gaining some prominence by finishing second in Cardiff South and Penarth at the 2024 UK general election.

It was following that result that Slaughter predicted that Green members would be elected to the Senedd in 2026.

To take a quote from one of his punk song tracks: "Changes coming."

Well, the changes have come and the Wales Greens are in the Senedd.