David TC Davies

The Labour–Plaid Cymru co-operation agreement had produced proposals to expand the Senedd from 60 to 96 members under a new proportional representation system. As Welsh Secretary, Davies led the UK Government's opposition to the reforms, which he saw as entrenching Labour-Plaid dominance.

Davies told the Conservative conference that the Senedd reform plan would 'lock in a Labour government forever' and 'concentrate power in the hands of a few party managers.' This framing combined a democratic argument (against the closed-list system) with a partisan one (that proportional representation would disadvantage the Conservatives). He became the highest-ranking UK Government voice opposing Senedd expansion, using his position as Welsh Secretary to argue that Wales needed 'more nurses, doctors, dentists and teachers, not more politicians in Cardiff Bay.' His intervention was significant because it represented the UK Government explicitly opposing the democratic reform of a devolved institution — something Plaid Cymru later cited as evidence that Westminster could not be trusted to respect Welsh democracy.

The Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill was about to pass its final vote. Davies, still serving as Welsh Secretary, filmed a video in the Wales Office directly opposing the legislation — drawing accusations from Labour counterpart Jo Stevens that he was breaking the ministerial code by using government premises for party-political purposes.

In the video, Davies asked whether Welsh taxpayers would rather spend £120 million on 'creating dozens of extra Senedd members in Cardiff Bay' or on 'employing more nurses, doctors, dentists and teachers,' declaring 'I know which side I'm on.' He followed up with a column describing the Senedd expansion as a 'reckless vanity project' and lamenting that the new closed-list voting system meant 'any freethinkers who question the status quo have no chance of getting elected.' He called it 'a sorry day for democracy on the 25th anniversary of devolution in Wales.' The episode illustrated Davies's consistent approach throughout his tenure as Welsh Secretary: using his UK Government platform to delegitimise the Senedd's growth while nominally supporting devolution's existence. His loss of his Monmouth seat at the July 2024 general election ended his parliamentary career but he returned to the Senedd as Welsh Conservatives Chief of Staff, maintaining his influence on the party's devolution positioning.