This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . The next check for changes will be

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czelpk0kdkwo

The article has changed 3 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Welsh Tory leader fails to rule out working with Reform or Plaid Tory leaders won't rule out Senedd deals with Plaid and Reform
(about 2 hours later)
Darren Millar's UK Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch and her Senedd leader Darren Millar have declined to rule out deals with Plaid Cymru and Reform after next year's election in Wales.
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. On current projections, it is likely politicians of different parties will need to work together to form the next Welsh government, with a majority difficult to obtain.
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. On the first day of his party's Welsh conference in Llangollen, Senedd Tory leader Darren Millar has said his party was willing to work with "anybody" to get Labour out of power.
Millar described his party as a "government in waiting" ahead of the next Senedd vote in May 2026. Kemi Badenoch, who has ruled out working Reform at a UK level, admitted it was a "reality" that post-election talks may need to happen but said the conversation was a "distraction".
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. The Conservatives have been polling in fourth place behind Labour, Reform UK and Plaid Cymru ahead of the election in Wales next May and lost all their Welsh MPs 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. Millar described his party, which has 16 seats in the Welsh Parliament, as a "government in waiting" while Badenoch called on members to "fight back" against Plaid Cymru and Reform.
Working with either Reform or Plaid Cymru would be likely to be controversial internally within the Conservatives - particularly over Plaid's pro-independence stance. It is unlikely Labour would ever work with the Conservatives or Reform. Plaid Cymru has ruled out working with Reform but not the Tories or Labour.
Darren Millar told the programme: "I'm prepared to work with anybody to get rid of this failing Labour government. Deals with either Plaid Cymru or Reform are likely to be controversial internally in the Conservatives, especially given Plaid's pro-Welsh independence stance.
"I've said it many times, and that is what I'm determined to do, because it's in the national interest." On BBC Radio Wales Breakfast Millar said: "I'm prepared to work with anybody to get rid of this failing Labour government.
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."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. Pushed on what his position was on working with Plaid Cymru, he made the same comment.
"It's perfectly possible for parties with very different views to develop an agenda for government that they can agree on . 'We're not here to talk about deals'
"The new Senedd arrangements with the new voting system mean that no single party will have an overall majority. In an interview with BBC Wales, Badenoch was asked if she wanted to fight Plaid Cymru and Reform or do a deal with them.
"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. She said: "We're not here to talk about deals, we're here to talk about what we are going to do to fix Wales.
"Devolution, at the moment, for most people has failed them, because it's been run by a Labour government for such a long time." "Whenever politicians start talking about who they are going to do deals with or how they are going to get back into government, you can see they are not really thinking about what is going to deliver for the people of this country.
Millar was speaking at the start of the party's conference in Llangollen. "And that's why Darren and I are 100% focused on Conservatives winning as many seats as possible."
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. Asked again about deals with Reform or Plaid, Badenoch admitted it was a "reality" that conversations might take place "but right now, that's not where we are".
"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. She added: "I'm very clear I'm not having this conversation because its a distraction."
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.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. In her speech to conference, Badenoch said Plaid Cymru and Reform were playing the "politics of identity".
"I have ruled out a pact with Nigel Farage in the Westminster parliament," she said. She said Labour had "always been able to blame someone else" in Wales and that Plaid Cymru and Reform were "benefiting" now Labour was in power in Westminster.
"It's the politics of identity they are playing and we need to fight back. Reform is not the answer, Labour is not the answer.
"All these other parties are a flavour of the same thing. They tell people what they think they want to hear because they're trying to help themselves."
Badenoch said last year's election result was "devastating" and the local elections in England showed the party was "not yet out of the woods".
She said Wales was "where our fightback begins".
In her speech she said it was "good to be back in Wales" before saying it had been "fantastic meeting so many people" including "MSPs".
Wales does not have any MSPs – politicians from Cardiff Bay are called Members of the Senedd (MSs).
She later told BBC Wales it was a "slip of the tongue".
Darren Millar said the party had a "very bruising" general election result
Earlier, Millar told the conference that last year's general election defeat was "very bruising" and it was "clear that we have got a lot of work to do to rebuild trust".
He said his party was "the only credible alternative to this clapped out, lacklustre Labour government that has run this country into the ground, has run out of ideas and has run out of steam".
He said "a bad opinion poll" did not discourage him, but "motivates me. It makes me work harder".
He said the Tories were "pro-freedom, pro-choice, pro-personal responsibility".
On Friday 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.
Millar told Radio Wales Breakfast that the policies showed the Tories were "a government in waiting".
The conference follows a row among party grassroots members, who say Tories who dislike devolution are effectively barred from being candidates for the next Senedd election.