Reform not ruling out scrapping Senedd, politician says | UK News

Reform’s first ever Senedd politician has said her party is not ruling out scrapping the Senedd.

Party leader Nigel Farage has previously expressed support for the existence of the devolved institutions of the Senedd and Welsh government, based in Cardiff.

But speaking at her party’s UK conference in Birmingham, Laura Anne Jones questioned whether the Welsh Parliament should continue if Reform could not make it “work for Wales”.

Polls have suggested that the party is competing to come first in next year’s Senedd election.

In a speech Jones proposed scrapping the 20mph speed limit in Wales, promised to build an M4 relief road and more GP surgeries, and said Reform would close hotels housing asylum seekers.

There have been arguments on the right of Wales’ political spectrum for years over whether the country should have a parliament of its own.

Some Conservatives have argued that their party should support abolition to attract more voters.

The party in Cardiff Bay strongly rejects that idea, to the extent that party activists say pro-abolition members are effectively banned from standing for the Senedd.

One group opposed to devolution, the Abolish the Assembly party, failed to win any seats at the last election.

The Senedd, originally known as the National Assembly, was set up in 1999 after a referendum two years earlier.

Created by an act of Parliament, it would need to be a UK government decision to bring the institution to an end.

Reform is optimistic it can do well in the Welsh Parliament elections next year.

UK leader Nigel Farage told the conference that the Welsh elections, together with the Scottish Parliament elections and next month’s Caerphilly by-election were a “building block” towards the party being successful at a future Westminster vote.

Laura Anne Jones told the conference: “We need to try and make the Senedd work for the people of Wales, but if it doesn’t, we need to question whether the Senedd is really adding value to Wales.”

Speaking to Wales afterwards, Jones said the Senedd was not “working for the whole of Wales” currently.

“So if it gets to a point where we, not even us, can make it work for Wales, then we have to question why it’s there.”

When it was put to her that she was questioning whether the Senedd should exist, she added: “In the future.”

She denied she was calling for a referendum, but added: “As a party we are not ruling anything out.

“If you lived in Wales would you like to see it carry on if its not working for Wales?

“We want to make the Senedd work for the people of Wales first. That’s our priority.”

Nigel Farage has previously said he would not allow anti-devolution candidates to stand.

He had told ITV: “There is no room for this. We are seeing devolution across much of England now as well.

“It’s time that everybody here in Wales accepts it.”

When it was put to Jones that her position was at odds with Farage’s support, she said: “Nigel Farage doesn’t live in Wales, does he? I adore him. He’s fantastic, [I] can’t wait for him to be prime minister.”

Jones was elected for the Conservatives in 2021 to serve South Wales East – she defected at the Royal Welsh Show in the summer.

Her speech gave a number of headline policy pledges, and said that Wales had suffered “26 years of languishing on the bottom of every league table”.

“For too long Labour have taken your votes for granted, they’ve sat back and let Wales become the poor man of Britain.”

She said Reform, should it form the next Welsh government, would reverse the 20mph limit imposed in largely urban areas “to get Wales moving again”.

Jones promised to build the M4 relief road, and said Reform would start an “ambitious plan of GP surgery building since Aneurin Bevan built the NHS”.

A Reform government would close asylum hotels, she said, and “Welsh families and veterans” would be “first in the queue for housing, first in the queue for support, not illegal immigrants”.

She said the party would not spend money on planting trees in Uganda or “foreign offices” – which the Welsh government has a network of.

Jones has previously not ruled out being leader of Reform in Wales herself.

Asked if she would like to do the job, she told Wales: “Who knows? I mean, I just love being in Reform. I haven’t looked back. I’ve 100% made the right decision.”

The party is expected to contend the upcoming Senedd by-election, triggered by the death of Labour MS Hefin David.

It is understood that the party has interviewed four candidates for the role and will announce who has been successful next week.

Plaid Cymru has already announced that Lindsay Whittle will stand for the party. Labour is expected to announce who its candidate is at the weekend. The Conservatives have also begun a process to find a candidate.