Lewis Norton

len14@aber.ac.uk

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Department of International Politics,
Aberystwyth University

Lead supervisor:
Dr Anwen Elias

Other supervisor(s):

• Dr Huw Lewis

Start date: October 2025 (Full time)

Award: General

Subject Pathway:
Politics, International Relations and Global Language Based Area Studies

Thematic Cluster:
Rights and Governance Cluster

A Great Balancing Act: The Welsh Conservative Party and Devolution (1997-2026)

Principal Aims: To investigate how the Welsh Conservative Party has articulated and manoeuvred through its relationship with devolution since its creation, and to trace tensions between the party’s British unionism and attempts at forging a distinct Welsh dimension, as well as between its elite and grassroots actors.

Research Impact

This study addresses a wide gap in the literature of Welsh politics and of Conservative politics. While devolution has been highly transformative in regards to Welsh politics, academia has placed a large amount of its focus on Welsh Labour, Plaid Cymru, and the constitutional elements of devolution. While much is clear about the British Conservative Party’s opposition to devolution before the 1997 referendum, there have been few substantive attempts to research the endurance of these ideas in the Welsh party since devolution. None have engaged with the party's after the 2011 devolution referendum.

This study will provide an up-to-date sustained analysis of Welsh Conservative discourse on devolution in the post-devolution era, accounting for the various major events in British and Welsh politics which have occurred since previous studies. This research will offer new insights into the operation of the Welsh party and its adaptation to Wales’ evolving political culture. It contributes to understanding how unionism, particularly on the centre-right, operates within sub-state contexts, as well as to broader understandings of party adaptation, identity politics, and British and Welsh conservatism.

Bibliography