A Tory Brexiteer MP has been slammed by his own colleague for his ‘wrong and unhelpful’ remarks about Welsh democracy.
Outspoken Brexiteer Daniel Kawczynski told local radio he was fed up of Wales having different rules to England and claimed the ‘current gap emerging’ during the coronavirus outbreak demonstrated the need for ‘one system in both nations’.
Reigniting his calls for the scrapping of the Senedd, the English MP for Shrewsbury and Atcham complained his constituents could not travel across the border to go to their nearby beach.
The MP told BBC Radio Shropshire his ‘blood is boiling’ over Wales’ decision not to follow England’s easing of lockdown restrictions.
He said that the difference in laws had resulted in ‘the prime minister saying to my constituents you can now go for a walk on the beach, but you are prohibited from going across the frontier to get to our nearest coast’.
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He said: ‘I am sorry but the time has come to reach out as Conservatives to large numbers of like-minded citizens in Wales who like us believe in one system for both nations.
‘We must work towards another referendum to scrap the Welsh Assembly and return to one political system for both nations – a political union between England and Wales.’
The comments were dismissed by Welsh secretary Simon Hart and Tory Senedd leader Paul Davies.
Montgomeryshire MP Craig Williams wrote to Kawczynski, saying his constituents had raised his ‘thought-provoking insight into UK constitutional affairs’.
He said that he should ‘respect that the Welsh Government and Welsh Parliament can, and will, exercise their constitutional powers, granted through multiple referendums by the people of Wales’.
‘The time for serious debate and inquiry into the effect of this divergence is not for now,’ he explained.
‘It will come later. In the meantime, to question the fundamentals of Welsh democracy because of any divergence is wrong and unhelpful.’
BBC News anchor Huw Edwards also joined the argument, responding to the Brexiteer on Twitter.
He said: ‘That would be the body — the Welsh parliament to give it the correct title — set up after a referendum. It was the will of the people. And referendum results should be respected, no?’
It was later pointed out the closest beach to Shrewsbury, both by distance and travel duration, is in the Wirral rather than in Wales.
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