THE Welsh Conservatives have ruled out doing any post-election deal with a party that is campaigning to abolish the Senedd.

Andrew RT Davies, leader of the Senedd Conservative group, said his party would not be doing any deals with the Abolish the Welsh Assembly Party.

Instead, he called on his party’s supporters to vote Conservative at the forthcoming Senedd elections on May 6.

“We’re looking at going to the people of Wales and asking them to give us a mandate,” Mr Davies told the BBC’s Politics Wales show.

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“If they give us that mandate, we know from the last general election in 2019 in excess of 500,000 people voted for the Conservatives in Wales.

“We know there are Welsh Conservative voters out there who want to see a Welsh Conservative government in Cardiff Bay.”

Mr Davies said his party had already ruled out any form of partnership with Welsh nationalists Plaid Cymru and called on the Labour Party to do the same.

“We’re not talking about deals,” he said.

“What we’re saying quite clearly is if you vote for a Welsh Conservative candidate both within the constituency and in the region, you will get a Welsh Conservative candidate representing your views in Cardiff Bay.

“I think that’s really important for people to know this time round because we’ve seen parties jump, turn, go through hoops or whatever, through this last session where some members have been in five different parties.

“If you vote Welsh Conservative, you’ll get a Welsh Conservative and that’s really important, and we know that 550,000 people voted Welsh Conservative in 2019 and we’re the only opposition party that’s in a position to say that and actually be in a position to make change here in Wales.”

Mr Davies was asked whether the Welsh Conservatives would work with the Abolish the Welsh Assembly Party in the Senedd.

“I see no reason why we want to work with them whatsoever,” he replied.

“As I said, I see no reason whatsoever. I call on the Labour Party to do the same and make sure that voters know what they’re voting for with Labour rather than a carve-up behind closed doors.”

Labour has been in government in Wales since devolution began in 1999, forming a coalition with the Liberal Democrats in 2000 and Plaid Cymru in 2007.

They won 29 of the 60 seats in the 2016 Senedd election and govern with the support of Liberal Democrat Kirsty Williams and independent member Lord Elis-Thomas.

The Conservatives are the second largest group in the Senedd with 11 seats and are hoping for a repeat of the 2019 UK general election when the party won six Welsh seats from Labour.

The Abolish the Welsh Assembly Party currently has two members of the Senedd, Gareth Bennett and Mark Reckless, who were both originally elected as Ukip.