Conservative Senedd candidate says it’s time to ‘rebuild trust’ after ‘botched job of devolution’

Nicholas Thomas, Local Democracy Reporter

It is time for politicians to “rebuild trust” with people who so far feel “let down” by devolution, according to the Welsh Conservatives’ lead candidate for the Casnewydd Islwyn constituency.

The Tories are framing May’s Senedd elections as a chance to “fix Wales” with economic growth and investment funded by cutting taxes and “waste”.

Natasha Asghar, who held shadow cabinet positions in transport and education during the last parliamentary term, said her party wants to undo a freeze on new road building and would also support the reversal of 20mph default speed limits.

Both policies would lead to economic benefits for Wales, she argues, saying that “ultimately if you don’t have a strong infrastructure, how can the economy grow?”

Within the Casnewydd Islwyn constituency, she said she would push for the A&E department to reopen at Newport’s Royal Gwent Hospital, better transport connections, and a freeze on business rates to “rejuvenate” high streets.

The Welsh Tories spent the previous Senedd term as the main opposition group, but recent opinion polls show they could face a tough test this time, with Reform UK likely to seriously challenge them for the support of conservative-leaning voters.

Ms Asghar dismisses “baffling” polls that place her party in fourth or fifth place, however, and said those indicators “are showing me something completely different from what I’m hearing and seeing on the streets of Newport and Islwyn – it’s anyone’s game right now, as far as we’re concerned”.

The upcoming election comes at a time when “the tide has turned” for Welsh Labour after 27 years in power, she said, arguing voters are “more attuned” to the Senedd’s responsibilities because of rows over Covid regulations and 20mph.

She says decision-makers – including other parties who have helped Labour pass budgets – have “lacked ambition and lacked drive, and that’s led to a decline in services for people here”.

She claimed previous governments had “done a botched job of devolution”, leading to poor public opinions of the Senedd itself.

“We hear about people wanting to abolish it all the time, which is a real shame because I was always in support of an assembly”, she said, while adding she was less enthusiastic about a rapid expansion of powers.

“I believe that you should learn how to crawl properly before you can walk, and then before you can run you need to be able to walk properly,” she added. “I don’t think that they have shown that they can crawl properly, and they’ve started running.”

So what makes the Tories a credible alternative? In the history of Welsh devolution, the party has failed to win a national election.

“We’re a reliable bunch of individuals who worked tirelessly for the last five years, and I strongly believe that we will be the change that Wales needs to see,” said Ms Asghar.

However the biggest threat to the Tories’ election chances this year is arguably from Reform, a new player which has ridden a surge of momentum and is tipped by opinion pollsters to do well in May.

Reform has also proved an attractive party to some Conservative politicians, and in the past Senedd term the party’s two MSs were both Tory defectors.

Ms Asghar said she was not worried about the new challenger’s potential to threaten or even replace the Tories, describing her own party as a “broad church” while Reform’s “main focus” was on immigration – a policy area not devolved to Wales.

“We need to focus on the bread and butter issues that we are responsible for,” she said.

Labour ministers in the most recent Senedd term didn’t shy away from contextualising policies and budget decisions in the wider picture of Treasury funding, and “14 years of Tory austerity” was a regular complaint when it came to the impacts on Wales’ public services.

Similar arguments have been put forward in the Casnewydd Islwyn constituency’s two council chambers – Caerphilly and Newport – where Labour representatives have blamed real-terms funding cuts for their own controversial savings plans.

Ms Asghar said it was “not fair” to always point the finger at David Cameron’s Westminster government, which she claimed “did not want to bring in austerity” when it won power in 2010 – but had to because of the finances it inherited.

However, she distanced her party from pursuing austerity under similar circumstances if they win power in Wales in May.

Natasha Asghar says in her pitch to the voters of Casnewydd Islwyn: “I’m a local girl – I was born here, I’ve worked here, I’ve served the region of South East Wales to the best of my ability for the past five years.

“I know the local issues, I know about potholes, I’m fully aware about transport issues, I know about education, I know about the health crisis that is out there.

“And I will do everything in my being to make sure we deal with those issues to the best of our ability, reinstate public trust, and go on to build a better Wales for absolutely everyone here.”