Abolish the Senedd stunt exposes shadow cabinet rifts
Emily Price
A rift in the Senedd shadow cabinet appears to be deepening after a social media stunt by the leader of the Welsh Conservatives sensationally backfired.
Andrew RT Davies posted an image to X on Wednesday (July 7) of a home made ballot box asking visitors to the Vale of Glamorgan show if they thought the Welsh Parliament should be abolished.
Arrived at the Vale of Glamorgan Show! 👨🌾
It’s always important to find out people’s views, so we’re holding a (unscientific) poll!
Come down to the Vale Conservative stand to have your say! pic.twitter.com/34EiaqqBPD
— Andrew RT Davies (@AndrewRTDavies) August 7, 2024
Wipe out
As the leader of the opposition in the Senedd Mr Davies earns around £104,000 a year.
Abolishing the Senedd is not Tory party policy – but the most senior Conservative in Wales argued it was “important to find out what people think”.
Shortly after the image was published, Tory sources in Wales and London contacted Nation.Cymru to express their outrage with one saying members were “going ballistic”.
Several Welsh Conservative MSs took to social media in what appeared to be a combined effort to undermine their leader publicly.
Shadow Economy Minister Paul Davies posted to X: “The Conservative Party is clear – it is not Party policy to abolish the Senedd so not sure why this question is even being asked.”
Shadow Rural Affairs Minister Sam Kurtz appeared to support Paul Davies, swiftly reposting the comment.
Labour backbencher Alun Davies said it was good to see the former Welsh Conservative leader “put Andrew in his place”.
Former Welsh Tory leader Lord Nick Bourne also took a sideswipe at Andrew RT Davies with a post saying: “It has NEVER been the policy of the Welsh Conservative Party to abolish the Assembly/Senedd. Why pose this question? Absolutely right Paul.”
Pressure
Shadow Finance Minister Peter Fox posted: “There are always a variety of opinions shared at shows. On the topic, well I believe in devolution the only contention I have is the levers of power have been in the same hands for too long.”
Shadow Minister for Social Services Gareth Davies posted: “I’m on the public record in saying that if I wanted to abolish the Senedd, I’d have never bothered standing for it in the first place.
“My family date back hundreds of years in my constituency and North East Wales, and it’s an honour to represent my home in the Welsh Parliament.”
Shadow Education Minister Tom Giffard posted: “Abolishing the Senedd won’t be on the ballot at the next election – but Labour’s awful record on health, the economy and education will; as well as our positive plan to turn it around. That’s what we’ll be focusing on, I’m sure.”
Shadow Transport Minister Natasha Asghar posted: “It’s not our policy to abolish the Senedd & I fully support devolution
“It brings decision making closer to the people & that, without a doubt, is a good thing
“Devolution is not the issue. The issue is the Labour Party’s complete mismanagement and incompetence.”
Shadow Minister for Social Partnership Joel James appeared to be the only Tory backing his leader after he posted a picture of himself grinning beside the pop up ballot.
— Joel James MS (@JoelJamesSWC) August 7, 2024
Plaid Cymru Leader Rhun ap Iorwerth waded in to the argument on X saying: “The Tories? Will they try a more distinctive Welsh approach after their recent wipeout? Nope: ‘let’s encourage the eradication of Wales as a nation in own right by scrapping its Parliament’. Oh dear. In 2026 vote Plaid Cymru.”
Yesterday Natasha Asghar, a Muslim shadow cabinet member, criticised her party leader for social media posts about Halal meat in Welsh schools.
Mr Davies went viral on X, formerly Twitter, last week after claiming his constituents had complained to him alleging that a school in the Vale of Glamorgan was offering Halal only lunches to school children.
Before the school was able to confirm that this was “incorrect”, Mr Davies published a letter to the local council on his social media accounts.
It gained millions of views after being shared by English Defence League founder Tommy Robinson.
An investigation by Nation.Cymru of Mr Davies’ Facebook page found several highly offensive anti-Islam comments from his followers.
Mr Davies says ignoring constituents’ queries “leaves the field clear for extreme groups to exploit for their own ends”.
