Defeated Welsh Tory MS eyes political comeback

Emily Price

A former Conservative Senedd Member who lost his seat at the last Welsh election has vowed to stand again, with a new rule potentially opening the door to a political comeback sooner than expected.

In a Facebook statement published at the weekend, former Vale of Clwyd MS Gareth Davies hinted that he was planning to stand for elected office again.

In the post, the former Tory MS explained that he was still in the process of closing down his constituency office three months after losing his seat, having deliberately staggered the process to ensure his staff received three months’ pay.

Mr Davies added that he hoped to stand for election again, explaining that he had first entered politics because he wanted to “challenge the things that pissed me off”.

He had served as the MS for Vale of Clwyd from 2021 to 2026 and was the only Conservative candidate to have won the seat since it was created in 1999.

Mr Davies lost his seat at the May 7 Senedd election after being placed second on the Conservative list in the new Clwyd constituency.

The larger constituency was created as a result of a major overhaul of Wales’ electoral system which saw individual constituencies replaced with larger multi-member “super constituencies”.

Under the new system, voters could no longer vote for an individual candidate like Davies. Instead, they voted exclusively for a political party.

Former Clwyd West MS Darren Millar, now the leader of the Welsh Conservatives, topped the party’s Clwyd list ahead of Mr Davies.

When the party only won enough votes to secure one of the six available seats in the north Wales constituency, Mr Davies missed out on returning to Cardiff Bay.

Nation.Cymru asked Mr Davies if his political comeback would see him stand in the next Senedd election in May 2030, or if he had plans to stand in the next General Election. He did not respond to our question.

The UK-wide vote to decide who governs from Westminster must take place by August 2029. However, the Prime Minister has the power to call a General Election at any point before then.

Newly appointed Prime Minister Andy Burnham has ruled out holding an early election but pressure has been mounting on the former Mayor of Manchester to do so, as he was not a sitting MP when Labour won power in 2024.

Despite serving in the Senedd in 2024, Darren Millar was selected as the Conservative Party candidate for Clwyd North at the last General Election.

He finished a close second, receiving 13,598 votes – losing to Labour’s Gill German who topped the poll with 14,794 votes.

The close result was notable given the political climate at the time, with the Conservatives suffering a collapse in support that saw every Tory MP in Wales lose their seat.

Five months later, Mr Millar was elected unopposed as the leader of the Welsh Conservative group in the Senedd after Andrew RT Davies was ousted amid concerns over his continued controversial social media activity.

It is unclear whether Mr Millar has intentions to stand at the next General Election.

However, if he were to contest and win a Westminster seat, new Senedd rules would mean his place in the Welsh Parliament would likely automatically pass to Gareth Davies.

In previous Senedd elections, proportional representation was used to elect regional Members with voters choosing a party rather than a specific candidate.

A separate ‘first past the post’ system was used to elect individual constituency Members.

Under the previous electoral system, if a regional Member vacated their seat, it was automatically filled by the next eligible candidate on their party’s regional list.

It was under this system that Plaid Cymru’s Helen Mary Jones returned to the then National Assembly for Wales in 2018, taking the Mid and West Wales regional seat vacated by Simon Thomas after he resigned following his arrest.

Under the previous electoral system, if a constituency MS elected under the first-past-the-post system left office a by-election would be held to allow voters to choose a new representative.

It was under this system that Plaid Cymru’s Lindsay Whittle was elected to represent Caerphilly following the death of Labour MS Hefin David.

The Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Act 2024 abolished the distinction between constituency and regional Members.

Instead, Wales is now divided into 16 constituencies each represented by six Members.

Under the new rules, if a sitting Member resigns, retires or dies, their seat is no longer filled through a by-election.

Instead, it is automatically allocated to the next eligible candidate on the same party’s list from the previous Senedd election.

Nation.Cymru asked Mr Millar if he had any plans to stand in the next General Election. We did not receive a response.

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