Where candidates for new Tory leadership stand on devolution
What have the Tory leadership candidates said before about Wales and devolution? Welsh affairs editor Will Hayward reports
AS THE Tory leadership hopefuls are whittled down, it is worth asking where they stand on Wales and devolution.
After all, the public will not get a chance to vote on the new PM.
During a general election much focus is put on the personal behaviour, views and policies of the party leader.
However, this time the decision will just be made by Tory MPs and party members.
It seems only fair to assess the views of the people who are jockeying to be leading the country.
The Echo has therefore gone through each of the remaining leadership contenders’ past comments to see what they have said about Wales and devolution.
It is worth noting that none of the candidates have paid a great deal of public attention to Wales. When it comes to devolution, the focus is largely on Scotland and none of them advocate for increasing the amount of powers currently devolved.
■ Rishi Sunak
The former Chancellor has not said too much directly about Wales.
However he did lead the Treasury that for years refused to treat HS2 as an England-only project. Maintaining this stance has left Wales billions of pounds behind the UK’s other nations when it comes to rail funding.
Not that Mr Sunak has much experience with infrastructure in Wales, having paid more than £10,000 for a private return helicopter flight to Powys. According to The Mirror, the Chancellor paid for the flight out of his own pocket ahead of a Welsh Conservative Party gala dinner in Newtown.
One key indicator of his thoughts on devolution is the decisions he made during the Covid pandemic. In October of 2020 the Welsh Government was getting ready to go into the “firebreak” lockdown on the advice of Sage (which had given the same advice to the UK Government).
The Welsh Government had asked Mr Sunak to extend the furlough scheme from October 31, when it was due to end, until November 9, when Wales would come out of its “firebreak”. This request was rejected.
However, as soon as the UK Government announced there would be a circuit-breaker lockdown in England, the UK Government announced that the scheme would be extended after all.
It is also worth noting that he voted for and supported the Internal Market Bill (although it was the then secretary of state for housing, communities and local government James Brokenshire who made a Written Statement setting out more details about the fund). This bill directly attacks the devolved governments’ ability to diverge from the UK Government when it comes to things like banning single-use plastics.
Looking at voting more generally, according to the website TheyWorkForYou, Mr Sunak almost always voted against transferring more powers to the Senedd/Welsh Parliament.
■ Penny Mordaunt
A favourite among party members, Penny Mordaunt is not one of the more well-known faces among the general public. She has not been very vocal on Wales or devolution, having only mentioned Wales once in the House of Commons (and that was on a technical point about the registration of doctors).
However she has spoken about devolution. On November 3, 2020 she said about devolution and the different pandemic rules on either side of the border: “I think it is a good thing, but the price of devolution is divergence and diversity. I know that it has had very real consequences for border communities, particularly for businesses that have been asked to lock down one side of the border and not on the other. We have to learn lessons about better co-ordination from that, and we might try using the same app in the future. Devolution is a good thing and diversity is the price.”
She did, however, run into controversy after she used footage of the Wales football team as part of her leadership campaign video, with the FAW saying it wasn’t asked for permission.
In terms of voting, Ms Mordaunt almost always voted against transferring more powers to the Senedd/ Welsh Parliament.
■ Liz Truss
She is well-known for a bizarre speech where she expressed her hatred of imported cheese.
She has not been particularly outspoken about Wales or devolution but has earned the ire of many Welsh farmers for her Australia trade deal that would be a detrimental hit for Welsh farmers.
Ms Truss denied that would be the case, but data from the UK’s trade department shared with Politico showed she was given detailed warnings by her own officials in 2020 that post-Brexit trade pacts with Australia and New Zealand would shrink the country’s farming and food sectors.
She has generally voted against transferring more powers to the Senedd/Welsh Parliament, including in July 2016 when she voted against giving the then Welsh Assembly the powers to set income tax thresholds for Welsh taxpayers.
■ Tom Tugendhat
Former serviceman Tom Tugendhat has shown a willingness to at least acknowledge the existence of devolution.
Writing recently in the Economist, he spoke of the need for local input, saying: “Private investment and government funding will achieve little if our decisions are all made in Westminster. Devolution is a cornerstone of my levelling-up policy. IQs are no higher in Islington than Inverness, but the causes of sagging productivity may differ. We need more local input to maximise the opportunities for growth.”
He also commented to Domininc Raab in the House of Commons in October 2020 that the voices of the United Kingdom’s separate nations should be heard.
Speaking about future trade deals, he said: “Those deals will only endure truly if the UK holds together and values all parts of this United Kingdom. Will he recognise, therefore, that his role is to promote the voices of Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland together to make sure all those four nations achieve the best for the whole United Kingdom?”
He has voted generally against transferring more powers to the Senedd, with three votes for, 15 votes against and four abstentions.
■ Kemi Badenoch
Former equalities minister Badenoch has a low profile outside Westminster but has been endorsed by exlevelling up secretary Michael Gove.
There is very little on the record that she has said about devolution or Wales but she has shown an interest in devolution within England.
Speaking in the Commons in September 2020, she said: “We do want to do devolution better, rewriting the rulebook and giving new deals for counties, so that the people who know their communities best can do the best for them.
“Through the devolution deals, we have already committed £7.5bn of unringfenced gainshare investment for nine mayoral combined authorities over 30 years, to be spent on local priorities.”
She has generally voted against transferring more powers to the Senedd, which is comparable to most Conservative MPs.