CHANGE or die, the Welsh Conservative leader told his party conference in Birmingham today.

Andrew Davies also said the party should apologise for not keeping immigration promises and called for “zero tolerance.”

Mr Davies spoke on the opening day of the first gathering of Tory politicians and activists since July’s election defeat, when the party was reduced to 121 MPs, and lost all of its representatives in Wales.

Those who lost their seats included Welsh secretary David TC Davies, chief whip Simon Hart, former ministers Alun Cairns, Stephen Crabb and Fay Jones, and Rishi Sunak’s disgraced former parliamentary aide Craig Williams.

As well as failings on immigration, voters in Wales were turned off by the party’s “dogmatic” stance on the economy, Mr Davies said.

He claimed the Welsh public is “inherently conservative” and “if the party returns to its values, it will win them over.”

Despite lower speed limits in Wales reducing road casualties, Mr Davies criticised Welsh Labour, saying it had prioritised 20mph speed limits over the economy, schools and the NHS.

Mr Davies said: “The Conservative Party must change.

“No party has a God-given right to govern. We failed to keep our promises and we must say sorry.

“The Welsh people reject the extreme liberal ideology of Labour, Plaid Cymru nationalists and the Lib Dems.

“By proudly reflecting our conservative values, we’ll persuade them to back the Welsh Conservatives.”

He added: “If our party changes, we’ll recover quickly, and we’ll succeed in 2026 and 2029.

“But if we don’t, we’ll die.”