The Welsh Conservative party’s assembly group leader, Paul Davies, has promised to "end the assembly gravy train" and "cut the cost of politics" if his party wins the Senedd election next May.
Davies outlined his vision at the Welsh Conservative conference in Llangollen on Friday, adding that he would prevent the Assembly Commission budget from being increased and halt civil service recruitment.
Davies said: “We will not be abolishing the assembly, but we need to listen more [to those who want to].
"A Welsh Conservative Government will cut the cost of politics. We will seek to freeze the Assembly Commission's budget for the full five year term.
"There will be no increase in the number of politicians in Wales under my leadership.
"I will reshape the government too. I will reduce the size of the Welsh Government from 14 ministers to a magnificent seven. A 50 per cent saving on day one.”
The Conservatives have enjoyed some recent success in Wales, after winning six seats from Welsh Labour in the 2019 general election, increasing the Conservative presence in Wales to 14 MPs.
The last two decades has seen the Welsh Assembly dominated by Labour, but a recent ICM Unlimited poll for BBC Wales revealed that the Conservatives could win a similar number of seats to both Labour and Plaid Cymru.
The poll projects Labour to win 21 assembly seats, the Conservatives 20, and Plaid 18 in next year's Senedd election.
