Tories accuse Welsh Secretary of breaking rules by filming ‘politically charged’ video in Wales Office

Martin Shipton

Secretary of State for Wales Jo Stevens has been accused by her Tory Shadow of appearing in a “politically charged” video filmed in her department in breach of official rules.

Ms Stevens has rejected the allegation made by Lord Byron Davies of Gower.

In a letter to Ms Stevens, Lord Davies states: “I write to you seeking an urgent explanation as to why your department deemed it appropriate to create and subsequently post a politically charged video across all its social media platforms.

“In the video posted earlier this week, the Secretary of State for Wales said: ‘I was very clear about what we, as a government, wanted to achieve and what I wanted to achieve in this role on behalf of the Wales Office, which was to reset the relationship with Welsh Government, so moving from that sort of squabbling, fractious, tense relationship … where the Wales Office was essentially a platform for giving Wales a good kicking.’

“The video, which was filmed inside the department and posted across social media, is highly political in nature, as I know you will agree.

“The severity of the situation worsens given it also breaches the Civil Service Code, which states: ‘You must not act in a way that is determined by party political considerations or use official resources for party political purposes.’

“The political video was, quite clearly, determined by a party political consideration then assembled using official resources.

“It is shocking to see taxpayer-funded resources being misappropriated for pure party political gain and therefore I call for a swift investigation to uncover the full details of why this situation was allowed to unfold. I also believe it is in the public interest for the Secretary of State for Wales to formally apologise for bringing the department into disrepute.

“In the interests of transparency, I am also copying in the Cabinet Secretary. I look forward to hearing the next steps in respect of my request.”

Government policy

A Wales Office spokesperson said: “The Secretary of State outlined government policy regarding the reset of the relationship between the UK and Welsh governments.

“There is nothing improper in expressing regret about the manner in which the previous administration conducted itself and the disrespect that it had for the Welsh Government and devolution.”

The row is reminiscent of a complaint made by Ms Stevens in May this year, when she accused the then Tory Secretary of State for Wales, David TC Davies, of misusing government resources for political purposes.

Mr Davies had posted a short video on X, formerly Twitter, attacking Labour’s plans to expand the size of the Senedd.

Ministerial code

Ms Stevens said Mr Davies was recording in his government office, in contravention of the ministerial code, which says government resources “should not generally be used for party or constituency activities”.

In the clip, Mr Davies said: “Do they [Welsh Labour] want to spend £120m of Welsh taxpayers’ money on creating dozens of extra Senedd members in Cardiff Bay?

“Or would they prefer to spend that money on employing more nurses, doctors, dentists and teachers?”

Ms Stevens, who at the time was Labour’s Shadow Welsh secretary, wrote to the director of the Wales Office to ask them to establish whether a breach had occurred and to investigate how it happened. In her letter, she said the video contained “explicitly party-political content”.

She asked the official to establish whether a breach of the code had taken place and what action would be taken to ensure it never happens again. Ms Stevens also asked for a formal apology from Mr Davies.

Subsequently the Wales Office responded to Ms Stevens saying Mr Davies had accepted he should have filmed the video elsewhere.