Ms Asghar said said had raised concerns directly with Welsh Conservative leader and made her position “abundantly clear”.
Support our Nation today
For the price of a cup of coffee a month you can help us create an independent, not-for-profit, national news service for the people of Wales, by the people of Wales.
You can say a lot of things about Andrew RT Davies, but consistently aligned with public opinion is not one of those things.
If the “Welsh” Conservatives really feel that strongly about the matter, they could simply boycott the Senedd election in 2026, bravely risking sudden unemployment for the principle of their uncertain cause.
gbeebies must be his aim now. I can see no other reason why he continues in his post as leader at the senedd, stoking hate and fear is not a political vehicle to win with, his HQ was ousted on such a ticket.
He can hear the siren calls call of 30p and farage and Mogg, he wants to join his spiritual herd where he can be like the others and not worry about getting held to account for inane ramblings.
Please, Please, remember this in 2026 and vote the Numpties out
So Conservative clot Andrew RT Davies has shown his true face. “Abolish the Senedd”, he says. Is this the same party leader that questioned the approach of his Westminster masters, who were wiped out in Wales by the way, arguing about making themselves more Welsh. Another foot in his rather large mouth. Keep up the good work Andrew. 👌
Tbh I don’t think he is for abolish (he has made many statements in favour of devolution) but he is trying to make a play for the far-right vote.
Sounds more like is he aping gbeebies news stories and thinking. Given that it is removed from the Senedd estate TV system, I expect farage or moggy has had a chuckle and said “you know what will be a good idea…..”
R2D2 will not be the Tory leader in Wales come the next Senedd election and that would be a pity as he is such a powerful force for Welsh independence
Him and Jenrick should get together to make two sides of the same brain cell…
There’s a reason why the Welsh Conservatives are unelectable – and there he is.
Somewhere in Wales, there’s a village missing its idiot.
With all this abolish, halal food and whataboutery regarding the far-right riots he’s simply trying to make a play for Reform/far-right voters and it appears to be backfiring.
The Tory Welsh branch, along with other groupings opposed to Welsh political autonomy of any degree, have created the fallacy that they represent some mythical ‘silent majority’ who are desperate to return to the good old days pre-1997. Davies is now completely out of sync with majority opinion in the ‘principality’. I’m willing to believe that some Tory MS’s are not anti-devolution, but those of the ‘abolish’ stamp have failed to appreciate that many of devolution’s shortcomings are down to failed Labour policies, and are not fundamental to devolved government itself.
Ask the rump of hard right Tory MPs at Westminster, and I’d bet that they’d opt for abolishing the Senedd in a heartbeat. The same might well be true of the rather small Tory membership living in Wales. But the Tory MSes? Not a chance; It’s their quite remunerative bread and butter!
Least of all, I suspect, Andrew R.T. It provides him with a consistent and predictable income, which is more than he could rely on from faming!
ARTD made a good living on EU farming subsidies, that’s why he supported Brexit.
As leader of the opposition Andrew RT Davies has a moral responsibility to hold the Welsh Labour Government to account, and since they have been in power in Wales since the 1990s and are currently in such a shambles, it cannot be that hard can it!! Why on earth bring up abolition?? Did Keir Starmer ever bring up abolishing Westminster when the Tories were destroying the country’s economy? If he wants to engage in voters views on the 20mph speed limit, or Labour’s corruption, then thats fine. But abolition is too divisive, it creates a false impression that anyone who… Read more »
While I’m sure that your assertion that ‘those who would campaign for the Senedd to be abolished dislike any kind of Welsh distinctiveness and would like to see Wales become part of England’ isn’t at all far from the truth, in fairness, the Welsh Conservatives didn’t ‘drop’ Paul Davies. As I recall, Mr Davies opted for his own personal reasons to relinquish the leadership.
Natasha Asghar posted: “It’s not our policy to abolish the Senedd & I fully support devolution”
Ah well if Ashgar says it then it must be true. 🤣
He thinks he’s a wit.
He’s half right.