Welsh Conservative Leader Andrew RT Davies pays tribute to Wales football manager Gary Speed

William Graham AM: The need for a strong Conservative Opposition in Wales has never been greater

William Graham, Welsh Assembly Member for South Wales East and Shadow Leader of the House, writes the first in a series of a weekly reviews of Assembly matters.

There is a compelling case for arguing that 2007 has seen a significant shift in British politics. Just as the Party Leadership seized the initiative at our Blackpool Conference offering enterprising policies on issues such as inheritance tax, in the Welsh Assembly under Nick Bourne’s leadership we are capitalising on our new platform as the Official Opposition – putting ideas before ideology, people before party politics. In future this column will offer a fortnightly bulletin on the key issues and debates occurring in Wales but may I first sketch a quick picture of the Welsh political landscape.

With the Assembly Elections in May representing Labour’s worst performance at the polls in Wales since the First World War there was a realistic opportunity for the Welsh Conservatives to consider entering a coalition Government. The Liberal Democrats’ dithering ended the prospect of the of the All Wales Alliance becoming a reality, with the end result being a fragile alliance between Labour and Plaid Cymru predicated more on keeping the Conservatives out of power than delivering the change and good governance Wales requires. With this uneasy coalition’s objectives, stated in their One Wales agreement document, of moving towards independence and the implementation of a socialist agenda, the need for a strong Conservative opposition has never been so great in Wales.

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