Covid passes: Conservative who missed vote was at party conference

Gareth Davies was newly elected at May's Senedd elections

A Conservative politician who missed a crucial vote on compulsory Covid passes in nightclubs and big events in Wales was at the Tory conference in Manchester at the time.

Gareth Davies says he was "angry" that he was unable to access the Welsh Parliament's remote voting system.

But the Senedd's Presiding Officer Elin Jones said he had been given "every opportunity to be present".

His absence meant Welsh ministers won by one vote.

Elin Jones had said on Tuesday that she had provided her personal phone number to allow Mr Davies to vote.

The Night Time Industries Association called for the decision to be taken again, but that was not echoed by any of the Senedd's party groups.

Under the new law evidence of full vaccination or a negative Covid test within 48 hours will be required when visiting nightclubs or large events.

Health Minister Eluned Morgan has said the vote will not be re-run.

The Conservative Party conference has been taking place in Manchester

The Senedd, because of the Covid pandemic, is sitting in a hybrid session where MSs can attend in person or take part via Zoom.

It had not been clear, initially, where Mr Davies had been at the time of the decision.

Then, around Wednesday lunchtime, the Vale of Clwyd politician said he was "working and representing the group at the Conservative Party conference and I would have been able to vote remotely if I'd have been able to access the remote voting tools".

"I am deeply upset, frustrated and angry at last night's events and my inability to cast a vote against vaccine passports," he said.

He said concerns have been raised with the Senedd's ICT department.

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However BBC Wales was told attempts had been made by the Senedd to contact Mr Davies but "no one could get hold of him" - a Tory source said that was because he was speaking to the chief whip Darren Millar and staff.

One MS said that just before the vote Elin Jones read out a phone number to the Tory chief whip for Gareth Davies to call her on.

Darren Millar had told Ms Jones there were difficulties with getting one of his members onto Zoom.

"Elin waited for a phone call. The phone didn't ring," the MS said.

They added that Ms Jones then offered Mr Davies another 30 seconds to get in touch before eventually deciding to proceed.

At the time of the vote on Tuesday evening Ms Jones said: "We are holding the vote please, and we have made every opportunity possible for that... member to get in, including sharing my personal phone."

She later added: "It is a member's responsibility to give themselves sufficient time to secure their Zoom connection in time for voting, just as it is for any member travelling to the Senedd to vote."

On Wednesday she declined to give Mr Davies a chance to make a personal statement to the Senedd, saying as he had shared it with the media it was already in the public domain.

Mr Davies later put the statement on Facebook, saying he was not able to call the presiding officer: "I was already on a call at that time frantically speaking with Welsh Conservative staff members in an attempt to solve the ICT problems."

With the whole opposition against the plans, and Labour controlling only half of the Senedd's 60 seats, if Mr Davies voted there would have been a tie.

The new law would have failed to pass as a result.

Mandatory Covid passes are being introduced this coming Monday in Wales

Asked about holding a re-run of the vote, Eluned Morgan told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast with Claire Summers that that is "not how democratic processes work".

"You don't keep on having a vote until you get the answer that you want," she said.

"Actually this is a system that's been in place for about four months already. People have been using it throughout the summer.

"What we know is that the people of Wales want to be protected."

"We had a huge mandate as a result of the election because of our cautious approach."

Conservative Monmouth MS Peter Fox told the programme that a re-run "would be a difficult thing to do".

"Democracy has a set of processes, and you have to follow them and, you know, sometimes you don't like the outcome of the decision or the circumstances in which you've created a decision.

"But democracy is what it is and if you start eroding that where are you ending up?"

Following the vote the Welsh Conservatives called for the ending of the hybrid arrangements.

But there was frustration in the party outside of the Senedd group of Tories.

Tory councillor David Fouweather, of Newport, tweeted that the Conservative group should have got their whip "sorted", adding: "Letting Wales down. Abolish the assembly."

Plaid Cymru's health spokesperson Rhun ap Iorwerth also rejected a re-vote.

Why no re-vote?

Analysis by BBC Wales political reporter Adrian Browne

Parliaments, and governments, are generally reluctant to re-run votes because doing so can open a huge can of worms.

Do so on this occasion and it's not hard to imagine politicians routinely queueing up for a re-vote on this or that issue, conjuring up ingenious, or not so ingenious, arguments as to why.

The Senedd authorities insist there was no failure on their part to allow every Senedd member a fair chance to vote on Covid passes, and therefore there is no case for a re-match.

This was down to a particular Conservative member, Gareth Davies, not doing what he needed to do to vote, they say.

Mr Davies, of course, disputes this.

Mistakes when voting do happen from time to time, by the way, but tend to go unnoticed by the world at large because there are usually no significant consequences.

However, fifteen years ago the Labour Welsh health minister of the day, Brian Gibbons, caused great amusement by pressing the wrong button and, with help from a party colleague who failed to vote with Labour, accidentally backed an an inquiry into the state of the Welsh Ambulance Service.

That vote stood and all the indications are that this one will too.

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