Welsh Tory leader calls for parties to offer 'chance of change'
The Welsh Conservatives want to work with other parties in the run up to the next assembly election so voters are offered an alternative to Labour, Welsh Tory leader Andrew RT Davies has said.
He said voters had to feel there was a "real chance of change". Under Mr Davies, the Tories went backwards at the 2016 assembly election, losing three seats. Plaid Cymru AM Simon Thomas said it was too early to be discussing what should be happening at the 2021 election. Speaking at a press conference Mr Davies - Welsh Tory leader since 2011 - said no party had a "monopoly on good ideas". Asked if he was prepared to go into coalition with Plaid Cymru, he said: "I am not going to put any roadblocks in the way that stop us getting Labour out of government and we have to enthuse the voters to vote for us." In the 2016 poll the Conservatives lost three seats and slipped behind Plaid. But defections since then mean Mr Davies now leads the biggest opposition group. In his first press briefing of the year, he added: "I am not going to write the 2021 Conservative manifesto here at the start of 2018. "I think what's important to acknowledge at the start of 2018 is that from our benches there is this view that we can work together if the will exists in other parties and political groups. "There are other opportunities as well as outright coalitions and other formulas that can work to get Labour out of government." Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood has said she would never lead her party into a coalition with the Conservatives. "I get that, but waters and tides come and go, as such," Mr Davies said. "From our position, we are not talking six months or six weeks out form an election we are laying this out three and a bit years out from an election." Many supporters of devolution "feel bitterly let down" because of Labour's record in charge since the assembly was created in 1999, he argued. "Therefore it falls to us as opposition parties here today in 2018 to actually put a credible alternative forward for government," Mr Davies said. "Otherwise people, the general public at large, will say 'well what's the point voting in assembly elections?' "Turnout has been a huge problem and motivating voters to go out at assembly elections is a huge concern for politicians I would suggest who sit here." Plaid AM Simon Thomas said: "It's far too early to be discussing what should be happening in the next assembly election or even after the next assembly election. "If you want an alternative to Labour then Plaid Cymru and Leanne Wood is that alternative." Describing Theresa May's government as a "shambles", he added: "I don't think they (Conservatives) are a credible alternative in Wales."