Monmouth Senedd Conservative Nick Ramsay deselected

Conservative party members in Monmouth have told their local Senedd member they do not want him to be their candidate for the May elections.

Nick Ramsay lost a vote of the constituency's party association on Monday night.

It means the party will now throw open the selection process, putting him up against other potential hopefuls.

Mr Ramsay said he was saddened to have been deselected by the local party after 13 years.

He added: "I respect their decision to open up a full reselection process.

"My focus remains, as it always has been, on representing the people of Monmouthshire in the Senedd, tackling issues nationally and locally on their behalf and combatting the pandemic."

The deselection process was triggered by a petition of local members, calling for a decision to readopt Mr Ramsay as party candidate for the 2021 Welsh Parliament elections to be reconsidered.

It prompted legal threats from Mr Ramsay, whose lawyers warned members could face legal costs and damages.

Mr Ramsay later dropped the court action - and a judge ordered the politician to pay £25,000 in costs.

Members proceeded to back the petition in a meeting held in November, and on Monday night were asked again if Mr Ramsay should be their candidate.

The special general meeting of the association voted not to readopt Mr Ramsay as a candidate, BBC Wales understands, after a question and answer session where he was asked why he had taken the association to court.

Mr Ramsay told the meeting he had done nothing wrong, a source told BBC Wales.

Asked why the association had decided to deselect him, a member said Mr Ramsay's performance was "too little, too late".

"He carefully avoided answering questions about some of the major issues surrounding his injunction against the association — which he subsequently withdrew.

"His lawyers threatened to hold every member of the association jointly liable for his costs — generally agreed as an absurd proposition as Mr Ramsay initiated the action."

The decision means a selection process for Monmouth will be restarted. Mr Ramsay would have to compete against other party members, with him and two others going to the membership under party rules.

It follows a year where Mr Ramsay was suspended from the Conservative Party after he was arrested at home on New Year's Day.

He was released without charge two days later, but the suspension lasted until later in the year.