Born and brought up in Newport, Natasha was the first woman of colour elected to the Senedd as the regional member for South East Wales and represents over 610,000 people.
Natasha was successfully re-elected in the 2026 Senedd Election to represent the newly created Casnewydd Islwyn constituency.
Natasha is the daughter of Dr Firdaus Asghar and the late M Asghar an accountant, pilot, and first ethnic minority member of the Welsh Assembly, representing South Wales East.
She holds a BA in Politics and Social Policy alongside a Masters in Contemporary British Policy and media from the University of London.
Before her election, Natasha worked in the banking industry, the National Assembly for Wales and in the media industry, presenting shows on television and hosting her own radio show.
Natasha stood for a number of elections prior to the Welsh Parliament election of 2021 for the Welsh Assembly, Westminster, and the European Parliament.
Since being elected to the Welsh Parliament, Natasha has been named ‘a force for change’ by British Vogue and named one of the top 100 ‘influential and inspiring’ women in the world by the BBC.
As the previous Shadow Minster for Transport Natasha has been leading the fight against the Welsh Government’s controversial and costly 20mph scheme – a battle which led to her winning the Devolved Politician of the Year Award at the Political and Public Life Awards.
Previously Natasha had responsibility for technology, during which time she pushed for the creation of a Tech Hub in her region and urged the Welsh Government to capitalise on the huge advancements being made in tech particularly when it came to health care.
As well as being Cabinet Secretary for Education, Natasha also has responsibility for women’s rights and sits on the Children Young people and Education committee.
Previously she has served on several committees in the Welsh Parliament such as Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee, The Legislation, Justice, and Constitution Committee and Standards Committee. She is also the Conservative member on the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.
Natasha regularly raises the issues that matter most to her constituents in the Welsh Parliament, particularly when it comes to our struggling health service, failing education system, horrendous transport infrastructure, unfair business rates and mammoth council tax rises. Her biggest desire is to see Wales flourish, eradicate illiteracy and innumeracy as 20% of children are leaving school functionally illiterate and bring about an end to the current levels of brain drain.
