WELSH Tory leader Andrew Davies resigned today after narrowly surviving a no-confidence vote that split his Senedd colleagues.

Nine supported Mr Davies, but seven voted against after the vote was called following some Senedd Tories raising concerns about his leadership last week.

In his resignation letter, Mr Davies said he will stand down once a successor is elected.

But he also said that last week some of his shadow cabinet had threatened to resign if he did not agree to step down as leader, prompting a no-confidence vote.

There had been criticism of some of his social media posts, where Mr Davies made comments on X, formerly Twitter, about Halal meat being available in a school, prompting accusations of race-baiting.

Mr Davies claimed that his leadership could have united the centre-right vote in Wales and said: “It has become increasingly difficult to take this necessary approach, due to resistance from some members within the Senedd group.”

The Tories are the official opposition in the Senedd, but a recent opinion poll for Cardiff University and ITV Wales had the party slumping to fourth place on 19 per cent.

In a shock to Labour, the poll has them tied in second place with Reform at 23 per cent, while Welsh nationalists Plaid Cymru top the poll at 24 per cent.

While within the margin of error, the surge in support for Reform UK, who have no Senedd members or MPs in Wales, will worry Labour as much as the Conservatives. 

A Welsh Labour spokesperson said: “The Welsh Conservative summer of navel-gazing continues into the autumn.”