First Senedd Member for party which wants to abolish the Welsh Parliament

A party which wants to get rid of the Welsh Parliament will now have a member in the Senedd chamber.

The former UKIP politician, Gareth Bennett, has announced he's joining the 'Abolish the Welsh Assembly' party whose name refers to the Senedd's former title. He's been sitting as an Independent since quitting UKIP in November 2019.

Two former Brexit party candidates have also said they're joining 'Abolish' to campaign for a new referendum on the future of devolution.

Explaining his decision, Gareth Bennett said that 'after Brexit this is now the overriding issue in Wales.'

He told me that it will make no difference which party is in government as the institution 'is never going to provide anything of value; it will only leak money away from frontline services and give work to an overpaid tier of bureaucrats.'

You can see his full answer in this video clip:

The party's new leader, Richard Suchorzewskisaid that 'Gareth joining is just the beginning.'

In the video clip below he told me why having a member of the Senedd is 'absolutely crucial' for his party's development.

He also said that the party will be looking to 'amend' its official name in the near future.

"I think it's fair to say there are going to be a number of changes," he said. including a slight alteration to the party name in order to bring it up to date. I think that makes sense."

Brexit Party defections

Richard Taylor and Cameron Edwards are former Brexit Party candidates

Two other new members have been unveiled, both of whom were candidates for the Brexit Party in the 2019 General Election.

Richard Taylor stood in Blaenau Gwent and Cameron Edwards was the Brexit Party candidate in Newport West.

They join the first Abolish councillor, Claire Mills, a member of Powys council who switched from the Conservatives in May. Last November the former deputy chairman of the Welsh Conservatives, Lee Canning, also defected to Abolish.