Can the Welsh Conservatives get any worse?

Rather than stopping the slide, the new leader has hastened their plummet to obscurity

Bore da,

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The main part of this letter will be dissecting the shambles which is the Welsh Conservatives. But first there are a few other areas I want to touch on.

The depressing reason why Cardiff Uni wants to cut its nursing course…

Last week we spoke about the poor response by the Welsh Government to the 400 proposed job cuts at Cardiff Uni which included the nursing course.

One of the questions I was asked several times was “why are they cutting nursing”? Having spoken to people with a deep understanding of the decision making process I believe I have the answer (spoiler, it is depressing).

It comes down to the league tables for Russell Group universities. Cardiff is one of the 24 (self selected) universities that make up the Russell Group which are considered by some to be the creme-de-la-creme of unis.

Of those 24 universities Cardiff is ranked 21st. Only Glasgow, Nottingham and Queen Mary are below them. These rankings are created using a series of metrics (such as facilities spend and research quality) but a key one is entry grades. Entry grades simply means the A-level results that people entering that uni achieve.

Where Cardiff ranks among Russell Group Universities

People who apply to do nursing on average have a lower set of grades when it comes to A-levels than many other subjects (of course some people will have straight A grades and do nursing but I am talking about the average grades here). Therefore the uni clearly feel that if they simply scrap the nursing course altogether, they will score better in that particular metric in the league tables.

The thought process here is absolutely nauseating when you think about it. One of the brilliant things about nursing is that it is a highly skilled, vital and respected profession which doesn’t require someone to be traditionally academic. When you talk about the skill set and value to society of an experienced nurse compared to many professions that require higher grades, there is simply no comparison.

But what we have here is the largest and the flagship university of our nation slinging out their nursing course (which will often have more working class students), in order to sit higher on a league table. It is elitist, pretentious and it stinks.

Want to hear something even more infuriating? Another key metric in the league tables is “student satisfaction”. As I understand it, the student satisfaction ratings on the nursing course at Cardiff are pretty low, therefore getting rid of it will also give them a boost up the tables.

So rather than, you know, actually improving the course they deliver, they have simply slated it for removal.

Welsh Government minister fails to answer question on leaked report

Last week's newsletter exposed the damning leaked report into the culture division within the Welsh Government. Minister Jane Hutt was asked about this and cuts to culture in Wales within the Senedd by Plaid MS Heledd Fychan. As you can see from this clip, Ms Hutt didn’t even answer the question regarding the report.

(If you don’t want to waste two minutes of your life watching Jane Hutt give a non-answer while surrounded by a half empty chamber I don’t blame you).

I understand that Ms Fychan will be requesting a written response to her question.

How Farage could be on the Welsh election ballot papers

We discussed back in October how the new electoral system that has been introduced to Wales is an absolute gift for Nigel Farage. We also talked about how Reform were treating Wales as a joke by refusing to name a Welsh leader last month because they didn’t want anything to interfere with “brand Farage”.

However, there is one key step that Reform are likely to take which will be hugely beneficial when it comes to votes, that hasn't yet been mentioned. I was speaking last week to someone who is very experienced in political administration in Wales and they are confident that Reform will have Nigel Farage’s name on the ballot despite the fact that he won’t be sitting in the election.

This all comes down to the “party description”. All political parties are able to register up to 10 “descriptions” on the Electoral Commision website. These will appear alongside the party name on the ballots.

These are the current ones registered for Plaid Cymru:

When Leanne Wood was at the peak of her popularity in 2015, Plaid registered the description “Leanne Wood’s Party” (rather hilariously this remained the case for quite sometime after Adam Price replaced her as leader).

It seems pretty likely, given that he would have more name recognition than any other politician in Wales, that Reform will mention Farage within their party description.

While we are on the subject of Farage and the Welsh election, I really, really hope that when it comes to the leaders' TV debates that broadcasters do not allow Farage to stand to represent Reform. It is so disrespectful to Wales for the party not to have a Welsh leader. The people in those debates should be the people who can become First Minister. It wouldn’t be acceptable for Keir Starmer to represent Welsh Labour and it shouldn’t be acceptable for Nigel Farage to represent Reform in a Welsh election as though we are a glorified local authority.

The Welsh Conservatives are becoming an utter embarrassment

Welsh Conservative leader Darren Millar flanked by Andrew RT Davies and Paul Davies