Leader of the Welsh Conservatives Andrew RT Davies reacts to the start of another Tory leadership race

THE leader of the Welsh Conservatives Andrew RT Davies has voiced his thoughts on the Tory leadership race saying the party needs ‘to deliver on economic, international, and domestic concerns’.

Speaking to GB News, Andrew RT Davies said: “I have a good relationship with both the lead candidates. Boris Johnson from his time in office, as Prime Minister, and before that in his time as Mayor of London. But also Rishi Sunak when he was chancellor.

“We had great engagement with both those two individuals. And whoever comes through, I will look forward to working to continue the really important job as Conservatives that we have in government in Westminster, and here in Wales, to live up to people’s expectations when they put their cross in the ballot box for us in 2019.

“It will be a betrayal of those people unless we actually start to deliver on the economic concerns that people have, and on the international concerns that people have, and on the domestic concerns that people have about rebuilding after COVID.”

Discussing the possibility of tax cuts and the best next steps, Andrew commented: “I was someone who regretted the instability that arrived at the doorstep of the Conservative Party in July, when the sitting Prime Minister was turfed out of office.

“I accept that the dynamics around that meant that he had to hand his resignation in, but (I’m) someone who believes that if you vote for a party and a leader at a General Election, you have a reasonable expectation that they will serve the mandate.

“And obviously through the summer months, we had a genuine contest between two individuals who set out their stall. Both obviously signed up to future tax cuts, one with immediate effect, one with medium to long term effect.

“And I do believe that’s the trajectory the Conservative Party has to be on, which is about allowing people to retain as much of their money as possible, whilst taking a reasonable portion of that in taxes to pay for our great public services.

“Because unless you incentivise people to go out and do that extra shift or extra overtime or be dynamic in the workplace to create an economy that’s a 21st century economy, we will see stagnation and we will see a declining economy that will shrink the pie that pays for the public services.”