Andrew RT Davies has resigned as leader of the Welsh Conservatives in the Senedd after a confidence vote.
The confidence vote on Tuesday morning in his leadership of the Welsh Conservatives group came back 9-7 in his favour, including his own vote.
He wrote to the Welsh Conservatives’ chairman afterwards saying the result showed that a “substantial minority” of his party do not support him and his position is “untenable”.
He said he would stand down once a new leader is elected.
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He wrote: “Last week, a group of Senedd members approached me, threatening to resign their positions in shadow cabinet if I did not agree to step down as leader.
“I therefore requested a motion of confidence in my leadership to be held at a meeting this morning.
“This vote has now taken place. It was clear from the result that a substantial minority of the group do not support our approach, despite it being the only viable strategy available.
“While I would have been honoured to continue as leader, my position is consequently untenable.”
He was first elected leader of the Welsh Conservatives in 2011 and served in the role until June 2018, returning in 2021.
He was recently “censured” in the Senedd, an official reprimand noting disapproval of a member’s behaviour.
He fell foul of the rules over social media posts saying Wales had a “blanket” 20mph speed limit, despite there being exceptions to the policy and it only affecting built-up areas, and another which said former first minister Vaughan Gething’s government had embraced an “extreme ideology”.
In his resignation letter, he cited 20mph speed limits and the Sustainable Farming Scheme as an example of “divisive, ideologically motivated policies” from Labour ministers in the Senedd “propped up by Plaid Cymru nationalists”.
He said in his letter that he had been looking forward to leading the Welsh Tories into the Senedd elections in 2026, but that it was clear that party must “decide exactly what it stands for” going forward.
He will not be standing in the leadership contest.