Reform UK has been accused of sowing division over immigration in the south Welsh valleys constituency of Caerphilly before next week’s crucial Senedd byelection.
During a fiery candidates’ debate, Nigel Farage’s party was criticised for using immigrants to score political points rather than treating them as individuals.
An audience member said that people like her who had someone not born in the UK in her family no longer felt welcome in the area since Reform arrived to campaign and had advised her sons to avoid certain places.
A new poll, released on Thursday, suggested Reform is leading the race in the byelection for the Welsh parliament seat with 42% of people saying they would support the party, followed by Plaid Cymru (38%), with Labour trailing on 12% and the Tories on 4%.
If the poll proves accurate, it would be a huge blow to Labour, which has always held the Caerphilly Senedd and Westminster seats and currently runs the Welsh government. A previous poll suggested the party could also be pushed into third place in next year’s full Senedd elections.
Six of the candidates standing in the byelection went head-to-head in a rowdy BBC Wales television debate at Bedwas Workmen’s Hall and Institute.
Topics ranged from library closures proposed by the Labour-run local authority to the state of the NHS in Wales, for which Welsh Labour is repeatedly criticised.
But the most intense exchanges came over immigration with the Reform candidate, Llŷr Powell, pressed over why the party was focusing so much on the topic when, according to the last census, only 2.9% of people in Caerphilly were born outside the UK.
Powell said the figure was out of date and more people had arrived under what he called the “Boriswave”.
He said: “If you go outside of Caerphilly … you can see there is pressures there. We’re having a housing crisis. I’m not saying it’s all bad. We need to get back to controlling migration.”
Powell was challenged by an audience member about the impact Reform’s rhetoric was having on her own family. She said a member of the family was among the 2.9% and told him: “I have never felt so unwelcome in my own home town as I do since your party came into Caerphilly with all the rhetoric you bring in. I have to say to my sons please don’t go there. Please don’t do this. I blame you for that.”
Powell replied that he spoke about immigration “as a policy”. She replied: “We’re not policies, you’re talking about human beings. You don’t treat them like human beings.”
The Labour candidate, Richard Tunnicliffe, said immigration was being “weaponised”. He said: “Reform don’t want to fix it, they just want to sow division and fear.”
Lindsay Whittle, the Plaid candidate, said he would be “proud” to continue to support the Welsh government’s nation of sanctuary policy, which provides support for refugees. Reform has said it will scrap the scheme.
Whittle said Ukrainian people in the area were living in fear of being sent back. Referring to the conviction of the former Reform UK leader in Wales, Nathan Gill, of bribery charges relating to statements made in favour of Russia in the European parliament, Whittle said: “Whilst they were fleeing bombs and bullets thrown at them by the Russians the Reform leader [in Wales] was accepting bribes from the Russians.”
Powell, who used to work for Gill, said he was “utterly shocked” at what his former boss had done. “He should face the full weight of the law. It’s traitorous.”
The new poll, carried out by Survation, found support for Reform stronger among older people while Plaid was doing better among younger people.
Damian Lyons Lowe, chief executive of Survation, which conducted the poll, said: Welsh politics was on the cusp of an unprecedented transformation.
He said: “While Labour’s 100-year unbeaten record in Caerphilly’s Senedd and Westminster elections is highly likely to be coming to an end, this type of result be replicated nationally will also see the end of over 20 years of Labour Welsh government dominance, with Reform or Plaid the likely party of power in 2026.”
