The Tories are calling for a check on the Welsh Government as the election campaign begins

Twm Owen, local democracy reporter

The Conservatives want the history of the Welsh Labor government to be examined during the ongoing UK general election campaign, the Welsh Secretary has said.

David Davies is fighting to retain the seat in Monmouthshire, which he has represented in parliament since 2005, and denied that his party, which has trailed Labor in the polls since 2022, is unconfident during the “very difficult last five years”.

The Welsh Conservatives kicked off their general election campaign at a farm and clay pigeon shooting in a remote part of rural Monmouthshire with Mr Davies and the party’s leader in the Senedd, Andrew RT Davies.

They were joined by a handful of candidates, Senedd MPs and councilors, and former Welsh rugby international Alix Popham.

Short

The low-key affair contrasted with Labour’s Welsh premier 24 hours earlier in Abergavenny, where Opposition leader Sir Keir Starmer and First Minister Vaughan Gething were welcomed by a packed room of candidates, councilors and party faithful.

Mr Starmer’s arrival, followed by a large group of touring journalists, confirmed that the redrawn Monmouthshire seat would be in Labor’s crosshairs on July 4.

Davies told his supporters, gathered for a photo session outside a large combine harvester, that they were on a working farm “to draw attention” to the differences in agricultural policy in Labour-led Wales and England.

He and RT Davies repeated their regular criticism of waiting times in the Welsh NHS, education standards and the “blanket” 20mph speed limit in built-up areas.

Asked by the Local Democracy Reporting Service whether the Welsh Conservatives wanted to fight the election based on the policies of the Welsh Labor government rather than the history of the UK government, Davies said he wanted to discuss both.

“Holded Accountable”

He said: “I think it’s absolutely right that Welsh workers are being held to account for their policies in Wales and it’s interesting that Keir Starmer spoke about the health service yesterday. If he wants to talk about health care, I’m more than happy to have that conversation, but I think we obviously want to fight it based on our own politics.

He added: “We have shown that we can stabilize the economy, inflation is currently just over two per cent, and we have also developed other policies that I think will strengthen our communities enormously, such as the idea of ​​our young people volunteering for up to 25 days, providing various services, as well as policies to deal with illegal immigration in this country.”

national service

During his short speech, Davies said national service was “not about forcing people to join the armed forces at 18”, but about volunteering with the NHS, the RNLI lifeboat charity, the police or other uniformed services.

Davies then said that in most cases it would be 25 days or “a few weekends a year” and defended the plan for 30,000 people to serve in the military.

“They would be volunteers, they would have to want to do it and be highly motivated. This would be a 12-month contract, different from the one currently on offer, where a contract must be signed for at least three years.

He acknowledged that training other recruits could be a challenge for the military, but said: “I think we can overcome that. When I joined the TA, at the age of 18, there was a division between TA soldiers and regular soldiers.

“We used to be sarcastically called SASS – Saturday and Sunday Soldiers – that sort of thing is gone now. The current squad’s reserves and regulars are much better integrated. I’m sure this will be a challenge we’ll look into when the time comes. “

Davies also defended the rule requiring teenage adults to volunteer and said: “It’s not about older people telling young people what to do.”

It was proposed that the program would be paid for from the funds currently allocated to the Common Prosperity Fund, which was to replace European Union funds and which local governments usually spend on revitalization projects.

Davies defended the reallocation of the money: “The money will really be used to help and support young people. I think it’s a good use of money.”