Tories must change quickly or ‘die’, Welsh leader warns after election wipeout

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Louise Thomas

Editor

The Conservative Party must change quickly or “die”, the party’s leader in the Senedd has said.

Andrew RT Davies added that colleagues should apologise for not keeping immigration promises and called for zero tolerance.

Mr Davies will address the Conservative conference in Birmingham on Sunday, the first gathering of Tory politicians and activists since July’s election defeat.

The party lost power at Westminster and was reduced to 121 MPs – with none left in Wales.

As well as failings on immigration, voters in Wales were turned off by the party’s “dogmatic” stance on the economy, Mr Davies said.

He said the Welsh public are “inherently conservative”, and “if the party returns to its values, it will win them over”.

Mr Davies criticised the Labour Party for its record in Wales, saying it is prioritising 20mph speed limits over the economy, schools and the NHS.

Speaking ahead of the conference, Mr Davies said: “The Conservative Party must change. No party has a God-given right to govern. We failed to keep our promises and we must say sorry.

“The Welsh people reject the extreme liberal ideology of Labour, Plaid Cymru nationalists and the Lib Dems.

“By proudly reflecting our conservative values, we’ll persuade them to back the Welsh Conservatives.

“But we must also change how we’re perceived on the economy. We must be seen as pragmatists, not ideologues. Our language on things like nationalisation has to change.

“Welsh industries and communities have paid the price of globalisation and our party must do more to protect them.

“We must show that we care, and defend their sense of community, togetherness and local pride.

“If our party changes, we’ll recover quickly, and we’ll succeed in 2026 and 2029. But if we don’t, we’ll die. That’s the choice.”

In the last Parliament, the Conservatives had 13 MPs in Wales but were wiped out in July.

Those who lost their seats included Welsh secretary David TC Davies, chief whip Simon Hart, former ministers Alun Cairns, Stephen Crabb and Fay Jones, along with Rishi Sunak’s former parliamentary aide Craig Williams.