Reform UK is set to be Labour’s “main challenger” in the 2026 Welsh Senedd election, Nigel Farage has vowed ahead of the party’s Wales conference today.
Farage – alongside chief whip Lee Anderson and chairman Zia Yusuf – will be taking to the stage today as the populist party sets out its 18-month plan to make strides in the devolved Government.
In a statement ahead of the landmark conference today, Farage said: “The Senedd elections are now just 18 months away.
“During the general election, we launched our Contract with the People in Merthyr Tydfil.”
He hailed Reform as “now the main challenger to Labour in Wales”, and added: “Our conference in Newport marks the beginning of our efforts to present a fresh choice to voters who have been badly let down.
“Wales needs Reform.”
The Brexit heavyweight warned that the Welsh people have paid the price for “failure after failure” by successive Labour Governments, and vowed that Reform will come out on top against Labour, Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Conservatives’ “same old stagnant promises and policies”.
The party isn’t expected to appoint a specific Welsh leader – so under Farage’s tutelage, Reform is eyeing up having 16 Members of the Senedd in 2026, with its leader having previously said that it would win “a lot of seats”.
It’s also polling ahead of the Tories – in a new poll from Survation, which surveyed 2,006 adults living in Wales, 30 per cent of respondents said vote Labour if a Senedd election was called now, with Plaid Cymru on 21 per cent, Reform on 20 per cent, and the Conservatives on 17.
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David Lammy refuses to apologise for ‘racist Nazi’ Trump jabs – but insists he can find ‘common ground’ with President
David Lammy refuses to apologise for ‘racist Nazi’ Trump jabs – but insists he can find ‘common ground’ with President
REUTERS/PA
David Lammy has refused to apologise for calling Donald Trump a “Nazi sympathiser” in the wake of the 45th President’s electoral success this week.
The Foreign Secretary was pushed on whether he thought Trump had changed since he labelled him a “woman-hating, neo-Nazi sympathising sociopath” six years ago.
On social media, the Tottenham MP had written: “Trump is not only a woman-hating, neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath…he is also a profound threat to the international order that has been the foundation of Western progress for so long.”
And the year prior, he said: “Yes, if Trump comes to the UK, I will be out protesting on the streets. He is a racist KKK and Nazi sympathiser.”
But speaking on the BBC’s Newscast podcast, Lammy threw out his own statements as “old news”.
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He said he had made in-roads with Trump in September because he “felt it in my bones” that he would return to the White House.
He told the broadcaster: “My gut had been telling me, but also my head had been telling me, that they were in a strong position.
“I think that what you say as a backbencher and what you do wearing the real duty of public office are two different things.
“And I am Foreign Secretary. There are things I know now that I didn’t know back then.”
He added: “You don’t get to be a senior politician in our country unless you can find common ground. I’m well known in Westminster. I get along with folk. I just do!”
Reform UK looks to Wales ahead of landmark party conference as Farage sets sights on Senedd
Reform UK in Westminster HallREFORM UK
Reform UK’s Welsh conference is set to kick off in Newport today, with Nigel Farage billing the party as the future “main challenger” to Labour at the Senedd election in 2026.
Farage is set to speak today – we’ll bring you the latest updates from the conference as they come in.
Reform UK surge to ANOTHER council victory as Farage’s party unseats Tories
Reform UK have won yet another council by-election, exactly one week after Nigel Farage’s party sent a warning shot to Labour in Wolverhampton.
Last night, Reform won the Marsh Mill ward seat in Wyre, Lancashire – ousting the incumbent Conservative councillor by more than 100 seats.
James Crawford surged to victory with a 38.6 per cent vote share in the party’s first attempt in Marsh Mill, which saw Labour and the Tories suffer a -15 per cent and -27.2 per cent slump respectively.
Last week, when Anita Stanley won in Wolverhampton, party chairman Zia Yusuf called the result as a “stunning victory” and said it proved no Labour seat was safe, while the Tories were falling “even further behind”.
“Reform is rapidly opening local branches and assembling its ground campaigning capabilities… By the time of the English county council elections in May, Reform will be a formidable electoral force,” he vowed.
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