Anti-Senedd Tory MS hosting forums to discuss abolition of Welsh Parliament

Emily Price 

An anti-Senedd Welsh Conservative MS has called on residents in his constituency to take part in a forum to discuss whether the Welsh Parliament should be abolished.

Joel James will hold two round table events - one on Halloween in Rhiwbina and another in November in Llandaff - where he will quiz locals for their thoughts on devolution.

In the letter to South Wales Central constituents, Mr James wrote: "I'm keen to hear your thoughts on the current state of Welsh devolution.

"Do you think Welsh devolution is working? Should the Welsh Parliament have more powers or be abolished? What alternatives are there to the current situation?"

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'No point'

A Conservative source told Nation Cymru that the Shadow Minister for Social Partnership had carried out similar events which had attracted lots of people.

But the source added that they didn’t see the point in such forums because the people that show up are "unlikely to vote Conservative - or vote at Senedd elections at all."

Prior to Mr James becoming elected to the Senedd in 2021, documents leaked to the BBC revealed that he had sent applications to party members setting out his anti-devolution stance.

In the application, the former Llantwit Fardre councillor said: "I believe that the time has come to respond to the changed political landscape, harness the anger and concerns of those voters ignored by an arrogant and self-electing elite, and take a sledgehammer to Labour's original 'Red Wall', finally ending their devolution experiment in Wales.

"I will challenge the cosy Cardiff Bay consensus that has underachieved for Wales for so long, I will continue to push Welsh Labour out of south Wales, and I will campaign to end devolution in Wales."

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Stance

Abolishing the Senedd is against Conservative party policy but in recent months a series of internal rows have brewed within the Welsh Tories over the group's stance on the future of devolution.

In June, Tory group leader Andrew RT Davies organised a stunt at the Vale of Glamorgan Show where people were invited to put balls into two buckets to highlight whether they wanted to abolish the Senedd or not.

The image of the home made ballot posted to social media drew criticism from members of Mr Davies' own shadow cabinet and senior Conservative figures.

😃😃 pic.twitter.com/eyK7I6mKqA

— Joel James MS (@JoelJamesSWC) August 7, 2024

'Blind alley'

Joel James, responded to the online outcry by posting a photo of himself smiling beside the 'YES' bucket filled with balls.

Former Welsh Conservative leader Lord Nick Bourne has warned against going down a "blind alley" of trying to debate the abolition of the Welsh Parliament.

The Tory peer told BBC Radio Wales: "Once the vote was taken over 25 years ago, we determined that the correct approach was to make the assembly work, now the Senedd, for the good of the people of Wales.

"That remains very much the position. I don't understand why we're going down this blind alley. It doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to me."

Correspondence leaked to Nation Cymru revealed that a Cardiff Tory councillor recently asked the party’s policy director, Sam Rowlands, to back a vote of grassroots members on whether the Wales' parliament should be abolished.

In January this year, Nation Cymru revealed that Conor Holohan, a former Abolish the Welsh Assembly Party staffer, was appointed the new head of comms for the Welsh Conservative Senedd group.

Mr James was invited to comment but did not respond.