Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies quits despite narrowly surviving no-confidence vote

Conservative Senedd member Andrew RT Davies today narrowly survived a vote about his future of the leader of the group in the Welsh Parliament but then quit anyway. In a resignation letter to the chair of the Welsh Conservative party he said he was standing down "with regret" and would remain in post until a successor was elected. He said his position was "untenable" following the confidence vote. Read his letter in full here.

Mr Davies, who is the leader of the opposition in the Senedd, has faced questions over his position which escalated into a vote being called at his insistence. The ballot took place on Tuesday morning with nine voting in favour of him remaining as leader - including himself - and seven against. A second meeting is then understood to have taken place, after which he issued a letter saying he was standing down.

The Conservatives have 16 members in the Senedd compared to the ruling party group Labour which has 30. He first became leader 13 years ago in 2011 before being forced out in 2018 but was re-appointed in 2021 after then-leader Paul Davies resigned after drinking with other politicians in the Senedd four days into a Wales-wide alcohol ban in licensed premises.

The Conservatives are battling over their future position ahead of the 2026 Senedd election. Having lost all its MPs in the 2024 general election the party is facing pressure from Reform UK. A poll at the weekend put Plaid Cymru as the party with the greatest support among the public in Wales ahead of Labour. The Barn Cymru/ITV poll by YouGov suggested Plaid, Labour, and Reform are the three leading parties in Wales with the Conservatives behind in fourth having lost support to Reform. You can read more about that here. There are also