No chance we're scrapping Senedd, says top Tory

Conservative supporters opposed to devolution have been told scrapping the Senedd is "for the birds" by the party's leader in Cardiff Bay.

Welsh Tories gather in Llangollen, Denbighshire, this weekend with Darren Millar trying to navigate choppy waters and avoid big political hazards in his path.

Grassroots discontent with devolution - and Millar's stance on it - has spilled over in recent weeks as the party also struggles against the rising surge of Reform and dreadful recent polling.

As he prepares for the party's spring conference, Millar has accused some of his critics of "hiding behind pseudonyms".

Some grassroots members have been publicly critical of Millar's pro-devolution stance and what they see as an implication that any candidates for next year's Senedd election have to back it.

A recent article on the website Conservative Home, written under a pen name, accused Millar of declaring "war" and ended with the words "Millar must go".

Conservative Home is no random website or X account - it is the home of grassroots conservatism and is a platform the party hierarchy takes seriously.

Millar accused some of his critics of "hiding behind pseudonyms", but conceded there was a "diversity of views" and he gets people's frustrations with devolution.

"The devolution dividend that was promised to people back in 1999, they have not seen it," he said, speaking in his constituency office in Abergele.

"What we have got to do is make sure that we are given the opportunity to really transform people's lives with devolution.

"That is why they are frustrated. If they saw that dividend, if they saw what a Welsh Conservative government could do, reducing their taxes, delivering better public services, I think that would change the dynamic."

He rejected the idea of abolishing the Senedd: "Frankly if you think you can unpick devolution in one part of the UK and leave it in place for others, like Scotland and Northern Ireland and the mayoralties in England, it's just for the birds."

Millar said he was not stopping candidates from putting themselves forward, but anybody who wanted to stand should "support, represent and promote Welsh Conservative policy".

Millar also said that the pro-devolution policy had been consistent for over two decades.

The Welsh Conservatives have historically struggled to turn out their vote in Senedd elections because many traditional party supporters are sceptical of devolution in the first place.

A YouGov poll of 2024 voters suggested more than 60% of those who had voted Conservative in Wales supported the abolition of the Senedd.

That said, the party managed its best ever Senedd result in 2021, but three years later suffered a Welsh wipe-out at the general election.

As he tries to keep a lid on grassroots anger, Millar's party is also at risk of being engulfed by the surge in support for Reform.

Data from the Welsh election study suggests almost half of previous Tory voters have switched support to Nigel Farage's party.

Millar insisted voters had a choice between "a proper Conservative Party" or "people masquerading in sometimes a Conservative jacket, sometimes a hard left jacket".

Polls suggest Reform is a serious contender to be the biggest party next May, but Millar predicted they would "melt under any kind of reasonable scrutiny of their policies - when they do bring them forward - because they do not appear to have any".

He was also critical of Reform's decision not to appoint a Welsh leader, although neither that nor a lack of Wales-specific plans appears to be doing Reform any harm in the polls.

None of the parties are likely to get close to a majority next May, but even if they do manage only 13% of the vote - as the most recent poll suggested - the Welsh Conservatives could still theoretically find themselves as part of a post-election deal.

Millar said it was "in the national interest" to end 26 years of Labour-led government in Cardiff Bay and that he would "work with anybody to make sure that happens".

In that scenario there might again be grumblings from within.

Some of his grassroots would be horrified by any agreement with Plaid Cymru, whose ultimate goal of Welsh independence is an existential threat to the United Kingdom, or with Reform, which is an existential threat to the Conservatives.

The view of Tory party leader Kemi Badenoch could also come into play after she ruled out a "national" Westminster pact with Reform, but refused to be drawn last month on any Senedd deal.

Millar will give a speech on Saturday, his first to a conference since becoming Tory Senedd leader just over five months ago.

He has not got that much longer to plot a course to electoral success.