Ex-Tory leader warned over repeated rule breaches

The Conservatives’ former leader in the Senedd has been warned he will be punished if he breaks the parliament’s rules again.

Andrew RT Davies has been told off for failing to declare an interest as a farmer while asking questions about inheritance tax for farms

The Welsh Parliament’s Standards Committee decided not to take action against him, but said it had dealt with a “number of complaints” about Davies since the 2021 Senedd election. The Senedd has since confirmed that this is his fourth breach of the code of conduct for members.

Davies said being a farmer “is not something I’ve ever hidden” and he did not think he needed to declare an interest.

A committee report says most complaints about Davies have been “relatively minor”, but adds: “Repeated breaches, even of a minor nature, are a cause of concern for this committee and suggest a disregard for the decisions it makes.

“Should the committee find the member to have breached the code of conduct in future, the total number of breaches made by the member will be taken into consideration, which is likely to result in the recommendation of a sanction that reflects the totality of the breaches.”

The latest incident happened in November, while Davies was still Tory leader.

He is a partner in a family farming business in the Vale of Glamorgan, but did not say so before asking about the agricultural inheritance tax hike in the UK government’s Budget.

The South Wales Central MS told standards commissioner Douglas Bain, who investigates complaints: “It is no secret that I am a farmer” and said he had spoken publicly about the impact of the tax changes, including on his farm.

But Bain wrote: “This was not an instance of an oversight by the member.

“He considered whether he was required to declare an interest and decided that he did not.

“I find it most surprising that an experienced member could have made that decision.”

The standards committee said failing to follow the rules was serious, but it was satisfied by Davies’s explanation that it “was as a result of misinterpretation rather than seeking to purposefully conceal an interest”.

Its report also reminds MSs that the parliament’s in-house rules – called standing orders – require them to announce any relevant interests before speaking and that they “should not assume that people outside of the Senedd are aware of their interests”.

The incident in November came a week after Eluned Morgan called on Davies to declare an interest while asking about the same topic in the chamber.

He was reprimanded by the standards watchdog last year for calling Wales’ 20mph law a “blanket” speed limit.

In January the Welsh Refugee Council said it was going to report Davies to the commissioner over social media comments.

Davies said: “I have frequently spoken publicly about the devastating impact Labour’s policies will have on the Welsh agricultural industry, including on our own farm, as I did when I spoke to farmers protesting outside the Senedd last year.

“It’s not something I’ve ever hidden, so I did not think declaring an interest was required.

“However, I have no problem with doing so and will gladly do so in future. I am grateful to the standards commissioner for clarifying this point.”

The complaint against Davies was made by Miles Pateman, a parish priest in Port Talbot, who said he saw the exchange in the Senedd while scrolling and thought “it was worthwhile just dropping them an email and saying I don’t think this is quite right”.

“I honestly think that elected politicians should be held to those very high standards of transparency,” Father Pateman, a Liberal Democrat member, said.

“I don’t disagree with what Mr Davies was saying, but it was just that thing of transparency is so important.”