TORY infighting continued in Wales today after Senedd member James Evans was axed from the shadow cabinet and had the party whip removed.

Welsh Conservative Senedd leader Darren Millar made the move after the Brecon and Radnorshire MS told him he was still talking to Reform.

He said: “This morning, I took the decision to remove James Evans from the Welsh Conservative shadow cabinet and withdraw the Conservative whip.

“I did so after being informed by James that he was continuing to engage with Reform representatives about the possibility of defecting to the party, in spite of his personal assurances on Friday that he had rejected an approach they initiated last week.”

Mr Evans said the Conservative Party no longer represents his values and said: “I will take some time in the coming weeks to consider my political future.”

Speculation has swirled for weeks that the MS for Brecon and Radnorshire will defect to Reform UK after publicly defending former Tory MP Robert Jenrick.

A Welsh Labour spokesperson said: “Wales is proud of its recycling record, but Reform really are proving themselves to be the biggest recycler of Tories.”

An ITV Wales/Cardiff University Senedd poll last week showed the Tories are likely to win just six seats in this May’s Senedd election as its vote share fell to 10 per cent.

While Reform UK dropped to 23 per cent, the latest poll projected it would replace the Tories as the official opposition with 23 seats.

The only Reform Senedd member is Laura Anne Jones who defected last summer, but was then suspended from the Welsh Parliament in November for 14 days after using a racial slur to describe Chinese people.