Tory Senedd leader says ‘dose’ of Dominic Cummings needed in Wales

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“A dose of Dom” is needed in Wales to “shake up” its governance, the Welsh Conservatives’ Senedd leader has said.

Paul Davies said the desire of the prime minister’s chief advisor Dominic Cummings to overhaul the UK government was the “right thing to do”.

In a virtual speech to party supporters he said the Welsh Government needed “to be transformed by a dose of radicalism”.

That would bring about change “from top to bottom”, he said.

“Paralysis of delivery is the worst disease affecting public policy in Wales,” Mr Davies said.

He said it could be First Minister Mark Drakeford’s “biggest failing.”

With Labour holding power since devolution in 1999, there had “been little appetite for change”.

Mr Davies said: “We do not live in a utopia but it has been a rare Welsh minister who ever admits programmes and money haven’t worked.

“You cannot fix a problem if your whole defensive attitude is part of the actual problem.

“It is not just enough to have a political revolution at the ballot box.

“We Conservatives don’t intend to win a Senedd election just to carry on governing in the same way that Labour has done.”

The Tories would govern in a way that is “radical and challenging,” he said.

Mr Davies, the Senedd member for Preseli Pembrokeshire, accused previous Welsh Governments of failing to learn from England.

He said a Conservative administration after 2021’s Senedd election would not “slavishly follow” England, but would not disregard it.

“We will learn from our neighbour rather than constantly striving for a so-called Welsh solution,” he said.

Mr Davies thought continuous Labour governments had failed, rather than devolution.

At the Welsh Conservative spring conference in March, he said the party did not support scrapping the Senedd but said “we need to listen more”.

In June, the Welsh Barometer poll conducted by YouGov for Cardiff University and ITV Cymru Wales suggested strong support for scrapping devolution among Tory voters.

On the multiple choice question, getting rid of the Welsh Parliament was clearly the most popular option for people who said they would vote Conservative in Senedd elections.

Leaving devolution as it is was the second most popular option.