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The new Conservative leader in the Senedd has announced a shadow cabinet shake-up, with new roles for his party colleagues.

Darren Millar took over the party leadership last week following the resignation of Andrew RT Davies, who stepped aside as leader despite narrowly winning a confidence vote in his leadership.

Mr Millar’s reshuffle sees new roles for South Wales East MSs Natasha Asghar and Laura Anne Jones.

Ms Asghar, who had been her party’s shadow transport secretary under Mr Davies’s leadership, has been appointed shadow education secretary.

Meanwhile Ms Jones has been named as the new shadow secretary for local government, housing, and the Armed Forces, having previously served as the shadow minister for culture, tourism, and sport.

There is no place in the shadow cabinet for outgoing leader Mr Davies, who is instead nominated to be the chair of the Senedd’s economy, trade, and rural affairs committee.

Tom Giffard, Russell George, and Mark Isherwood are also left out of Mr Millar’s top team, but are chairs or co-chairs of their respective committees.

Making the announcement, Mr Millar said his new shadow cabinet “has a wealth of talent and experience to bring to bear as we develop our programme to fix Wales”. 

He continued: “We will be working day and night as we develop solutions to the everyday problems faced by the people of Wales.

“This government-in-waiting will be firing on all cylinders until we replace the failing Labour administration in May 2026.”

New shadow cabinet

• Darren Millar – Leader of the opposition;
• Paul Davies – Chief whip, shadow counsel general, and shadow secretary for the constitution and external affairs;
• Sam Rowlands – Policy director and shadow secretary for finance;
• James Evans – Shadow secretary for health and social care;
• Samuel Kurtz – Shadow secretary for the economy, energy, and Welsh language;
• Natasha Asghar – Shadow secretary for education;
• Peter Fox – Shadow secretary for infrastructure, transport, and rural affairs;
• Joel James – Shadow secretary for children, young people, mental health and wellbeing;
• Laura Anne Jones – Shadow secretary for local government, housing, and the Armed Forces;
• Janet Finch-Saunders – Shadow secretary for climate change and environment;
• Gareth Davies – Shadow secretary for culture, tourism, sport, and north Wales;
• Altaf Hussain – Shadow secretary for equalities and social justice.