Abolish the Welsh Assembly Party: 'Difficult to see the benefit of devolution'

Abolish the Welsh Assembly Party leader Richard Suchorzewski said his members found it difficult to see any benefits of devolution

Devolution has not solved Wales' problems, but scrapping the Senedd may not turn it into a "land of milk and honey", the Abolish the Welsh Assembly Party leader has said.

Richard Suchorzewski added his party's members found "it very difficult" to see any benefits of devolution.

He said his party - which has just one policy - would give voice to supporters of scrapping the Welsh Parliament.

Mr Suchorzewski questioned what devolution had done for Wales.

"I'm finding it very difficult, and our members find it very difficult, to actually see what the benefit of it is," he said.

"I come from a business background and any business owner knows that an important element of business is value for money.

"We were promised when the people of Wales were given a vote for devolution that things would improve.

"Ask yourself the question: 'Do you think things have improved?'"

• New law for possible Senedd election Covid delay

• Ex-leader accused of bid to 'steal' party

• Devolution not a disaster, says Senedd Tory leader

Mr Suchorzewski was asked by the BBC Politics Wales programme whether getting rid of the Senedd was a simplistic answer to Wales' problems.

Richard Suchorzewski said his party had only one policy - getting rid of the Welsh Parliament

He said: "We've had devolution for 21 years and we were told that the problems that we had pre-devolution would actually be solved with devolution."

His party was struck off the electoral register in November after its registration lapsed following an internal row with its former leader David Bevan.

He then tried to register a new political party under the same name, but now the party has successfully re-registered ahead of May's Senedd election.

The party is still called the Abolish the Welsh Assembly Party even though the assembly changed its name to Senedd Cymru or Welsh Parliament.

Wales could lose up to eight MPs - down from 40 to 32 - after a law was passed to redraw constituency boundaries and Mr Suchorzewski was asked whether losing representation in Westminster undermined the argument for scrapping the Senedd.

He said: "I can see that point of view and I can see our opponents putting that point of view forward, and it is a fair comment to make in as much that up until now, Wales has technically been over-represented in the House of Commons per level of population.

"But can you really blame the UK government for saying: 'Well as we give Wales more and more powers, there becomes less need for Members of Parliament'.

"And our contention is that unless we actually get rid of the assembly, then our MPs are ultimately going to become null and void.

"And then we have virtually no say in what goes on in the UK as we are essentially a unionist party."

A YouGov poll in December suggested a sharp drop in support for the Welsh Government's handling of the coronavirus crisis.

The party was struck off the electoral register after its registration lapsed following a row with former leader David Bevan

Despite the drop, the poll suggested greater support for First Minister Mark Drakeford and the Welsh Government's handling of the pandemic over Boris Johnson and his government.

Mr Suchorzewski said: "I think having a non UK-wide approach has caused confusion and, to a large extent, has caused people to say 'I don't know what the rules are, because in England they're saying do this and in Wales do that.'

"People are genuinely confused. For example, you had a rule in Wales that said people couldn't go to a pub but in England they could, so you'd have people jumping in cars and driving to England."

He was asked if that meant the UK government's tiered restrictions for different parts of England was also confusing.

Mr Suchorzewski said: "That depends obviously on the communication given to those areas. I take that point and it is a fair point."

He drew attention to Wales' high Covid-19 death rate and slower vaccine rollout compared to other UK nations.

The Abolish the Welsh Assembly Party has never won a seat in a Welsh election but has two Members of the Senedd (MS) - former UKIP representatives Mark Reckless and Gareth Bennett.

It won 4.4% of the regional list vote at the 2016 Senedd election.

The latest Welsh Political Barometer poll suggests the party is currently on course to win four of the 60 seats in May.

Asked if he was worried about their vote splitting with other parties, such as Reform UK - formerly the Brexit Party - and UKIP, he said: "At the moment with 7% we're online for having four Senedd members and we're confident that 7% will go up over the coming months.

"So if you're a UKIP member or any member of any party who wishes to have the assembly abolished the only realistic party for achieving that is ours."

• Catch up with BBC Politics Wales on iPlayer