Scrap the Senedd: Inside the fight to end devolution

• Calum Davies spoke to ITV Wales' Sharp End programme.

Calum Davies has a dream: He wants to give the Senedd a new purpose: "a museum to the failed experiment."

Some might find it ironic that the 28-year-old hopes to be elected to the chamber at the next Senedd election while advocating its abolition.

“There’s a lot of false promises that we can do things better because there’s a Senedd in Cardiff. But that’s not really true, is it? Except for recycling, have we done anything that has made Wales better? I don’t think so,” he says.

The Conservative councillor believes his party needs to change its stance to become anti-devolution.

As we sit in a Cardiff coffee shop, with the Senedd looming in the background, I ask him for his impressions of the Conservative Party’s stance on devolution.

“There’s an attitude of ‘it’s happened now, so there’s no point in litigating past arguments.’ But after the 1979 referendum, when Wales rejected devolution, that didn’t stop those in favour of devolution and independence from making their case—and they won 20 years later.”

“Just because something is hard doesn’t mean it’s not possible—just ask Nigel Farage and Brexit.”

The Conservatives have never won power in the Senedd, so, is this just a case of sour grapes?

Calum says not. It isn’t about power; it’s about policy.

“If things aren’t getting better, then it doesn’t have a purpose. You get all these divergent policies—like during the pandemic or the more recent NHS app. You need divergence in order to justify your existence; if you don’t diverge, then what are you for?

“The recent news stories about phonics in schools—had we followed what Michael Gove was doing (the former Education Secretary in the UK Government), then imagine how much better our PISA scores would be.”

The official policy of the Conservative Party is to support Welsh devolution.

In 2013, the then-Senedd Tory leader, Andrew RT Davies, told his party they must stick with it:

“Yes, we must fight for our United Kingdom with all the energy we have, but we must also reflect on where our devolved settlement has arrived.There are some who are still fighting the battles of the devolution referendum of 1997.Devolution cannot simply be put back into the bottle.I believe we have reached our ‘Clause IV’ moment.We cannot and should not go back to 1997. I fully understand the concerns of some who think devolution is about moving towards a breakup of the United Kingdom. These are concerns that I share too, but by ignoring the process and not engaging in it, it will not go away.Conservatives are about localism—decisions being made as close to individuals as possible. This is what devolution should be about too. Not a Welsh version of Whitehall, or a bureaucracy simply moved down the M4, but Welsh decisions being made in Wales by Wales.”

Yet, at the Vale of Glamorgan County Show this summer, Andrew RT Davies invited people to have their say on abolition, raising eyebrows among his Senedd colleagues.

“It isn’t Conservative policy,” he tells Sharp End, saying the party shouldn’t become “devo-sceptic”. “Our policy is to make devolution work for the people of Wales.”

Conservative Party hopeful Kemi Badenoch has voiced devo-sceptic views, while her rival for the crown, Robert Jenrick, says the devolution settlement is established.

In 25 years of devolution, most of the electorate has never cast a vote.

There is one party with one goal: the Abolish the Welsh Assembly Party.

Despite the Assembly now being called the Senedd, the party is stuck with the name. They also now have a logo—something they didn’t have even at this year’s general election.

Paul Ashton, one of the leading figures in the party, says: “We’re from all walks of life, from all political parties, with one aim. Devolution has completely failed the people of Wales.”

A recent YouGov opinion poll showed 31% of the public support abolition, while 46% oppose ending devolution.

Abolish believes if they can galvanise that minority vote, they will exceed expectations.

“With the new voting system, we believe we will have 50 representatives in the Senedd to close it down.”

And if, as polls indicate, they fail? Their strategy is to fight the election like a referendum: vote Abolish to abolish or stick with the Senedd.

“If people don’t want to vote for us or the abolishment of devolution, then we will fold as a party,” Ashton adds.

For the Welsh Conservatives, the strategy has been to keep their supporters onside and not vote for Reform or Abolish. But could Abolish be abolished before May 2026? Paul Ashton says it’s possible.

“If a major party came along and offered the people of Wales a referendum on devolution and fully supported its abolition, then Abolish would fold tomorrow and support that party.”

That’s why some Welsh Tories, like Calum Davies, think the time has come for a change of direction.

But is this the new Brexit—a decades-long internal fight within the Tories?

“I’m not a clairvoyant, but yes, this will take time. Back in the 90s, people said Euroscepticism was a fringe argument, but eventually, it can happen. It’s about having the will and the energy to do it.”

The Welsh Conservatives’ history with devolution has been complicated.

Many of those who fought against it ended up being elected to the Assembly, and over time, the party leadership has come to accept it. Do enough grassroots members care enough, and are they willing enough to have a fresh fight?

• You can catch up with the full interview with Calum Davies – plus all the latest political discussion – on Sharp End on ITVX.