Kemi Badenoch's message to Welsh Tory voters deserting her party for Reform UK
The Conservative leader is reportedly devosceptic so we asked for her views
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch
(Image: PA )
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has said Welsh voters deserting her party for Reform UK should support her party as they are the only ones with a "credible plan" to "fix Wales". Speaking of Reform she said: "This is not the time for us to take risks with people who have yet more slogans."
Her party lost all of its MPs in Wales the general election in 2024 and the most recent YouGov/Barn Cymru poll for Wales showed the party would go from the official opposition, as it is now, to the fourth-placed party after the Senedd election in May 2026 with just 13% of the vote share.
If the figures were replicated in the actual Senedd election next May the Conservatives would have nine seats and be in fourth place behind Reform's 30 seats, Labour's 19, and Plaid Cymru's 35. For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation, sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here.
The Conservative leader was in Wales for the party's Welsh Conservative conference, which is taking place in Llangollen. Election experts say they have seen Conservative voters in Wales deserting the party in favour of Nigel Farage's Reform UK. Asked what she would say to those voters Ms Badenoch said: "We are working to rebuild our trust with you. We've acknowledged the mistakes that we made when we were in government.
"The party is now under new leadership – I was not leading the party during that period. I want to talk about the future and the offer we have now for the future because what we're seeing is a Labour government, both nationally and in Wales, that's running the country into the ground.
"This is not the time for us to take risks with people who have yet more slogans. This is the time to put trust in those of us, the Conservatives that is, who have incredible plans for Wales."
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During her leader election there were reports she opposed devolved politics and had said she was "devolution-sceptic" and "we can't just accept devolution' and that 'we need to talk about rolling it back". You can read the limited takes we have from her on devolution here.
Asked her position on devolution she failed to answer. "My view is that devolution is a process. We need to start talking about the people we're electing. You can have lots of devolution or no devolution. If you have bad people or incompetent people running things it's not going to work.
"We keep talking about devolution as if it's a solution in and of itself rather than a process. We need to stop talking about the process of politics [and] start getting better politicians. Labour politicians have not run this country well. People need change.
"That change has to be Conservative because we're the only ones with a credible plan. All of the talk about what happens in 1997 and so on. We are here now nearly 30 years later – are things better or not? They are not better. So let's make them better."
Asked again her position in 1997 she said: "I was 17 in 1997. I wasn't even old enough to vote. I don't want to be talking about stuff from 30 years ago.
"I was doing my A-levels – I wasn't interested in devolution".
Asked her position now, she said: "My position is that we have a Senedd and people running it who are not running it properly. Let's vote Conservative and get people who know what they're doing in charge."
Quoting the party's new slogan, "Fix Wales", she vowed to get Conservative MPs back representing Wales.
"We know that we've just come out of a historic defeat. We lost all of our MPs. We're going to get them back. We're not going to get them back just by talking about politics. We're going to show how we deliver and improve people's lives."
She accepted any electoral comeback was a big ask but said: "We are working to rebuild trust with the public and we're going to do that by being honest with them and telling the truth. All the other parties are telling people what they want to hear because they're trying to help themselves.
"We are telling the people the truth so that we can actually get this country back on track.
"At the conference I've been speaking to lots of charities, lots of organisations, lots of businesses. Education is not going well in Wales. Health is not going well in Wales. Early diagnostics, early screenings not happening despite all the money that Labour has been getting from the centre.
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"Someone has to do better than that and we are the only credible party with a plan. All the other parties are just playing the politics of identity. We are the ones, whether it's Plaid or Reform, we are the ones who are actually coming up with a proper plan to fix Wales."
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