Coronavirus lockdown: English Conservative MP's call to scrap Senedd 'wrong'

Daniel Kawczynski called for "political union between England and Wales"

An English Tory MP's call for the Welsh Parliament to be abolished has been described as "wrong and unhelpful" by a Welsh colleague in the Commons.

Shrewsbury and Atcham MP Daniel Kawczynski said he was fed up of Wales having different rules to England.

Unlike in Wales, people in England can drive to "other destinations" to exercise from Wednesday.

Montgomeryshire MP Craig Williams said Mr Kawczynski should not be questioning the "fundamentals of Welsh democracy".

• Closing Wales-England border not a 'real option'

Calling for for the scrapping of the Senedd, Mr Kawczynski had said the "current gap emerging" during the coronavirus crisis resulted in "the prime minister saying to my constituents you can now go for a walk on the beach, but you are prohibited from going across the frontier to get to our nearest coast".

"I am sorry but the time has come to reach out as Conservatives to large numbers of like-minded citizens in Wales who like us believe in one system for both nations," he said.

"We must work towards another referendum to scrap the Welsh Assembly and return to one political system for both nations - a political union between England and Wales."

The assembly was renamed Senedd Cymru - Welsh Parliament this month.

Craig Williams says some of his constituents raised the comments with him

The comments have already been rejected by Welsh Secretary Simon Hart and Conservative Senedd leader Paul Davies.

Mr Hart told BBC Radio Wales on Monday the abolition call was "not a sentiment which has added much value to this really important discussion".

On Twitter, Mr Davies wrote: "No. This is not our party's policy".

Now, in a letter to Mr Kawczynski, Mr Williams said a number of constituents had raised his "thought-provoking insight into UK constitutional affairs".

Mr Williams tells his Conservative colleague we should "respect that the Welsh Government and Welsh Parliament can, and will, exercise their constitutional powers, granted through multiple referendums by the people of Wales".

"The time for serious debate and inquiry into the effect of this divergence is not for now," the Montgomeryshire MP writes.

"It will come later. In the meantime, to question the fundamentals of Welsh democracy because of any divergence is wrong and unhelpful."

What was previously called the assembly is now named Senedd Cymru - Welsh Parliament

Instead, Mr Williams urges him to join efforts to get a Conservative Welsh Government elected at next year's Senedd election.

This is "the only way to ensure better co-ordination through times of crisis" between ministers in London and Cardiff, he says.

Labour has led the Welsh Government since devolution two decades ago, once in coalition with Liberal Democrats, from 2000 to 2003, and also with Plaid Cymru between 2007 and 2011.

BBC Wales has asked Mr Kawczynski for a response to Mr Williams.