Rule-breaking MS claims ‘loophole’ shields Welsh ministers from investigation

Emily Price 

A Senedd Member who has repeatedly breached the parliament’s conduct rules has claimed that a “loophole” is preventing complaints about Welsh ministers’ behaviour from being properly investigated.

In a letter to First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth, Welsh Conservative MS Andrew RT Davies called for ministers’ conduct to be brought under the remit of the Senedd’s standards watchdog, Douglas Bain, and the Standards of Conduct Committee.

All Senedd Members, including those who serve as ministers, are required to comply with the Senedd’s Code of Conduct.

The code sets out baseline expectations covering personal conduct, integrity, the registration of interests, and the complaints process.

However, the Pen-y-bont Bro Morgannwg MS pointed out that when a Member is acting solely in their capacity as a minister, their behaviour falls outside the Senedd’s code and therefore outside the jurisdiction of the Senedd’s conduct regime.

He said: “The conduct of Welsh Government ministers is not governed by the Senedd’s standards regime.

“This creates a loophole through which complaints about ministers’ behaviour cannot be investigated by the Standards Commissioner. This loophole must be closed.”

The former Tory leader also pointed to comments made by the Cabinet Secretary for Government Effectiveness and the Constitution, Dafydd Trystan Davies, who recently said the Welsh Government intended to “align our practices as a government with those of the Senedd”.

Lobbying

Those remarks were made during a discussion on the purchase of Gilestone Farm, when Mr Davies asked whether ministers would be required to follow the same lobbying transparency rules as MSs, potentially by incorporating them into the Ministerial Code.

In his letter, Mr Davies said he interpreted the minister’s comments as an indication that the Welsh Government intends to bring ministers’ conduct under the oversight of the Senedd’s Standards Commissioner.

At present, the watchdog has no authority to investigate ministers because of the constitutional separation between the Senedd and the Welsh Government.

Under Wales’ constitutional arrangements, the Senedd is responsible for legislating and scrutinising government, while the Welsh Government exercises executive power, with each operating under separate accountability arrangements.

Breaches

Ministers, deputy ministers and the Counsel General are bound by the Ministerial Code, which sets out the standards of conduct expected of those in government.

The code is intended to ensure accountability, uphold integrity and maintain public confidence in the Welsh Government.

Ultimate responsibility for enforcing the code rests with the First Minister.

An independent adviser on ministerial standards assists the First Minister by investigating alleged breaches of the code.

These investigations are carried out independently of government, with findings reported to the First Minister.

‘No loophole’

A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “There is no loophole; there is a clear, deliberate, and fundamental constitutional boundary.

“While all Welsh Government Ministers are elected Members of the Senedd, a distinct separation exists between their parliamentary conduct and their executive duties.

“Ministers are held strictly accountable under the Welsh Ministerial Code.

“This code explicitly requires ministers to adhere at all times to the standards laid down by the Senedd itself, including the Member Code of Conduct.

“However, because ministers are appointed by the First Minister, they are answerable to him – not the Standards Commissioner – for their compliance with the Ministerial Code.

“The First Minister is, in turn, fully answerable to the Senedd for how ministers are held to account and for the way in which he complies with it himself.

“This accountability is supported by the Independent Adviser on Ministerial Standards, who provides entirely objective and independent advice.”

Disrepute

During the previous Senedd term, which ran from 2021 to 2026, Mr Davies himself was investigated several times by the standards watchdog.

In October 2024, while he was Conservative leader in the Senedd, he was found to have brought the parliament into disrepute after describing Wales’ 20mph speed limit as a “blanket” policy on social media.

Around the same time, the Standards Commissioner also considered a separate complaint about a post in which Mr Davies wrote: “Vaughan Gething’s Labour government is embracing the same extreme ideology as its predecessor. Nothing has changed.”

Attached to the post as was a tweet by the Guido Fawkes website showing an image of Gething, who was first minister at the time, and a pregnant woman with the text “Welsh Government press release celebrates ‘birthing people.’ Wales makes womb for ‘birthing people.’”

Mr Bain found that the claim was inaccurate, concluding that the Welsh Government had not “celebrated the arrangements for women and birthing people”.

In January 2025, Mr Davies, a farmer himself, was told off again for failing to declare an interest while asking questions about inheritance tax for farms.

Following multiple breaches, the Senedd’s Standards Committee warned him that any further misconduct could result in a sanction reflecting the totality of his previous breaches.