Edwina Hart, MBE (born 26 April 1957) is a Welsh Labour politician who represented the constituency of Gower from the establishment of the National Assembly for Wales (Senedd) in 1999 until 2016. Hart served in the Welsh Government as a cabinet minister for the full 17 years she was an AM including as Minister for Health and Social Services from 2007 to 2011 and as Minister for Business, Enterprise, Technology and Science from 2011 to 2016. She was the runner up to Carwyn Jones in the 2009 Welsh Labour leadership election. Background Hart was born and raised in Gowerton, Swansea, where she attended Gowerton Girls' Grammar School. She especially enjoyed English and Music and became a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Wales. Today Edwina lives in Gowerton with her family; she has one daughter. Professional career Hart has worked in banking, where she became active in the trade union movement. As a result of this work she was elected as the first female president of the Banking, Insurance and Finance Union, serving from 1992 to 1994. She also served as chair of the Wales TUC (as did her husband, Bob Hart, in another year). Hart later received an MBE for Trade Union services. In 1998 Edwina also served as a member of the Broadcasting Council for Wales and sat on the board of the Wales Millennium Centre. She also sat on the Employment Appeals Tribunal, was a member of the South West Wales Economic Forum and a director of Chwarae Teg. Edwina is a member of T&GWU and Community as well as a life member of Amicus. Political career Hart was elected to the First Assembly with 35.4% of the vote in 1999 for the constituency of Gower. She became the Assembly's first Finance Secretary. In 2000, this was changed to include responsibility for local government and she became Minister for Finance and Local Government. She was re-elected to the Second Assembly in 2003, increasing her majority to 5688 (+8.2%) with 43.60% of the vote. After the election she took on the newly created Social Justice portfolio and became the Assembly's first ever Minister for Social Justice and Regeneration Minister, whose responsibilities include community safety, youth justice, police relations, fire service, alcohol and drug abuse, social economy, anti-poverty, housing, social housing, the voluntary sector, issues relating to asylum and immigration, liaison for armed forces in Wales, veterans, regeneration