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Alun Cairns
Alun Cairns (born July 30, 1970) is a member of the National Assembly for Wales for the Welsh Conservative Party in the South Wales West region since the National Assembly for Wales election, 1999.

Background
Brought up in Clydach near Swansea, he attended Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Pontardawe and Ysgol Ddwyeithog Ystalyfera and is a fluent Welsh speaker. Gained a Masters Degree in Business Administration (MBA), specialising in corporate location and inward investment.

Professional career
Cairns has extensive experience in the business sector, having worked for the Lloyds Bank Group as a Business Development Consultant before being elected to the National Assembly.

Political career
His political interests include economic development and transport, and boasts considerable experience within the Welsh Conservative Party. As a member of the assembly's economic development and audit committees, he has held the Welsh government to account over a range of issues from transport infrastructure, European regional aid, public spending, and the Welsh economy.

Alun has also been a vocal opponent of the Scarweather Sands offshore wind farm development near Porthcawl and has long been an active member of the Conservative Party in South West Wales.

First elected to the assembly as AM for South Wales West in 1999, he was re-elected in 2003 and 2007 and served as the party's spokesman on economic development and transport for eight years. In the Third Assembly he holds the education and lifelong learning portfolio and also chairs the Assembly's Finance Committee.

Alun stood for Parliament in Gower in 1997 and was the Conservative Party's candidate for the Vale of Glamorgan at the 2005 General Election. He was re-selected as Parliamentary candidate for the Vale of Glamorgan in July 2007.