logo
Badenoch says Conservatives need time to recover in Powys

Badenoch says Conservatives need time to recover in Powys

Kemi Badenoch said that it would take time for the Conservatives to bounce back in Powys after their 'historic defeat' last year.
In an interview with the County Times, the leader of the Conservative Party addressed the issues facing the party after the fallout of the last election which saw Montgomeryshire MP Craig Williams lose the party whip then the seat amid a betting scandal.
'I am working to rebuild trust with the public,' said Mrs Badenoch.
'We have acknowledged a lot of mistakes were made. That is why we lost the last election. It takes time to come back from an historic defeat like that.
'What people can see is that Labour may have won the election but they have no plans at all. All of the things they are doing are making things worse, it's not just the family farms tax.
"You look at unemployment it has gone up every single month since Labour came into office, inflation has nearly doubled since the Conservatives left, growth is down – that is a real problem.'
Mrs Badenoch was at the show to meet the Welsh agricultural community ahead of next year's Senedd elections and local elections in 2027.
This came the week after the announcement of the Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS) by the Welsh Government which would see 10 percent of land being used to boost natural habitats.
When questioned by the County Times about the policy Mrs Badenoch said: 'I don't know about the 10 per cent but I do know having spoken to Welsh Conservatives is that they don't believe that what Labour is putting in is going to be enough.
'They believe there is an extra £100 million that could be invested in the SFS and that is what I support.'
Help support trusted local news
Sign up for a digital subscription now: www.countytimes.co.uk/subscribe
As a digital subscriber you will get
Unlimited access to the County Times website
Advert-light access
Reader rewards
Full access to our app
MP for the area David Chadwick criticised Mrs Badenoch and said the Conservatives were no longer the 'party of the countryside'.
'Welsh farmers won't forget how Kemi Badenoch and the Conservatives sold them down the river when she was International Trade Secretary for catastrophic trade deals with Australia and New Zealand,' said Mr Chadwick.
'That's part of the reason the Conservatives lost this seat at the general election.'
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

It's hard to see new left party cutting through in Scotland
It's hard to see new left party cutting through in Scotland

The National

time39 minutes ago

  • The National

It's hard to see new left party cutting through in Scotland

The first thing to say is that if it is able to break out of the factions and abbreviations which abound in the terrain to the left of Labour – and with 300,000 claimed sign-ups and a poll rating of 10% it just might – then it marks a very big change in socialist thinking. For more than a century, socialists who wanted to change capitalism have rubbed along in the Labour Party with those who just wanted a bit more from it. Now large sections of the Labour left look set to give up the ghost. For me, that ship sailed long ago. It's more than two decades since I became convinced that using the powers that Scotland would get with political independence offered a much better prospect of changing the world than trying to reform a British state run by people still steeped in the mindset of empire. READ MORE: Man arrested for 'carrying a placard calling Donald Trump an offensive word' Nonetheless it's an important debate. The political character of England should matter greatly to Scotland and this new party might even play a role here. In one sense the Labour left has nowhere to go. Those now in control of the party have made it perfectly clear radical views are no longer welcome within it. They have been demonised and purged. Labour is manifesting every bit as much intolerance and authoritarianism in its internal structures as it does in government. But how did it come to this? A short time ago the Labour left had more power than at any point in the party's history. Corbyn was leader and commanded the considerable resources provided to the parliamentary opposition by the state. The left controlled the conference and the NEC. And the mobilisation of the grassroots through Momentum was impressive in its day. Yet within a few short years it had all evaporated. Corbyn and others left or were expelled, policy was abandoned wholesale, and the Labour conference would sing the national anthem with no visible dissent. It has been a remarkable transition both in speed and scale. In part this is because the Corbyn project failed abjectly (Image: Getty) in its own terms. Jeremy became leader by accident. And he wasn't very good at it. I watched for years in the House of Commons the breathtaking disloyalty of the right-wing Labour parliamentarians towards the Corbyn front bench. It was embarrassing. Never have I seen such hostility and hate between political parties, never mind within one. But no-one got suspended, or expelled or deselected. They were ignored, left alone to operate as a party within a party. Despite his strength in the wider party organisation, Corbyn never moved against his enemy within. Too naïve, or too nice. Either way, a fatal mistake. Corbyn also never got out of his silo, unwilling or incapable of moving beyond his natural support. He should have developed a narrative about Brexit or constitutional reform that would have galvanised a wider alliance which the left could lead. He didn't. Once defeated, his opponents lost no time in eradicating any possible legacy. These right-wing parliamentarians had been busy making plans. There were organised by a ruthless and clever Irishman called Morgan McSweeney under the banner Labour Together. McSweeney built a strategy for power inspired by Odysseus. Seeing the popularity of left policies in the party, and among the electorate, he argued for 'Corbynism without Corbyn'. But he needed someone to front it who couldn't immediately be outed as a right-wing hack. Step forward the hapless Keir Starmer. You'll cringe to look now at the ten-point platform McSweeney drew up for Starmer's leadership bid. Common ownership, higher income tax on top earners, improving welfare, and more. It worked at the time. Those Labour members who hadn't left after their leader fell lapped it up. Once in position, McSweeney and his acolytes didn't show any hesitation that might have come from wanting to be nice or fair. At breakneck speed and with ruthless efficiency they brushed aside anyone in their way, including many on the soft left, which they saw as a gateway for extremists. They won through deceit, but at the price of the party itself. Which is why we've got a new one. So, what does this mean for us? We've just got used to Scotland being a plurality in which six parties compete. Are we now to have seven? It's hard to see. Certainly, there's plenty of discontent within Labour ranks, but not nearly as much as in places like London. Besides, there's already plenty of options where the disenchanted could escape to. And across it all lies the independence question. Not really something you can avoid. Is it plausible, or possible, for a new party to say we're really radical and want a complete overhaul of the system, but we are agnostic on whether Scotland should be an independent country or remain in the UK? Especially when they would, by definition, be living proof of the failure of the latter option.

Letter: We must all hope new scheme works for farmers
Letter: We must all hope new scheme works for farmers

Powys County Times

time42 minutes ago

  • Powys County Times

Letter: We must all hope new scheme works for farmers

Rattus was not impressed by the 2024 version of the Sustainable Farming Scheme SFS which will shortly replace the BPS payments in Wales which have kept most farms in profit for years. The latest version has dropped the 10% tree cover which was always going to be a major ask for many farmers but also a major contributor to acrimonious disputes. It also restored SSSI's to be included which was one of the ludicrous parts of the previous iteration. OK it is not perfect but correctly is focused on public money for public goods. Why should Welsh Government subsidize farmers to produce lamb for Europeans to eat? There are aspects of SFS that Rattus and farmers will struggle to understand such as the need for on farm soil testing UA1. There are aspects such as the Veterinary requirement UA12 that will make life difficult for landowners that let their land. The aspiration to restore hedgerows should be applauded but the details of payment rates will severely affect take up. What is missing is advice and guidance from the properly informed, who know your farm and your business and can point you in the right direction. That is not going to be easy but the reference to collaborative action via the Integrated Natural Resources Scheme might be the way forward. Welsh Government and RPW are reluctant to engage, hopeless at communication and fed up with being sworn at. They are not the best partners to restore biodiversity in Wales. If they tried to behave like real people you could talk to not AI automatons this might actually work. There is no point in demanding a different scheme. After seven-plus years it is what it is.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store