Welsh Tory leader fails to rule out working with Reform or Plaid
The leader of the Welsh Tories in the Senedd has said he will work with "anybody" to get Labour out of power in Cardiff Bay.Speaking on BBC Radio Wales Breakfast, Darren Millar gave the same answer when asked if he would work with Reform or Plaid Cymru, failing to rule out co-operating with either.Millar described his party as a "government in waiting" ahead of the next Senedd vote in May 2026.The party has been polling in fourth place behind Labour, Reform UK and Plaid Cymru, and lost all of its MPs in Wales at the last general election.
On current projections it is likely that no party will win a majority and will need to make arrangements with others to govern.
Working with either Reform or Plaid Cymru would be likely to be controversial internally within the Conservatives - particularly over Plaid's pro-independence stance.Darren Millar told the programme: "I'm prepared to work with anybody to get rid of this failing Labour government."I've said it many times, and that is what I'm determined to do, because it's in the national interest."Asked to clarify if that was his answer to working with Reform, he repeated the point: "I will work with anybody to get rid of this dreadful Welsh Labour government. I'll say no more than that."Pushed on what his position was on working with Plaid Cymru, he made the same argument: "I'll work with anybody to get rid of this failing Labour government."It's perfectly possible for parties with very different views to develop an agenda for government that they can agree on ."The new Senedd arrangements with the new voting system mean that no single party will have an overall majority."But I'm determined to be in the driving seat so that we can deliver a Conservative agenda that will transform Wales and make it better."Devolution, at the moment, for most people has failed them, because it's been run by a Labour government for such a long time."Millar was speaking at the start of the party's conference in Llangollen.
On Saturday morning the party launched a number of policies including a promise to bring down waits for NHS treatment to no more than a year, and reinstating home economics to schools."We have set out a raft of policies. That's because we're a party which is a government in waiting," Millar told Radio Wales Breakfast.It comes amid a row among party grassroots members who say Tories who dislike devolution are effectively barred from being candidates.Nigel Farage has said that Reform UK would be willing to work with any other party to form a government in Wales.The UK's Conservative leader has herself refused to be drawn on any post-electoral pacts with Farage's party in the Senedd."I have ruled out a pact with Nigel Farage in the Westminster parliament," she said.
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