Might ex-Welsh Conservative MPs stand for Senedd?

Some ex-Welsh Tory MPs might run for the Senedd in 18 months, the new Conservative spokesperson on Wales at Westminster has suggested.

In 2019, 14 Welsh Conservative MPs were elected but the party failed to win a single seat in Wales in July.

Parties need many more candidates for the 2026 Senedd election, as the institution expands from 60 to 96 members with a new, more proportional, voting system.

New shadow Welsh secretary Mims Davies indicated to the BBC that the Welsh Parliament could be a route back to frontline politics for some former Welsh Conservative MPs.

Davies is MP for East Grinstead and Uckfield, in the south east of England.

"I want to see some of my colleagues back," she told Radio Wales Breakfast.

"Fay Jones [ex-Brecon and Radnorshire MP] and Virginia Crosbie of course did a fantastic job in Ynys Môn, and we see the 2026 Senedd elections as the opportunity for making a difference."

Davies was asked by presenter Carl Roberts if she believed some of the Welsh MPs rejected at the general election could get into the Senedd.

She said: "I think that just because you have been a Westminster MP it doesn't mean that necessarily you give up on politics [if you lose your seat in the Commons]."

Davies added that local councils, and in Wales the Senedd, provide "your base" as a politician.

The Welsh Parliament, she said, has "been there for 25 years - it's costing a huge amount of money".

With its coming expansion "it's going to cost even more money and there's going to be even more politicians", she added.

"If there are going to be more politicians I want them to be Conservative ones."