Anti-Senedd Tory selected for election in Cardiff

Calum Davies is a Cardiff councillor for Radyr and Morganstown

A Conservative who says the Senedd should be closed down has been selected to the top of the list for a Cardiff seat, sources have told BBC Wales.

Calum Davies, who won a ballot of Tory party members in Caerdydd Penarth for the May 2026 election, told them that devolution had "failed devastatingly".

The Cardiff councillor's views are at odds with Welsh Conservative policy which supports the existence of the Welsh Parliament.

A Welsh Conservative spokesperson suggested that Mr Davies would be expected to stick to that policy, saying all candidates "are required to subscribe to, and promote, Welsh Conservative policies at all times".

The issue of whether to support devolution has remained a matter of debate on the right of Welsh politics.

Reform's Laura Anne Jones, who defected from the Tories in July, said at her new party's conference that Reform would not rule out supporting abolition of the Welsh Parliament if it could not make it work for Wales.

However, the day after she made the comments a spokesperson for Nigel Farage's party told BBC Wales abolition was not its policy and would not be appearing in a manifesto.

The Cardiff councillor's views on devolution are publicly known, Davies having spelled them out in the prominent Tory website Conservative Home last April.

In his CV to party members, Davies said: "Devolution was sold to the public on three key grounds: to improve public services, to defeat separatism and to bring power closer to the people meaningfully, not just physically.

"The devolution experiment has failed devastatingly on all three counts."

He added: "Conservatives in Wales have felt forced to pursue consensus politics too often, only for parties of the left to lock us out of policymaking in Cardiff Bay. All the while, Reform hoover up our natural voters.

"Devolution is purgatory for the Conservatives and oxygen to separatists."

The selection of Calum Davies may raise questions among party members who have been under the impression that pro-abolition Tories were not able to stand.

Darren Millar was previously accused on Conservative Home of going to "war" on the party's devo-sceptic base.

Others in the party have described its pro-abolition members as a noisy minority.

Joel Williams, a Conservative councillor, says he believed he was removed from an approved list of people the party sees as prospective candidates because of his abolition views - although the circumstances were disputed.

Meanwhile Sam Kurtz, the party group chair, is understood to have come second to former leader and chief whip Paul Davies in a ballot for Ceredigion Penfro.

Kurtz is currently the MS for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire, and Davies is MS for Preseli Pembrokeshire.

Senedd leader and Clwyd West MS Darren Millar is understood to have come first in Clwyd, with Vale of Clwyd's Gareth Davies selected second for the seat.

Parties are having to fill party lists for the next year's election which will be held under a new voting system.

Members of the Senedd will be elected through the D'Hondt system, aiming to better represent the share of the vote they receive.

Politicians will be elected in the order they are listed - so the first person on the list will be elected first. Six candidates will be elected for each of the 16 constituencies.