Farage confirms he won’t be standing at Senedd election
Nigel Farage has confirmed he won’t be standing at the Senedd election next year, but told ITV Wales that he did think about it.
Rumours have been circulating for weeks that the Reform leader could stand as a candidate in order to take part in televised election debates.
In an interview on Sharp End, the Reform UK leader said: “I don’t intend to do that, that would be playing the game in the most cynical way and I’m not going to do it.”
Defections
The MP for Clacton also hinted at defections to his party from Senedd members but said he wants to encourage new talent to come forward.
“I think one or two people might be interested, we’ll see,” he said.
“To be honest with you, what I’m really interested in is finding talent that can come in from people who’ve probably never been in politics before but want to give. You have to have some experience in there, of course you do.
“But do you know what the problem is with politics in this country, right across the UK, it’s become a career. It has become something you aspire to at university and what I want to see are people coming in from different walks of life.”
Andrew RT Davies previously ruled out defecting to Reform UK after stepping down as the leader of the Welsh Conservatives.
But the South Wales Central MS has views that align with Reform UK policies, including scrapping the default 20mph speed limit, support for Brexit and cutting ‘wasteful’ government spending.
“I’ve always found him a very interesting politician”, Mr Farage said, “and if he wants to have a chat over a cup of tea, I’d be happy to do it.”
Labour slump
Last week a sensational poll by ITV Cymru Wales revealed that Labour support in Wales slumped to its lowest since the start of devolution. It also showed a large increase in Plaid Cymru’s vote share, which climbed to 30%, while support for Reform UK also continued to increase to 25%.
When asked how Reform UK could win over dissatisfied Labour voters who are considering a switch to Plaid Cymru, Mr Farage said: “What you’ll find is a political class in Cardiff Bay pretty detached from the centre ground of public opinion and I honestly believe that one of the reasons you’ve seen Reform surge in the way that it has in Wales, in terms of membership, in terms of activists, in terms of polling numbers, is far from being the nasty party. We’re actually reflecting what a majority of decent people think.”
Neither Plaid Cymru nor Reform are expected to win an outright majority so attention is turning to which parties would work together.
Nigel Farage has not ruled out working with the Welsh Conservatives, despite speaking out about being let down by the party in a previous General Election.
Refusing to confirm if he’d work with them or not, Mr Farage said: “The Conservatives might barely exist after next year’s election… They might not have more than three or four seats.”
You cant watch the full interview with Nigel Farage on Sharp End, ITV Cymru Wales. It will also be available on ITVX and online here.
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So the politician that has made a career out of politics reckons the problem with politics is career politicians, you couldn’t get more stupid if you tried.
Q: ‘What does Nigel Farage do for a living?’.
A: ‘He s**t stirs, lies and hates’.
Q: ‘No, that just describes the kind of person he is so what does he ACTUALLY do for a living?’.
A: ‘I just stated what he ACTUALLY does for a living’.
Of course he won’t stand here. We have rejected his brand of filth for a quarter of a millennia and will continue to do so. I’ll bet his Clacton constituents, who he fails to represent, will be interested to hear he thought about standing for Y Senedd. There is a rammed rented warehouse full of letters he hasn’t answered. One year to go until our election and he’s running which says everything about his bogus organisations’ prospects. He can only dream of a presence in our Parliament as ‘effective’ as Neil Hamilton and we got shot of him.
He couldn’t if he wanted to. The Senedd Cymru Members and Elections Act 2024 now requires all candidates standing for election to the Senedd to be resident in Wales. Fortunately that also rules out Neil Hamilton and Mark Reckless coming back as well. I have no doubt that some will try t claim that this is somehow ‘anti-English racism’. And I’m sure if they were that serious about standing in Wales they would find a loophole around it.
Just need an address in Wales and register to vote.
The Reform party, like him, are just empty shells. They have no actual policies in how to actually improve our economy, our livelihoods, climate or children’s futures. Their solution: make it all about xenophobia, islamaphobia, religion and skin colours.
Right, now the press need to ask about his think tank and the harm he will willing inflict on Wales and the UK. The press can really start to shine a light on the mess in the US, where his orders come from.
ITV, BBC, come on, get dirty on this grifter because he will not be nice in power.
https://yorkshirebylines.co.uk/politics/resolute-1850-reform-uk-ltds-maga-plan-to-turn-britain-into-little-america/
Yn anffodus, mae yna lawer o wladychywyr yng Nghymru a bleidleisith dros y giwed garidymllyd yma. Ac mae yna fwy fyth o Gymry plastig taeog sydd efo’u meddyliau wedi eu gwladychu a wnaiff yr un peth.
A llyfed y taeog y llawr.
Here’s NF talking about RT. I’m amazed he hasn’t been appointed RUK leader in Wales yet but maybe this time they are conducting a rigorous vetting procedure to find out if he is too extreme even for them.
For farage to stand in Cymru elections next year would mean he would have to give up his position at Westminster as MP for Washington central, err, I mean clacton, never quite sure tbh. He’s never giving that up with it’s £84,000pa plus perks but most of all, he would lose the high public profile he craves & enjoys so much.
Not sure he’s in favour with the orange one since Elon. When did we last see a photo op?
As a big fan of Reform, the listening party, I’d like to nominate Reform’s Torfaen Councillor, David Thomas to lead Reform in the Senedd. Just the sort of visionary to take Wales back to the good old days of Empire.
Nigel, are you listening?
For goodness sake Fanny, what have I told you about going out in the sun without a hat?