Nick Ramsay is a British politician who has been a Member of the Seneddsince 2007. He currently represents the constituency of Monmouth. He was initially elected as a Conservative, but sat as an independent while suspended from the group between 2 January and 13 February 2020. He still remains suspended from the Conservative Party and sits within the Welsh Conservative Group as the suspension from the group had not conformed to the rules of the group's constitution.
Between 1999 and 2001 he worked as a driving instructor in Monmouthshire and The Valleys.
Political career
Ramsay contested the Labour stronghold of Torfaen at the 2003 Assembly and 2005 General elections and has served as a Monmouthshire County Councillor for the ward of Mardy, which had previously been in Labour hands for over 20 years. Ramsay succeeded David Davies as an Assembly Member for Monmouth, and was appointed Shadow Minister for Local Government in the Third Assembly Term. Nick stood for leadership of the Conservative group in the summer of 2011 and currently is the Shadow Minister for Business, Enterprise, Technology and Science as well as Chairing the Business and Enterprise Committee. After Nick Bourne lost his seat in May 2011, Nick Ramsay stood for leadership of the Welsh Conservative Senedd Group against South Wales Central AM, Andrew RT Davies. Davies was elected leader with 53.1% of the membership vote. On 2 January 2020 it was reported that Ramsay had been suspended from the Welsh Conservative Party and his parliamentary group following what was described as a "police incident" at his home the previous evening. He was held in police custody for 24 hours before being released without charge, but continued to be suspended from the party pending an investigation. On 13 February, Ramsay confirmed that he had been reinstated to the Welsh Conservative Party Group in the Senedd and had dropped his legal challenge against the decision by group leader Paul Davies to suspend him. He still remains suspended from the Conservative Party and sits within the Welsh Conservative Group as the suspension from the group had not conformed to the rules of the group's constitution. Neither the Welsh Conservatives nor Nick Ramsay wished to comment on reports of the details of the agreement.
S025
In 2008 Ramsay spent much of his time on the Special Assembly Procedure Committee, and in particular the "S025," which re-considered the controversial Robeston Wathen by-pass proposed by the Welsh Assembly Government. These types of Orders and challenges are rare occurrences. The last one which was heard in Parliament was in 1999.
Controversies
In 2011, while a contender for the leadership of the Welsh Conservatives, Ramsay had to apologise after being barred from a pub following a charity pub quiz in aid of Help for Heroes. The landlord is quoted as saying that he resigned his membership of the party over the issue as "Nick Ramsay heckled the quizmaster repeatedly, telling him that his questions were rubbish. He challenged the quizmaster, a local antiques dealer, to bid £100 for a rugby jersey in an auction we held on the same evening for the charity. He was quite rude and objectionable and his comments didn't go down well – I think he'd had a few beers." In 2012, Ramsay was criticised for missing a committee session; after an evening's drinking in Cardiff at a leaving party for a Labour member of staff at a Cardiff Bay pub before heading into town at closing time for a late city centre bar. He failed to notify the clerk that he was ill until two hours after the meeting was due to start. when an email was received by the clerk from a member of Mr Ramsay’s staff to say he had been taken ill during the night. Ramsay was not in the Assembly chamber for the majority of the afternoon’s session, but arrived at 5.25pm to vote on a Liberal Democrat motion of no confidence in Health Minister Lesley Griffiths. In 2014, Ramsay was accused of having been drunk during a debate in the Assembly. The Assembly’s Presiding Officer had to launch an investigation after she received a complaint alleging that a Tory AM appeared "drunk" and made "slurred, incoherent and insolent" contributions to a debate on mental health in the Senedd, but he denies being drunk. Ramsay, who also celebrated his birthday that day, had intervened twice during a speech by health ministerProf Mark Drakeford AM, who at one point told him he would pursue the matters raised directly with him outside the confines of the debate. An online clip demonstrated the awkwardness of the debate. Presiding Officer, Dame Rosemary Butler, did not support the claim and no further action was taken. Ramsay criticised the proposed £10,000 pay rise for assembly members prior to the 2016 election and stated that he would donate his pay rise to charity. The Western Mail reported in 2019 that Ramsay had not responded to questions that asked which charity his pay raise had been donated to. The editor of the Monmouthshire Beacon stated that, at a meeting with Ramsay in 2018, Ramsay said he did not wish to make a public announcement at this stage because of the nature of the charity and that the money is tied with an ongoing charitable project which will be announced later in the year. As of March 2019, no announcement had been made.
