David TC Davies has said a vote for him in the upcoming general election is a vote to give “young people the best start in life”.
The Wales Secretary pledged this week that the Conservatives would "get Wales moving by delivering faster train journeys in north Wales", referring to plans announced in 2023 to electrify the north Wales mainline, while also ensuring youngsters are given a “clear path” for the future.
He said “far too many” young people going to university at the moment “and getting nothing out of it”.
He said people were getting degrees which “are not even enabling them” to pay back their tuition fees and it was time to "call this out".
If the Conservatives win the next UK election they have promised to scrap some university courses in England to fund 100,000 apprenticeships, saying some are a “rip-off” and provide poor job prospects.
Davies, who has been the MP for Monmouth, has been parliamentary under-secretary in the Wales Office since December 2019, when the Conservatives won a landslide victory.
But who is David TC Davies? Here’s everything you need to know.
Who is David TC Davies?
David Thomas Charles Davies is a British politician, who has served as the secretary of state for Wales since October 2022 and became the member of Parliament for Monmouth since 2005.
A member of the Conservative Party, he chaired the Welsh affairs committee from 2010 to 2019, as well as serving as the parliamentary under-secretary of state for Wales from 2019 to 2022.
A vocal critic of the EU, he supported Brexit in the 2016 membership referendum. He is also supportive of the evidence for human activities in causing global warming, saying in 2019 that he backed the Government’s intention to become carbon neutral by 2050.
Davies was born in Newham, London, and educated at Bassaleg School in Newport, Wales. He is married to Aliz Harnisfoger, and the couple have three children.
Davies is also a keen sportsman and has fought in many charity boxing matches, as well as being the president of the Welsh Amateur Boxing Association.
What does a Wales secretary do?
The Wales secretary leads the Wales Office, which was set up on devolution in 1999, replacing the Welsh Office, and has no direct role in the running of Welsh public services. The department says that it represents Wales’s interests in the UK Government.
According to the UK Government website, the Office of the Secretary of State for Wales’s role is to promote the Welsh economy and the economic interests of Wales.
The Wales secretary works with the UK Government, the Welsh government, and businesses to “drive economic growth, encourage inward investment, and create a more balanced Welsh economy”.
According to the official website, the Wales secretary’s role is to “ensure the devolution settlement continues to deliver a clear, fair and strong settlement for Wales.
“We will ensure that Wales continues to benefit from a coherent devolution settlement that enables the UK Government and the Welsh Government to deliver for the people of Wales and that legislation in the UK Parliament and Senedd Cymru accurately reflects the devolution boundaries. We will seek to promote a productive relationship between the UK Government and the Welsh Government.”
It adds: “We will work closely with UK government departments to ensure that Wales’s interests are fully represented in UK government policy-making and implementation. We will raise awareness in Wales of UK government policies in non-devolved areas.”
