Scottish MP represents the Tory party at first Welsh Questions since the election
Martin Shipton
Shadow Scottish Secretary John Lamont has been forced to step into the role of Shadow Wales Minister at Welsh Questions because of the vacuum left at the heart of the Conservative Party following the general election.
The election saw a wipeout of Tory MPs in Wales, leaving them with little choice but to appoint Lord Byron Davies of Gower as Shadow Welsh Secretary. As a member of the House of Lords, he cannot attend Commons departmental question sessions.
Welsh Secretary Jo Stevens has criticised the Conservative Party over Lord Davies’ appointment, telling them they are “scraping the barrel” for representation in Wales.
This week is the first Welsh questions of the new Parliament and an opportunity for issues and concerns of the people of Wales to be raised and debated.
Riots
According to Ms Stevens, the absence of Tory MPs to take the role could partly be explained by Lord Davies’ comments on X (formerly Twitter) over the summer, in which she claimed he suggested that the recent riots were “politically justified”. The Conservative Party whips later said they had “spoken” to Lord Davies, but no further disciplinary action followed.
The Conservatives lost all representation in Wales at the general election. During the election campaign, Montgomeryshire MP and Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Prime Minister Craig Williams was revealed to have placed a bet on the date of the election prior to its announcement.
Former Welsh Secretary David TC Davies lost his seat of Monmouth, and is now working for Conservative Senedd Member Laura Ann Jones, who is herself the subject of a police investigation into her expense claims.
Former Commons Welsh Minister Fay Jones, who represented Brecon and Radnorshire, also lost her seat.
‘Loose cannon’
Welsh Secretary Jo Stevens, the MP for Cardiff East, said: “Welsh Questions is a key part of our democratic system to raise the issues that matter, but the Tories have no voice for Wales.
“Two months have passed since the general election, and all the Conservatives have managed to do is appoint a loose cannon Lord. That tells you all you need to know about how much they value Wales.
“Labour looks forward to setting out the work the government has already done to improve the day-to-day lives of people in Wales, having reset our relationship with the Welsh Government after 14 years of Tory chaos.”
Lord Byron Davies responded: “It is highly embarrassing that the Welsh Secretary has got basic facts completely wrong.
“Firstly, I said criticism of Labour for voting 130 times against the Rwanda scheme – which would have dealt with illegal immigration – was ‘politically justified’. Secondly, John Lamont is also the Shadow Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Wales. Is Jo Stevens honestly suggesting that someone who lives in another part of the UK cannot champion Wales? If so, that is a really bizarre view to hold.”
He added: “Where was Jo Stevens when Wales really needed her? Where was she when it was decided that Wales would only be referenced once in the King’s Speech? Where was she when, quite clearly, the Labour UK government decided to abandon plans to allow Welsh patients stuck on waiting lists to access NHS England?
“The only time the people of Wales have heard anything from Jo Stevens was when she constantly took to the airwaves to defend Vaughan Gething – a man who took hundreds of thousands of pounds from a twice-convicted criminal.
“We desperately need a Welsh Secretary who will stand up for Wales.”
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.
Scrap the Welsh sec and let Cymru either be free or our Senedd deal directly. Don’t need a quango situation ever again
This is the heart of the constitutional issue. The sovereignty of the British Nations are drawn collectively at Westminster where England’s majority drowns Welsh and Scottish political agency. A portion of political power is distributed from the centre to the Senedd and Holyrood but sovereignty is retained by Westminster. The constitutional arrangements on the British isles need to be turned on their head.
The issue is that the shadow secretary for Wales should be the opposition as in Wales. The Conservative party has made itself irrelevant in Wales because of their move to the far-right to fit their power base in England. The two main English parties both do not want to join EFTA, EEA nor the EU. Cymru and Scotland will want to join EFTA / EEA with the view to join the EU. It is also likely that come the next UK General election the Conservatives will no longer be in 1st or 2nd place, who knows what the political situation… Read more »
‘We desperately need a Welsh Secretary who will stand up for Wales’. Yes, and I’m not sure that is Jo Stevens but for a Tory to say this is a total outrage as they have never appointed one their entire history. It may be a parliamentary requirement to have Tory representation at Welsh questions but this would seem to ignore the will of us, the Welsh electorate, who have stated clearly that WE DO NOT WANT THEM!
Surely that isn’t their role to stand up for Wales, its their role to be a colonial-like viceroy standing up for Westminster’s interests in Wales.
Correct and Jo Stevens has just said the HS2 rip off is staying ripped off so same old same old.
Are the Tories not a UK party anymore …
They’re certainly not a Welsh party any more, at least as far as representation in Westminster is concerned! They couldn’t even rope in that exiled Welshman Robert Buckland, since even he lost his former seat in Swindon.
Still, I reckon – when I recall John Redwood’s tenure of the office back in the day – that there could conceivably be even worse appointments than that of Mr Lamont.
A rhetorical question intended to poke fun … however I quite agree. Redwood was an abominable Welsh Secretary. I think he made a significant contribution to our winning the Yes campaign in ’97.
Agree 199%.
Unless you are democratically elected by the people of Wales then you have no mandate to represent Wales.
Prepare yourself for after the next Welsh General Election if the Tories win any seats in the Senedd because they’ll be crying foul that they have no Welsh seats in Westminster, despite being wedded to FPTP 🙄😒
Can’t the Tories get it out of their thick skulls that their policies, politicians or electorate are not wanted in Wales in any shape or form?
As for parachuting in of candidates, that’s a Westminster nonsense that should be kept in the country next door.