Senedd booze ban politicians cleared
- Published
Alun Davies, Paul Davies, Darren Millar and Nick Ramsay all drank alcohol on Senedd estate during alcohol ban
Four politicians have been cleared of breaking the Senedd's code of conduct for drinking wine in a tearoom during a Wales-wide alcohol ban.
Paul Davies, Darren Millar, Nick Ramsay and Alun Davies, who have all apologised, were investigated by the standards commissioner.
Douglas Bain said the four were unaware the rules meant it could have been illegal for them to have been served.
Wales had banned alcohol in pubs and restaurants in late 2020.
Mr Bain investigated two events in December of that year, following a controversy that led Paul Davies to resign as Welsh Conservative Senedd leader.
Only three of the four politicians are still in the Senedd. Tories Paul Davies and Darren Millar, and Labour's Alun Davies, were re-elected in the last election.
Former Conservative Nick Ramsay, was de-selected by the Tories and failed to win re-election. He is now a Liberal Democrat.
Shared Regulatory Services, which acts as Cardiff's licensing authority, issued a caution to the caterer, Charlton House, last year for "supply of alcohol in contravention of the rules at that time".
In his findings, Mr Bain said none of the individuals involved broke the law.
He said he could not be satisfied, "having considered all the circumstances in context", any of them contravened the integrity of the code of conduct or any other "relevant provision".
He said claims in The Sun newspaper that the politicians were "loud and raucous" were made "without any factual foundation", and said security staff "were clear that nothing of the kind alleged took place".
The Sun's article has since been deleted.
Mr Bain's heavily redacted report, external describes two occasions in 2020 where drinks were consumed in the tea-room but the redactions - made because the MSs have not been found to have broken any rules - make it difficult to see who did what at which point.
All four individuals were present in the tearoom on 8 December where they ate pre-ordered meals.
Three met with a member of support staff to discuss a "commitment for legislation in a manifesto". They met for five hours, consuming all but one glass of two bottles of red wine.
The other member was poured a glass of wine but was not part of the meeting. The report suggests this member was in the tea room for less than two hours.
It may have been illegal for a catering firm to have served alcohol at the time of the incidents
Mr Bain said that the alcohol ban, which prohibited pubs and restaurants from selling alcohol, may have made it unlawful for Senedd caterer Charlton House sell or supply alcohol in the tearoom.
But it was not unlawful to consume alcohol there.
'They believed this would not apply'
In a separate incident on 9 December, beer bought from a Co-op was drunk in a tearoom, although it is not clear from the report who was there.
That group had pre-ordered meal and ate while discussing work topics.
Nothing that happened in the tearoom on 9 December was contrary to the law, Mr Bain's report said.
Mr Bain's findings were backed by the Senedd's standards committee, which decides what punishments to recommend if politicians are found to have broke the code of conduct.
The committee said that all four were aware of the alcohol ban but "they believed this would not apply to the members' tea room because they considered the tea room to be akin to a workplace canteen".
Most of the committee's members, however, "questioned the judgement of the members remaining in the tea room for such a lengthy period beyond that required for sustenance, bearing in mind the circumstances facing the country at the time".
Apologies
All four apologised "for the impression the incident gave and recognised that their actions may have been perceived as not within the spirit of the regulations".
The Senedd committee's report said CCTV footage used by the Senedd commission in its own investigation to confirm the exit times of members from the tearoom was automatically deleted before the commissioner was able to see it.
Although the footage was not "material" to the commissioner's findings, Senedd chief executive Manon Antoniazzi apologised. "It ought to have been retained and its loss is attributable to simple human error", she wrote to the committee.
The Senedd had referred the matter to Standards Commissioner Douglas Bain after its own investigation found the four had drunk alcohol on its premises.
Alun Davies, Labour MS for Blaenau Gwent, said: "I'm very glad to see that the commissioner has worked hard over the last year to investigate thoroughly.
"This illustrates what we already knew - that I did not break the rules - and the committee has confirmed that."