Welsh Tory leader Andrew RT Davies resigns

The Conservative leader in the Welsh Parliament, Andrew RT Davies, has resigned after narrowly surviving a vote of confidence of his party colleagues.

In a letter Davies said he did so with regret after some of his Members of the Senedd (MSs) had threatened to resign from his frontbench last week if he did not quit.

He won a vote of Tory Senedd members on Tuesday morning – with nine in support and seven against.

Davies described his position as “untenable” following the vote and said in his resignation statement that “it was clear from the result that a substantial minority of the group do not support our approach”.

Davies had been leader of the Tories in the Senedd for most of the past 13 years.

It is the first significant resignation of a senior Conservative since Kemi Badenoch became party leader.

In a letter to his Welsh Tory chair Bernard Gentry, he accused party colleagues in the Senedd of undermining him.

He said he would not stand in the forthcoming leadership contest.