It's tough for Tories but we can fix Wales, Kemi Badenoch says

Kemi Badenoch has rallied Conservative members at their Welsh conference, saying her party has a plan to "fix Wales".

Badenoch's Welsh leader Darren Millar said his party will never be "beaten", even if it does suffer defections.

The Senedd group leader said he has "credible" policies to get Wales working, and claimed the country is "broken" under 27 years of Labour government.

Opinion polls have suggested the party is currently looking at fourth place for the Senedd elections, taking place in May.

Speaking at Venue Cymru in Llandudno on Friday, Badenoch thanked members and officials for standing by the party in Wales, adding: "I know its not an easy time for Conservatives here."

She told them First Minister Eluned Morgan had "bottled it" in not calling for Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to resign in the wake of the Lord Mandelson scandal, and also accused Labour of blaming Margaret Thatcher for Wales' problems.

"It's not Mrs Thatcher who cancelled the M4 relief road, it's Welsh Labour," she said.

Badenoch said Plaid Cymru is "economically illiterate", and that the party does not understand that Welsh independence "would collapse the benefits system and wreck the pension system".

And she said Reform wave "their union flags around" but only care about "getting into power".

"They are grifters more interested in lining their own pockets than standing up for the UK," she said.

Badenoch vowed to boost British industry with cheaper energy, by cutting regulation and building more, saying: "We need to fall in love with building again and building things well."

Asked by BBC Wales whether the Tories can actually win in Wales, Badenoch said "anything can happen", and pointed to Wales's new voting system "where every vote counts".

"Conservatives up and down Wales don't have to think about tactical voting or maybe we can't win in a particular area," she said.

Badenoch had previously criticised Robert Jenrick, before he defected for Reform, for describing Britain as broken, and appeared reluctant to agree with Senedd group leader Millar that Wales was "broken".

Pushed on whether she agreed with Millar, she said: "It's a loose framing."

She added: "There are things in Wales that are broken. All of this is semantics. Everyone knows there are some things that aren't working very well, but we need to also remain positive."

On post-election deals, she said it is up to "local people" in her party "to decide what coalition is going to work best with them".

In his conference speech Millar acknowledged that his party "may suffer the odd setback from time to time".

"We may have the occasional election loss. We may even have the odd defection, but we will never be beaten," he said.

Millar claimed Wales was "broken" after more than a quarter of a century of Labour dominance in Wales, adding that "their counterparts in Westminster are failing us too".

He said Labour had betrayed the public, adding: "Farmers sold out, pubs and post offices forced to close. Business and charities hit with tax rises. Energy bill-payers clobbered."

Millar said his "raft of credible and fully costed positive policies" for Wales included cutting income tax by a penny in the pound, and cutting waiting lists in the NHS by declaring a health emergency.

Millar appeared to not completely rule out a post-election agreement with Reform or Plaid, saying: "The only deal I'm interested in is a deal with the people of Wales."

But he also accused Plaid of wanting to "rip Wales apart from the rest of the UK" and claimed Reform was not "serious".