Rishi Sunak believes no more powers should be devolved to Wales- Welsh Conservative conference

Laila Dawelbeit Contributor

In a recent Welsh Conservative conference, the prime minister has said that no more powers should be devolved to Wales. He told the conference voters do not want politicians focused on “constitutional tinkering”, accusing Labour of making people in Wales “guinea pigs in a socialist experiment”.

Earlier, the Welsh Conservative Senedd leader, Andrew RT Davies, said Mr Sunak should “not be afraid to say no” to calls from Welsh Labour and Plaid Cymru for further powers.

This was part of an attack on Welsh Labour for their support of the gender recognition reforms in Scotland, including asylum seekers in the basic income pilot, and the roads review which scrapped major road building projects due to environmental concerns.

The LGBTQ+ Action Plan for Wales mirrors the blocked Scottish Gender Recognition Reform Act which makes it easier for someone to legally change their gender, sparking concerns that it could “trample over women’s rights”. Welsh Conservatives criticised the plan, claiming that LGBTQ+ people “don’t deserve to be used as a political tool by Labour ministers in their bid to secure more powers”.

Wales’ £20m basic income pilot scheme, offering £1600 monthly pay- ments to 18-year-olds leaving care, includes a small number of unaccompanied asylum seeker children (UASC). The scheme aims to “support their integration” and help “rebuild their lives” by giving them access to “appropriate” Welsh government schemes. Although the Welsh Government denied the involvement of “illegal migrants”, Rishi Sunak said it was unbelievable that ministers wanted to pay them: “we’re stopping the boats, Labour are paying for them”.

Andrew RT Davies accused Labour of taking money from the Welsh NHS to “fund more politicians” following plans set by Labour and Plaid Cymru to increase the number of Senedd members (MSs) to 96, in order to cope with an increasing workload and to better scrutinise proposed new laws and government ministers. While the Northern Ireland Assembly has 90 members to represent 1.8m people, Wales, with a population of over 3m people, only has 60 MSs. The main objections to the plans are on the grounds of cost after it was estimated in 2020 that 30 extra MSs would amount to £12m a year. Tories have since quit the Senedd reform committee, accusing Labour and Plaid Cymru of undermining the committee’s work with the announcement of the plan.

Before the conference, Rishi Sunak said he will continue to use the Brecon Beacons name, after it was changed to Bannau Brycheiniog to promote area’s culture and heritage, and that he expects “most people” would do the same.