Senedd drinking investigation finds “possible regulations breach” – as Welsh Conservatives back group leader Paul Davies MS

The Welsh Conservatives have backed their leader Paul Davies MS, while an investigation into ‘drinking on the Senedd estate’ has made referrals to Cardiff Council after it found ‘a possible breach of regulations occurred’.

On Monday BBC Wales named Conservative Senedd leader Paul Davies, Darren Millar MS and others who the BBC say “were seen drinking together” – along with stating Labour Senedd member Alun Davies “was also involved”. All three deny breaking any rules.

The allegation is that consumption of alcohol took place on the premises of the Welsh Parliament on the 8th of December – a significant action and date with the pandemic restrictions on the serving of alcohol coming into effect on the 4th of December. The unofficial ‘meeting’ took place ‘in the Senedd tea room’ in the Ty Hywel building, which is behind and linked to the Senedd building pictured above and contains a range of office space as well as canteen areas, at a time where restaurants and pubs could not.

Today a statement from the Llywydd, Elin Jones MS, regarding the alledged drinking on the Senedd estate said, “The Commission’s internal investigation has established that alcohol was consumed by five individuals in the Senedd’s licensed tearoom, four of whom are elected members.”

“The investigation has concluded that a possible breach of regulations occurred and therefore the Chief Executive of the Senedd Commission has referred the matter to Cardiff Council.

“The Regulations in place at the time imposed strict restrictions on members of the public with regard to the consumption of alcohol.

“Given that the possible breach in question occurred as a result of the consumption of alcohol by Members of the Senedd, I have also written to the Standards Commissioner to ask him to investigate whether these Members acted in accordance with the duty in the Code of Conduct to conduct themselves in a manner which maintains and strengthens the public’s trust and confidence in the integrity of the Senedd.”

In a statement, issued before the above findings were made public, Janet Finch-Saunders MS, Chair of the Welsh Conservative Group in the Welsh Parliament: “The Welsh Conservative Group met today to discuss events involving three members of the Group on the 8th December.”

“The Group extended its unanimous support for Paul Davies to continue in his post as Leader of the Group.”

Today the First Minister covered the issue at the lunchtime briefing prior to the above statements being made, saying he was awaiting any outcome of investigations, he added: “I’ll just just say two things that I think, in my mind that are very important, as I understand it, and the investigation will reveal this properly, there was a single member of staff on duty that evening.”

“I’m very anxious that this does not all result in that person carrying the can for what happened that evening. That was a single female member of staff faced with a collection of senior senior members, the idea that the person, the staff member was to blame seems to be completely incredulous.

“I very much hope that this does not head in that direction.”

“Then I think people will want to compare what people have said with what the investigation concludes, I saw the statement from the leader of the Welsh Conservatives and from Darren Millar, who was with him, that they had gone in for a drink after work. I think the implication from that was clear to me that they called in, had a swift half and were on their way home again. People will want to compare the explanations that people have given against what the investigation concludes.”

We asked the First Minister about the concerning insight behind the scenes in Cardiff Bay painting a picture of a possible 4v1 situation, and asked if he was personally aware of any pressure put on a member of staff to serve alcohol, what timeframe constituted a swift investigation, and when he was first made aware of the general allegations.

The First Minister said, “I was made aware of the allegations on Monday evening. At that point, I made the decision that the Labour member involved should be suspended to allow those investigations to continue.”

“I don’t think it is for me to set a timeframe, the investigation is in the hands of the Senedd Commission led by the Presiding Officer and I’m sure that they are working hard to get it concluded in a fair but swift way.”

“In the remarks I made I was responding not to anything that I know directly, I was certainly not there myself, but to some of the reports that I had read and both were suggesting that somehow the responsibility was not on the individuals concerned, but lay with the people who were responsible for serving alcohol. I just wanted to make it clear that in the circumstances that I have seen, I’m not a regular user of the facility myself, but on the very rare occasions that I’ve been there, there is a single female member of staff who serves behind the counter.

“Any idea that all of this could be put at the door of a single individual in that way, it would be highly unacceptable to me.”

On Monday the Welsh Conservatives issued a statement from Paul Davies MS, Darren Millar MS and Paul Smith ( WelshConservative chief of staff ) who said “We are profoundly sorry for our actions.  While we did not break the rules, we recognise that what was part of a day’s work would not be seen to be following the spirit of them, especially given the tough time the country has been going through.”

They say the meeting was being held to discuss legislation for possible inclusion in the Welsh Conservative manifesto, and that there was never more than four people in the room at once and social distancing rules were maintained. They also say they drank one or two glasses of wine.

On Monday spokesperson for the Senedd Labour Group said: “A member has been suspended from the privileges of Senedd Labour Group membership while an investigation takes place into this alleged incident.”

Alun Davies MS said on Monday, “I am very sorry if my actions have given the impression that I am in any way not committed to upholding the regulations which I have consistently supported throughout the last year.”

“For context, the purpose of this meeting from my perspective was to seek to persuade the Welsh Conservatives to support my proposal for a “Welsh Hearts Bill” which the Senedd endorsed on 21 October and to make a commitment to enact this life-saving legislation in their manifesto for May’s election. This is part of my work across political parties on this issue.”

“The Senedd Commission has already confirmed to me that I did not breach the Coronavirus regulations on the consumption of either food or alcohol that were in force at that time. I have also confirmed to the Commission that the regulations on the number of people present and on social distancing were not breached either. I look forward to the Commission’s final conclusions on this matter.”