solicitor and was appointed acting clerk to Holyhead District Council. In 1946, he became the youngest member of Anglesey County Council when he was elected to represent the Kingsland Ward in Holyhead. He remained a county councillor until 1953 and maintained good relations with the County Council throughout his time as a Member of Parliament, and had some success in bringing employment to the island. In 1950, he challenged Lady Megan again, but she beat him by 2,000 votes. This was partly because, although a Liberal, she had identified with Labour. In 1951 general election, however, when Labour lost ground nationally, he ousted her by 595 votes. Early parliamentary career In his maiden speech on 8 November 1951, Hughes addressed a number of issues that would recur during his parliamentary career, including the deficiencies of housing on Anglesey, the case for devolution in Wales, and his concerns about the future of the Welsh language. In his first term as MP for Anglesey, Hughes placed considerable emphasis on attracting new jobs to the island. He was acutely aware that a large proportion of the young people were obliged to leave Anglesey to look for work, and Hughes was active in the process of securing the Wylfa nuclear power station and later an aluminium smelter project to be located on the island. Such efforts contributed to an increase in his majority to 4,568 at the 1955 General Election. During his early parliamentary career, Hughes concentrated on Welsh issues. Together with a number of other Welsh-speaking Labour MPs, he supported the Parliament for Wales Campaign. In 1955, he seconded a bill proposed by S.O. Davies in favour of such a parliament but it was supported by only fourteen members of the Commons. A national petition was launched in 1956, which resulted in his being reported to the Labour national executive by the south-Wales-dominated Welsh Council of Labour. Following the failure of this campaign, Hughes supported efforts to secure a Secretary of State for Wales and this became Labour's official policy by the 1959 General Election. In 1957 he was appointed to the Public Accounts Committee. In the following year he conducted a month-long visit to St Helena on behalf of the Labour Party. Hughes was the first MP to visit the island since it was ceded to the British Government by the East India Company in 1843. Hughes submitted a highly critical report