Welsh Tories No Plan B And Certainly No Plan Cymru.

The Conservative in Wales, seem to have largely given up on the idea of the "Welsh" part of their Identity .

The Backdrop of their Spring Conference was a stylised Union Jack with only a bilingual slogan to give us a clue where it was coming from.



David Cameron's, speech offered little in a Welsh context . Indeed apart from attacking Labour's running of the Assembly particularly Enterprise Zones,Health and Education the Tories seem to offer very little in the next wave of devolution.and a  call to devolve Severn bridges. There was very little when it came to the future government of Wales


Still their Assembly Leader Andrew RT Davies did claim  that Conservatives cannot turn the clock back on devolution.

He said  said he shared the concerns of Tories who feared for the future of the United Kingdom, but they could not ignore the process of devolving powers to Cardiff.

He told the Welsh Conservative conference in Swansea that the union  was  a

"family of nations" 

Of course he forgets that in all families there comes a time when the children leave home and fend for

.
But although the Tories had campaigned for a no-vote in the 1997 referendum, he stressed:

 "We can do Conservative things with devolution."

In his speech at the Liberty Stadium, he said the Conservatives had reached

 "our Clause Four moment" on devolution.
"There are some who are still fighting the battles of the devolution referendum of 1997," he said.
"Devolution cannot be simply put back into the bottle."
We know that the union goes deeper than politics - it goes to the heart”

And although the Tories had campaigned for a no-vote in the 1997 referendum, he stressed:

"We can do Conservative things with devolution."

"We as Conservatives might not like what this lazy Labour government is doing in Cardiff Bay, but let us not oppose devolution because of what is being carried out in lazy Labour's name."

He added:

 "I fully understand the concerns of some who think devolution is about moving towards a breakup of the United Kingdom.
"I didn't go into politics to break up the United Kingdom. I am a proud unionist. We are proud to say that we are Welsh and British.
"These are concerns that I share too, but ignoring the process and not engaging in it will not make it go away."

His speech comes as the UK government considers the findings of the Silk Commission which recommended that the Welsh government should acquire some tax-varying powers.

 But apart from announcing  commission into childcare there seemed little to offer Wales apart from expecting us to simply follow the policies of the Welsh Tories Westminster masters.

Forgive me if I'm wrong  but any Welsh Solutions to Welsh problems ( which is the ethos of devolution) this seems to have largely passed  the "Welsh Conference" bye

The Tories may not want to turn the clock back on Devolution. But from what I saw this weekend they seem keen not to wind it at would like it run down and probably stop all together.