The leader of the Liberal Democrats says he does not regret publicly asking the party’s Welsh leader to reflect on her position in light of her role in a historic church abuse case.

Speaking ahead of the Liberal Democrat party conference in Bournemouth, Sir Ed Davey said it was “good” Jane Dodds had apologised.

Dodds, a Member of the Senedd (MS) for Mid and West Wales, previously admitted their relationship “would take time to repair”.

A 2021 report found Dodds, who is in charge of the Welsh Lib Dems, made a “grave error of judgement” by not organising a meeting to discuss a particular case of abuse by a late former bishop.

Sir Ed said he had last spoken to Ms Dodds “earlier this year”.

And when asked if she was the right person to take the Welsh Liberal Democrats into the Senedd elections in May, he appeared to avoid giving her his full backing.

“She’s going to lead us into the Senedd election, it seems” he said.

The relationship between Sir Ed and Dodds was put in the spotlight after the 2021 report.

She apologised after the case re-emerged last November and was backed by the Welsh party, but said Sir Ed’s public calls for her to consider her position had damaged their relationship.

Sir Ed said he had no regrets about how the situation was handled saying “it’s important that people are held to account from wherever they are, and she has apologised”.

Dodds is the Welsh Lib Dems’ only current MS and the party won one Welsh seat at the last general election in Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe.

The latest polling by the YouGov MRP model, released on Tuesday evening, suggests the Lib Dems have the support of 6% of voters and would be projected to win three seats were a Senedd election to be taking place now.

The poll, for ITV Cymru Wales and Cardiff University eight months before the actual election is due, indicates the Liberal Democrats are currently the fifth-largest party in Wales, behind Plaid Cymru (30%), Reform UK (29%), Labour (14%) and the Conservatives (11%).

Projections, by Cardiff University’s Dr Jac Larner, also suggest Plaid Cymru would currently win 38 seats in an expanded Senedd, Reform UK 37, Labour 11, the Conservatives six and the Greens one.

Sir Ed said the party was “on a roll in Wales” after the last general election, adding the party was hoping for new results under the new electoral system.

“We’re putting our biggest campaign force we’ve ever done into the field, because it’s a proportional election, we think we can do really well,” he said.

He said the party would achieve this by focusing on the “massive issue” of social care, because Labour had failed “dramatically”.

“People aren’t getting the care that they need, and causing a huge backlog in our hospitals. That’s why the Welsh health service is performing so badly.

“Liberal Democrats are literally the only party coming with solutions for social care in Wales.”

He denied this year’s budget, which only passed due to the Welsh Liberal Democrat leader, was a missed opportunity to get more money to tackle issues in social care.

“We are very strong on social care, the problem is Labour isn’t,” he said.

Welsh government ministers made £100m worth of commitments to secure Dodd’s abstention, including £30m for social care to tackle delayed discharges.

Elsewhere Sir Ed said boycotting the state dinner with president Donald Trump over the war in Gaza was not a missed chance to advocate for Welsh farmers and steel workers, ahead of a finalised UK-USA trade deal.

“I’ve been to state banquets, they’re lovely, but you never get to speak to the visiting head of state,” he said, adding it was better to prompt a debate by not attending.

“I’m gaining an opportunity to speak for farmers, to speak for steel workers, and to speak for our whole country, who, frankly, is fed up of Donald Trump, fed up of people like Elon Musk interfering with our democracy and undermining our economy.”

The Liberal Democrats had a record performance across the UK in the last general election, but just one of those 72 seats was in Wales.

However in the Senedd, they have often used their one seat there to play an outsized role.

But the question is whether they have used these opportunities to their full advantage when it comes to increasing their vote share and reach.

Next year, they’re hoping to expand outside their mid Wales stronghold and “paint Wales in gold”, but are fighting for attention in an increasingly crowded field.

Not only has the emergence of Reform pushed them into fifth place in many polls, but the Green Party will also be fighting for votes over similar policy areas.

With a challenging campaign ahead, some will see today’s public hints of a continuing rift between the party leaders as unhelpful and unwelcome.