Top Welsh Tory says party lost touch with voters

Paul Davies says the Conservative Party has lost touch with some supporters who are turning to Reform

The Conservative party has lost touch with some of their core supporters, according to the deputy leader of the group in the Senedd.

Paul Davies said he did not understand why former members such as Laura Ann Jones and David Jones had decided to join Reform UK.

But he does think some members are turning their backs on the party because they have not been Conservative enough.

The Senedd member for Preseli Pembrokeshire said party leader in the Senedd Darren Millar had "made it quite clear that every policy we now publish and present, must be Conservative".

"That is why we may have lost some of our former Conservative members," he told BBC-produced Newyddion S4C.

At the Royal Welsh Show in July, former Conservative member of the Senedd Laura Ann Jones said the Conservative party was "unrecognisable" and "wasn't the party that I joined over three decades ago".

Former Secretary of State for Wales David Jones has also joined Reform saying he had become "disillusioned" with the Conservative party.

Davies described Reform as a "protest party" with no leader in Wales.

"Of course Reform is good at recognising the problems but they are not good at recognising solutions to those problems," he said.

"They want to nationalise some of our industries, they want to spend a lot of money.

"So Reform is not a conservative party. They follow socialist policies to be completely honest, and I am surprised that some of our former members support and join Reform."

But Davies accepted that "over the years, to some extent" his party has lost touch with ordinary supporters, which he called "unfortunate".

The Conservatives are currently the main opposition party in the Senedd but a series of opinion polls has put them in fourth place behind Plaid Cymru, Reform and the Labour Party.

Davies acknowledged the group "have a lot of work to do as a party".

"But I believe that we are offering a real choice, we are offering a real plan to fix Wales because we believe that Wales is broken. The health service is broken under Labour governments that have been supported by Plaid Cymru.

"We have to persuade the people of Wales that we are the real choice," he said.

Despite all the criticism of Reform, the Conservatives are willing to work with them in the Senedd after the next election.

"Our leader Darren Millar has made it clear that we are willing to work with anyone to get rid of the Labour party," Davies said.