THE LEADER of the Welsh Conservatives has failed to rule out a potential deal with UKIP as part of a ‘rainbow coalition’ following the Welsh Assembly elections in May – after publicly calling for Plaid Cymru to confirm that they would not enter a coalition with Labour.
At the UKIP conference in Llandudno, both party leader Nigel Farage and Welsh leader Nathan Gill expressed hopes that UKIP AMs could work with other parties.
Mr Gill said: “We welcome the opportunity of doing what’s right for Wales and if that was the right decision, if we could really between us work it out, work as a cohesive group of three parties or two parties – and actually really believe that we can improve the lot of the people of Wales then of course we’d do it because we are about making the lives of our fellow citizens better.”
Whether or not Labour or Plaid Cymru would work with UKIP is debatable, especially as both parties are campaigning for the Assembly elections on a pro-EU membership basis. It is unlikely that what the Conservatives repeatedly refer to as ‘Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party’ would do business with UKIP, and would probably form a minority government – as they did this term – instead.
Having ruled out a coalition with the Welsh Conservatives, it would be surprising if Leanne Wood considered entering a ‘rainbow coalition’ with UKIP. The party suffered a loss of popularity after the 2007 coalition, and it is assumed that the fallout from a UKIP coalition would be at least as damaging.
Which leaves the Welsh Conservatives. Nathan Gill praised Andrew RT Davies for his stance on the EU, saying that the Welsh Conservatives’ leader was ‘very brave and patriotic in what he has done’.
Mr Farage went even further. In a speech at the party conference, he said that UKIP would be going into the assembly with ‘a constructive mentality’: “If we can work with other people and that delivers better results that’s good.”
“The fact that Davies has taken the stance that he has taken, probably long-term makes it easier to work with them. We will be entirely pragmatic.”
When questioned by the national media, Mr Davies was somewhat unwilling to discuss post-election deals. However, he added that he ‘regretted’ other parties (read Plaid Cymru) had not ruled out any deal with Labour.
“I think the one thing that unifies all parties that aren’t in Government here in Wales in the Assembly is that Labour is the problem,” he added.
A deal with UKIP could be problematic should any senior members, especially Mark Reckless, watch Mr Davies’ speech to the Conservative Party conference last year, in which he emphatically stated that UKIP was ‘not the answer.’
In this speech, Mr Davies reserved much of his ire for strategy director Mr Reckless: “When the good citizens of Rochester and Stroud gave Mark Reckless the boot in May, they saddled him to us – he has come now to be a candidate in next year’s Assembly elections,” he said.
“He is a part-time resident in Caerphilly, for goodness sake!
“I have to say, as you go out, there will be collection buckets at the door, so that you can give generously so that we can boot him back over to you, and you can do with him what you will!”
Last year, Mr Davies challenged Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood to rule out entering a coalition with Welsh Labour, and accused her of hypocrisy when she failed to do so.
The Herald asked Mr Davies if he could indicate whether or not he would be prepared to enter into a coalition with UKIP, bearing in mind their similar views on EU membership. We also asked if Mr Davies still stood by the remarks made in his conference speech. At the time of going to press – three days later – we had received no reply, and a voicemail message left with the senior press officer went similarly unanswered.
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