Conservatives will ‘defund’ areas where Welsh Government ‘pretending’ to have powers, they say

The Welsh Conservatives have said today that they will “defund” areas of the Welsh Government where Labour have been “pretending” to have more powers than they do.

Writing on the Gwydir website, Welsh Conservative leader Paul Davies said that under his control the Senedd would not be “treading on Westminster’s turf”.

“Within the first year of a Welsh Conservative Government we will conduct a root and branch examination of where Labour has been pretending it has devolved competence when it does not,” he said. “And we will defund and end the pretence.”

He pointed to the department of the Minister for International Relations as one that would be “unpicked” if the Conservatives won power in Wales.

“International relations is not devolved, it never has been, and under my watch, Welsh ministers will stop pretending they have powers they do not,” he said.

He said however that neither the Internal Market Bill or a Welsh Conservative Government would end devolution.

“But it will be changing. There will be clear lines set out over which policy areas government exercises control,” he said.

“Those things that are devolved will be managed by my government, and those things which are not devolved will be managed by Boris’.

“A respect agenda will be reinstated between the two governments and it will be adhered to by both sides. And that, of course, means that my Welsh Government won’t be treading on Westminster’s turf either”

‘Pretence’

Paul Davies also said that the Conservatives would “bin” bodies created to advise on criminal justice.

“My Welsh Government will stop its interference in the asylum system because immigration and asylum are completely non-devolved,” he said.

“We will stop the pretence that the Welsh Government has a Home Office. It does not.

“A Welsh Conservative Government will focus on respecting devolution, and respecting what is not devolved too.”

This approach would allow the next Welsh Government to concentrate on the things it has proper legal competence and responsibility for in Wales such as education, health, social services and economic development, he said.

“A devolution revolution that will end the complacent Welsh Government culture that produces a billion pounds of waste,” he said.