Hustings footage shows Reform MS contradicting party stance on trans rights

Emily Price 

Resurfaced video footage shows a Reform UK Member of the Senedd expressing views at odds with his party’s position on several issues, including saying transgender people should be free to use whichever toilet they choose.

A YouTube video sent to Nation.Cymru shows Pen-y-bont Bro Morgannwg MS Gareth Thomas told a Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare general election hustings event on June 20th 2024 that he was “not what most people would think of Reform”.

During the evening, he went on to draw gasps from the audience and boos from Reform UK supporters as he expressed a number of left-wing and liberal views.

Following a question on misogyny and violence against women, Thomas said he believed in equality regardless of sexuality or gender identity.

He told the crowd he thought the world would be a “better place” if all leaders were female, joking that this would mean there would be “no fighting”.

Thomas said: “I’m all for equality, gender equality, I don’t care whether you’re gay, bi, trans – it doesn’t matter.

“It’s just equality, I believe women make the best leaders actually.

“We should just make women leaders across the world and then there’d be no fighting – the world would be perfect, I know! Reform eh!

“But I’m all for equality!”

His remarks were met with applause from the hustings audience.

Later during a discussion about LGBTQ+ people, Thomas drew boos from Reform supporters in the audience when he said he did not agree with his party’s view that there are only two genders.

He said: “Listen, I have a trans nephew, I have a gay nephew, I have bi…I mean there’s everything in my family and it’s fine.

“I use the disabled toilet, so I don’t care whether it’s male or female toilets or whatever, you know.

“So I would just let people be. People can do whatever they want.

“I mean isn’t that democracy that we can each do what we want to do, say what we want to say and be what we want to be.”

When pressed by the hustings host on what Reform UK would do to make life easier for LGBTQ+ people, Thomas returned to the issue of transgender rights, saying his trans nephew “would not want to go into a female toilet”.

He suggested a policy that would allow people to “be whatever they want to be”.

During the hustings Q&A, Thomas also expressed an interest in joining the Workers Party of Britain.

Audience members laughed when he told Workers Party candidate Anthony Cole who was sitting beside him that they were “going to become friends”.

Thomas went on to make a series of candid remarks about his own party during the evening which took place at The Scala in Merthyr Tydfil.

When discussing his strengths and weaknesses, Thomas said his weakness was that he was not “political” and that he needed to learn “how to be deceitful and a liar”.

An audience member off camera could be heard shouting: “Like Nigel Farage!”

Thomas laughed and replied: “Yes, there you go,” pointing out that he had joined Reform UK two days before Farage was announced as the party’s leader.

On the subject of Brexit, Thomas appeared to criticise his own party again, saying: “It’s Reform’s fault.”

When asked how as a Reform MP he would restore trust and integrity to politics, Thomas said there was no answer because “all politicians are liars”, although he added that he himself was not a liar.

On improving the lives of young people in Wales, he said the country needed more jobs before adding: “I’m not going to go on about immigration or migration – there’s just no point.”

During a later question about tourism in Wales, Thomas said, “I think we should bring the boats in,” adding that this remark was a “dark joke” and that he might try “stand up comedy” following his general election bid.

Halfway through the hustings, Thomas referred to himself as a “Reform idiot” after an organiser was forced to halt proceedings following a complaint that his car was blocking the exit of a nearby Tesco.

At the general election less than a month later, Thomas finished in second place with 23.7% of the vote share, behind Labour’s Gerald Jones who won the Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare seat with 44.8% of the vote.

The Workers Party of Britain, which Thomas expressed an interest in joining during the hustings, secured just 1.5% of the vote in the constituency.

Thomas secured a seat in the Senedd in May this year after being placed second on Reform UK’s Pen-y-bont Bro Morgannwg constituency list.

We contacted Thomas and asked is any of the views he had expressed during the 2024 Merthyr and Aberdare hustings had changed.

He did not respond.

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