Huw Davies is Deputy Chairman (Political) of the Monmouthshire Conservatives and blogs at The News at Huw.
In May last year, I wrote a piece for this platform arguing why the former Welsh Secretary, David TC Davies, was mistaken about being relaxed with the idea of the Welsh Conservatives doing deals with Plaid Cymru to secure power in Wales.
Back then, I was advocating what was Welsh Conservative Senedd group policy under Andrew RT Davies, that the Welsh party opposed working with the Welsh nationalists. That has now all changed.
After the toppling of Andrew by a cabal of liberals in the Senedd group, his replacement, Darren Millar, was coronated leaving Welsh members without a vote. Even though there was plenty of time before the next Senedd election to hold one. In doing so, Millar was ‘elected’ into a position where he had no mandate to make real and consequential policy u-turns.
A mere three days after being crowned leader of the Senedd group, Millar, live on the BBC Radio Wales Sunday Supplement programme, declared that he was open to working with “anybody” to dislodge Labour from power in 2026 should there be the numbers to do so.
The funny thing is that the interviewer, Vaughan Roderick, asked about working with Reform UK should they have enough Senedd Members, not anyone else. Millar decided to expand the scope of the question to include every man and his dog, which naturally meant he was open to working with the Welsh separatist party, Plaid Cymru.
You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to tell that this was an almost certain ‘nod and a wink’ to Plaid operatives listening in, that there were possible deals to be done. Naturally, I and others made a fuss of this online, as I found it deeply alarming and to allow the new leader an opportunity to clarify his comments with a statement ruling out any deals with the separatists. No clarification came.
The day after, the issue of doing deals came up again in an interview with ITV Wales’ Sharp End, only this time it was specifically about a deal with Plaid Cymru. This was an ideal moment where Millar could have smoothed things over and eased nerves which had spread amongst members in Wales.
However, he repeated that he would work with anyone to remove Labour, the presenter, Rob Osborne, took that as a “yes”. Darren Millar did not refute him. The die had been cast; the Welsh Conservatives had u-turned. They were on for a deal with a party who wants to see the complete destruction of the United Kingdom.
Concerns were further exacerbated by comments from Senedd Member, Tom Giffard, who told the Welsh Language broadcaster, S4C that the Welsh Tories hoped that Plaid would be a possible partner and would enter government in the future. There was also a veiled offer of potentially propping them up, but with a preference of leading the administration.
This suggests that the Welsh Conservatives see Plaid Cymru as a preferred partner to make a deal with above all other parties, including Reform UK.
You may think I am being melodramatic. At the end of the day, in any negotiation, any plan to hold a referendum on separation would have to be ruled out or it would be a non-starter. Once that was out of the way, a deal would be fine, right?
Wrong – dangerously wrong. Allowing access to government to Plaid with Conservative votes would be a disaster for Britain.
Separatist nationalism cannot be bought off; it is unashamedly purist. The separatists see every issue as a constitutional one, whether it be health or education, their aim with any power they would have would be to drive Wales away from the rest of the Kingdom. They pine for difference in policy in order to break up the country as far as they can, so if they’d ever get their referendum it will make it easier to argue for separation.
We only need to look at Scotland to see this in action. Between 2007 to 2011, the Scottish Conservatives allowed the first SNP government in Holyrood to hold on by backing every single one of the SNP’s budgets. This allowed the SNP to build an air of competency and legitimacy in power, subsequently securing them a landslide victory in the 2011 Scottish Parliament election.
This secured for the Scottish nationalists their most desired of prizes, an independence referendum, of which they almost won. The backing of the Scottish Conservatives made the SNP unfrightening to many unionists. If we, the party of the United Kingdom, didn’t regard them as beyond the pale, why should they?
Welsh nationalism has a low ceiling of support, our keenness to put them in government could help them smash through it. The actions of the Scottish party here should never be forgotten, and their Welsh counterparts should learn from them.
The problem with the Conservatives in Scotland and Wales is that they have taken their pre-devolution rivalries with Labour into a post-devolution world. They should be listening to what they warned about devolution back in the 1990s that it would give a platform to the separatists. The strategies of both the brands should be to ensure they lock out the Scottish and Welsh nationalists at every opportunity, even if that means working with Labour.
Yes, Labour are our ideological opponents who have been in power in Wales for a very long time. But are we seriously suggesting that we’d put an anti-British party such as Plaid Cymru into government?
This is a party that proudly parades Sinn Fein around at their conferences, where they talk about their “strong link” with the former political wing of the IRA. A party which opposed the Falklands War, and the reclaiming of British territory invaded by a murderous military dictatorship. A party which sent a delegation to Colonel Gaddafi’s Libya to learn from them, all whilst that very same regime had armed the IRA to murder British citizens and British troops.
Plaid has, without apology, shown us who they truly are. How can the Conservative and Unionist Party allow them any lever of power? This would also put the Scottish party in a very difficult position, whilst they are trying to remove separatists from power, their Welsh colleagues could be putting them in.
Such is the seriousness of the situation that I believe that Kemi Badenoch needs to step in, reassert our commitment to the United Kingdom, and tell the Welsh Conservative Senedd group that any deals with Plaid Cymru should be ruled out. Whether that be coalitions, confidence and supply agreements, or budget deals – there should not be anything.
Badenoch must take control of the situation and whip us into shape, so we can be an authentic party that believes in Wales and Britain going into the 2026 Senedd election.
