Brian Hancock is a Welsh politician and member of Plaid Cymru

Plaid Cymru

' is a political party in Wales. It advocates the establishment of an independent Welsh state within the European Union. was formed in 1925 and won its first seat in 1966...

. He was the Welsh Assembly Member

Members of the National Assembly for Wales

The National Assembly for Wales is composed of 60 members known as AMs or Assembly Members...

 for Islwyn

Islwyn (National Assembly for Wales constituency)

Islwyn is a constituency of the National Assembly for Wales. It elects one Assembly Member by the first past the post method of election. Also, however, it is one of eight constituencies in the South Wales East electoral region, which elects four additional members, in addition to eight...

 for the Assembly's first term (1999–2003).

Background

Born in Cardiff in 1950, Hancock was educated at Lady Mary High School, Cardiff and Llandaff Technical College, also in Cardiff. He went on to earn a BSc

BSC

BSC is a three-letter abbreviation that may refer to:Science and technology* Bachelor of Science , an undergraduate degree* Base Station Controller, part of a mobile phone network; see: Base Station subsystem...

 in Chemical Engineering

Chemical engineering

Chemical engineering is the branch of engineering that deals with physical science , and life sciences with mathematics and economics, to the process of converting raw materials or chemicals into more useful or valuable forms...

 at the Polytechnic of Wales in Pontypridd.

He rose through the ranks in the world of chemical engineering, starting out at Monsanto Ltd as an engineer in 1974, eventually becoming Health, Safety and Environment Superintendent for BP Chemicals in 1988. He became a self-employed Health, Safety and Environment Consultant in 1992.He currently works part time as a Business Development Adviser.

Among his interests are rugby

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 and athletics. He has been the chair of Newport Harriers Athletic Club for 15 years.

Political career

Hancock was elected Plaid AM for Islwyn in the First Welsh Assembly Elections in 1999 with a majority of 604 votes from the Labour Party

Labour Party (UK)

The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

. Islwyn was one of the many Labour strongholds in the South Wales Valleys which unpredictably fell to Plaid. Hancock served as Plaid's Deputy Whip and as Spokesman for Small Businesses. Irene James

Irene James

Irene James AM is a Welsh Labour politician who has represented the constituency of Islwyn in the National Assembly for Wales since 2003....

 regained the seat for Labour in the 2003 Elections.

More recently, Hancock stood as Plaid's candidate for the Newport West

Newport West (National Assembly for Wales constituency)

Newport West is a constituency of the National Assembly for Wales. It elects one Assembly Member by the first past the post method of election...

 constituency in the 2007 National Assembly Elections

National Assembly for Wales election, 2007

The 2007 National Assembly election was held on Thursday 3 May 2007 to elect members to the National Assembly for Wales. It was the third general election. On the same day local elections in England and Scotland, and the Scottish Parliament election took place...

, coming fourth with 10.4% of the vote.

Offices held