Kemi Badenoch labels Labour policy a 'disaster' for farming in Wales
The Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, has said that Labour governments in Cardiff and London have been 'a disaster for farming' here in Wales.
Speaking at the Royal Welsh Show in Builth Wells, she said a Conservative UK Government would 'reverse' Labour UK Government plans to change inheritance tax, which she called 'the immoral family farm tax'.
She told ITV Cymru Wales: 'We are promising to back farmers. Farming is a way of life. Standing up for farmers is standing up for Britain. And one of the things that Labour did when it first came into office was bring in the immoral family farm tax. It is going to destroy farming across our country. And I have said that once Conservatives get back into government we will reverse it.'
As well as still reeling from a massive defeat in last year's UK General Election, which saw not a single Conservative MP elected for Wales, the party is also looking at losses ahead of next year's Senedd election.
The most recent Barn Cymru poll for ITV Wales and Cardiff University suggested the Conservatives could end up in fourth place with as few as nine Senedd Members.
In her interview, Kemi Badenoch acknowledged that her party faces an uphill struggle.
'Well, we know that we suffered a historic defeat last year," she said. "It's not going to be easy to get back on track, but that's the work that I'm doing. It's one of the reasons why I'm here, getting all across the country, trying to rebuild trust with the public, acknowledging where we made mistakes and showing that Wales has not thrived under Labour. It certainly won't under Plaid. It most definitely will not under Reform.'
She was asked, too, if she has confidence in Darren Millar's leadership of the Welsh Conservatives in Wales. She said. 'Absolutely. Darren is here with me. We get on famously. We speak all the time. He is absolutely the right person to be First Minister.'
And she was asked, too, about the status of his leadership. When Andrew RT Davies was first in charge of the Welsh Tories, the then Prime Minister, David Cameron, said publicly that Mr Davies was considered the leader of the wider party in Wales. Since then, other leaders have held varying views.
I asked her: 'Who is the leader of the Welsh Conservatives? Not just the group in the Senedd: who leads the Welsh Conservatives?'
KB: 'I do.'
'And where does Darren Millar sit in that?'
KB: 'Darren is the leader of the Welsh Conservatives in the Senedd but this is not what the public are asking about. They want to know who's going to deliver for the people of Wales and that is the Conservatives.'
'The only reason I ask is because different Conservative leaders have given different answers.'
KB: 'Well you've asked me the question. We are a united party. We are the Unionist party. We're not interested in carving ourselves up and having lots of little, you know, different groups and factions. We are the Conservative and Unionist Party. We believe in the United Kingdom. We want Wales to be very much a part of the United Kingdom, not what Plaid Cymru is offering. Labour will end up sectioning Wales off the way they're going.'
And she backed the decision to insist that Conservative candidates in next year's Senedd election should not be opposed to devolution, saying: 'That is the settlement that we have now. Devolution is a process. What we need to make sure is we have the best people. It's the people that matter.'
Asked if she was sceptical about devolution, she said: 'Well, yes, because people think devolution is a solution in and of itself. It's not. It's how you use it. And that's why you have to look at the people. If you put bad people in, then it doesn't matter whether you're devolved or not, if you have great people then yes, devolution would work.'
The Conservative leader said: 'That's that, honestly, in terms of the top 100 things that this country needs, that's not one of them.'
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