Huw Davies is Deputy Chairman (Political) of the Monmouthshire Conservatives and blogs at The News at Huw.
In May last year, I wrote a piece for this platform arguing why the former Welsh Secretary, David TC Davies, was mistaken about being relaxed with the idea of the Welsh Conservatives doing deals with Plaid Cymru to secure power in Wales.
Back then, I was advocating what was Welsh Conservative Senedd group policy under Andrew RT Davies, that the Welsh party opposed working with the Welsh nationalists. That has now all changed.
After the toppling of Andrew by a cabal of liberals in the Senedd group, his replacement, Darren Millar, was coronated leaving Welsh members without a vote. Even though there was plenty of time before the next Senedd election to hold one. In doing so, Millar was ‘elected’ into a position where he had no mandate to make real and consequential policy u-turns.
A mere three days after being crowned leader of the Senedd group, Millar, live on the BBC Radio Wales Sunday Supplement programme, declared that he was open to working with “anybody” to dislodge Labour from power in 2026 should there be the numbers to do so.
The funny thing is that the interviewer, Vaughan Roderick, asked about working with Reform UK should they have enough Senedd Members, not anyone else. Millar decided to expand the scope of the question to include every man and his dog, which naturally meant he was open to working with the Welsh separatist party, Plaid Cymru.
You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to tell that this was an almost certain ‘nod and a wink’ to Plaid operatives listening in, that there were possible deals to be done. Naturally, I and others made a fuss of this online, as I found it deeply alarming and to allow the new leader an opportunity to clarify his comments with a statement ruling out any deals with the separatists. No clarification came.
The day after, the issue of doing deals came up again in an interview with ITV Wales’ Sharp End, only this time it was specifically about a deal with Plaid Cymru. This was an ideal moment where Millar could have smoothed things over and eased nerves which had spread amongst members in Wales.
However, he repeated that he would work with anyone to remove Labour, the presenter, Rob Osborne, took that as a “yes”. Darren Millar did not refute him. The die had been cast; the Welsh Conservatives had u-turned. They were on for a deal with a party who wants to see the complete destruction of the United Kingdom.
Concerns were further exacerbated by comments from Senedd Member, Tom Giffard, who told the Welsh Language broadcaster, S4C that the Welsh Tories hoped that Plaid would be a possible partner and would enter government in the future. There was also a veiled offer of potentially propping them up, but with a preference of leading the administration.
This suggests that the Welsh Conservatives see Plaid Cymru as a preferred partner to make a deal with above all other parties, including Reform UK.
You may think I am being melodramatic. At the end of the day, in any negotiation, any plan to hold a referendum on separation would have to be ruled out or it would be a non-starter. Once that was out of the way, a deal would be fine, right?
Wrong – dangerously wrong. Allowing access to government to Plaid with Conservative votes would be a disaster for Britain.
Separatist nationalism cannot be bought off; it is unashamedly purist. The separatists see every issue as a constitutional one, whether it be health or education, their aim with any power they would have would be to drive Wales away from the rest of the Kingdom. They pine for difference in policy in order to break up the country as far as they can, so if they’d ever get their referendum it will make it easier to argue for separation.
We only need to look at Scotland to see this in action. Between 2007 to 2011, the Scottish Conservatives allowed the first SNP government in Holyrood to hold on by backing every single one of the SNP’s budgets. This allowed the SNP to build an air of competency and legitimacy in power, subsequently securing them a landslide victory in the 2011 Scottish Parliament election.
This secured for the Scottish nationalists their most desired of prizes, an independence referendum, of which they almost won. The backing of the Scottish Conservatives made the SNP unfrightening to many unionists. If we, the party of the United Kingdom, didn’t regard them as beyond the pale, why should they?
Welsh nationalism has a low ceiling of support, our keenness to put them in government could help them smash through it. The actions of the Scottish party here should never be forgotten, and their Welsh counterparts should learn from them.
The problem with the Conservatives in Scotland and Wales is that they have taken their pre-devolution rivalries with Labour into a post-devolution world. They should be listening to what they warned about devolution back in the 1990s that it would give a platform to the separatists. The strategies of both the brands should be to ensure they lock out the Scottish and Welsh nationalists at every opportunity, even if that means working with Labour.
Yes, Labour are our ideological opponents who have been in power in Wales for a very long time. But are we seriously suggesting that we’d put an anti-British party such as Plaid Cymru into government?
This is a party that proudly parades Sinn Fein around at their conferences, where they talk about their “strong link” with the former political wing of the IRA. A party which opposed the Falklands War, and the reclaiming of British territory invaded by a murderous military dictatorship. A party which sent a delegation to Colonel Gaddafi’s Libya to learn from them, all whilst that very same regime had armed the IRA to murder British citizens and British troops.
Plaid has, without apology, shown us who they truly are. How can the Conservative and Unionist Party allow them any lever of power? This would also put the Scottish party in a very difficult position, whilst they are trying to remove separatists from power, their Welsh colleagues could be putting them in.
Such is the seriousness of the situation that I believe that Kemi Badenoch needs to step in, reassert our commitment to the United Kingdom, and tell the Welsh Conservative Senedd group that any deals with Plaid Cymru should be ruled out. Whether that be coalitions, confidence and supply agreements, or budget deals – there should not be anything.
Badenoch must take control of the situation and whip us into shape, so we can be an authentic party that believes in Wales and Britain going into the 2026 Senedd election.