Abolish Welsh Assembly ex-leader accused of bid to 'steal' the party

The Abolish the Welsh Assembly Party has accused its former leader of trying to steal the party's name.

Abolish has applied to re-register with the Electoral Commission having been struck off the electoral list after a row with David Bevan.

Sacked from the party's board for being "quasi-useless", Mr Bevan has also submitted a bid under the party's name.

The Electoral Commission said: "We will assess both applications in line with the legal requirements."

Political parties need to officially register before February 2021 in order to be able to field candidates in the elections in May for the former assembly, now known as Senedd Cymru or Welsh Parliament.

In April, Mr Bevan was removed as a board member and nominating officer of Abolish for being "ineffectual, non-progressive and quasi-useless", according to a spokesman for the party.

The spokesman added that Mr Bevan "refused to sign the Electoral Commission annual return unless he was reinstated" to the board.

The party, now led by Richard Suchorzewski, decided to let its registration lapse and then re-register, saying the commission stated Mr Bevan "could only be removed with his own consent".

But Mr Bevan, one of the founders of Abolish, has also made an application to officially register the party.

A new website names Mr Bevan as the party's leader, saying: "We will be standing candidates in the Welsh 2021 elections, join our movement to abolish the wasteful and inept Assembly."

In response, a spokesman on behalf of the original party said: "If Mr Bevan thinks that he can steal the party, like a thief in the night, then he is very much mistaken.

"The matter is now in the hands of the Electoral Commission to decide, though it is their original interpretation of the law that a party officer can only be removed from their register with that individual's consent, which has caused this problem to arise in the first place.

"In the meantime, we will continue to explore other legal means at our disposal to ensure Mr Bevan does not harm the party name, brand or any of its officers."

"His actions are, in our opinion, those of a traitor to Wales and the Union and fully vindicates the boards decision to remove him back in April," the spokesman added.

Mr Bevan said: "I founded the party in 2015 to Abolish the Welsh Assembly with the intention of standing candidates from a cross-section of society who do not have their own political ambitions.

"The movement to Abolish the Welsh Assembly is a principled aim for those who believe the Assembly has not been good for the Welsh people."

The Abolish the Welsh Assembly Party has never won a seat in a Welsh election but has two members of the Senedd (MSs) - former UKIP representatives Mark Reckless and Gareth Bennett.

It won 4.4% of the regional list vote at the 2016 Senedd election.

The latest Welsh Political Barometer poll suggests the party is currently on course to win four of the 60 seats in the election next May.