Katie Hopkins launches attack on Welsh Government policies ahead of Senedd election

Controversial media personality Katie Hopkins has launched a foul-mouthed attack on Welsh Government policies, including 20mph speed limits, during a visit to Cardiff ahead of the Senedd election.

Hopkins took to social media to explain why she believes voting Reform UK in the Senedd elections is a “very, very good idea” in comparison to the “absolute insane bunch of morons, wokerati, twatting, chumba-wumba, cock-womble, spiked-trumpet lunacies” who have previously led the Welsh Government.

Hopkins begins her video by reminding viewers that “you can only vote for things that are actually on the ballot paper and currently Reform is on the ballot paper,” before claiming that Dan Thomas is “a proper welsh dude.”

Dan Thomas, raised in Blackwood, was the Tory leader of Barnet Council in London from 2019 to 2022 after serving as a councillor there for 19 years. He was announced as Reform UK’s Welsh leader in February 2026.

Discussing Reform UK’s manifesto for the Senedd elections on 5 March, Dan Thomas and Reform UK’s leader Nigel Farage said the party intends to abolish the “arbitrary” target of reaching one million Welsh speakers by 2050 as the language is “thriving”.

In response, Owain Meirion, the Chair of Cymdeithas yr Iaith said that, “Considering that only 17.8% of Wales’ population can speak Welsh, and that the proportion of speakers has steadily declined over the last two censuses to the lowest figure ever,” the intention to abolish the target displayed “complete ignorance”.

“Number three,” Hopkins continues, “driving in Wales you, honestly, you feel like some weird moron that’s landed from another planet and doesn’t know how to control your own body. It’s impossible to drive at 20 miles an hour… If you’ve got a geared car like I have, you cannot stay under 20 miles an hour.”

The 20mph national speed limit in Wales was introduced under Welsh Labour in September 2023 and has since become a key campaign point for parties contesting elections in Wales.

The default speed limit on restricted roads was reduced from 30mph to 20mph, with Welsh Government noting at the time that “We believe that 20mph is right, it will save lives and reduce collisions and injuries.”

In 2024, collisions on 20mph and 30mph roads combined were down 23.5% compared with 2022, and casualties had decreased by 25.8%.

However, polling by More in Common between November 2025 and January 2026 demonstrated that the limit was the second most unpopular of the then-government’s policies, with just 21% of respondents viewing it positively.

Reform UK have pledged to reverse the ‘blanket’ limit and “return to evidence-led limits that improve safety” as part of their campaign, while the Welsh Conservatives are “committed to scrapping” the legislation.

Hopkins then cites Dan Thomas’ promise to build the M4 relief road as another reason to vote Reform UK, before turning her attention to the Nation of Sanctuary policy.

She says, gesturing to the Senedd building: “Also, these lunatics, absolute insane bunch of morons, wokerati, twatting, chumba-wumba, cock-womble, spiked-trumpet lunacies made Wales a city of sanctuary, or Cardiff, a city of sanctuary.

“And what that la-la-la-la city of sanctuary actually means, when they stop bashing one out over their ‘Asylum Seekers Welcome’ signs, is that illegals from Afghanistan, from Somalia who have no sense of what our culture actually is or our rules around women are being put ahead of the queue for everything ahead of Welsh people.

“It means they’re being shoved into HMOs, houses of multiple occupancy, in towns and villages and places where people have gone to escape the so-called benefits of multiculturalism.

“Well, Dan Thomas says he’s going to get rid of the label of sanctuary city here in Cardiff and that can only be a good thing.”

Endorsed by the United Nations, the Nation of Sanctuary scheme was introduced in 2019 to support those exercising their legal right to seek asylum in Wales or fleeing conflict as refugees.

The main aims of the Nation of Sanctuary: Refugee and Asylum Seeker Plan were and are to encourage integration among asylum seekers and refugees by offering both financial and social support in areas such as housing, employment, and learning the Welsh and English languages.

Of the £55m spent on the initiative by October 2025, over £45m was used to resettle Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion. Other recipients included, according to then-First Minister Eluned Morgan, Afghans fleeing the Taliban’s 2021 insurgent offensive in Kabul and Hong Kongers.

Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice responsible for the scheme, Jane Hutt, reiterated in October 2025 that: “The Welsh Government does not decide on how many people seeking sanctuary in the UK are placed in Wales – nor does it decide on who is placed in Wales. This has always been a decision for the UK Government alone.

“Wales will continue to welcome its proportionate share of people seeking sanctuary in the UK – up to 5% of all arrivals.

“Overall costs of the Nation of Sanctuary policy were around £54,880,000 representing less than 0.05% of the Welsh Government’s budget over the six years, from 2019 to 2025, since the Nation of Sanctuary Plan was adopted.”

Both Reform UK and the Welsh Conservatives have pledged to scrap the Nation of Sanctuary scheme in favour of spending on public services.

Notably Reform UK pledge to “stop the use of migrant hotels in our communities”. As of December 2025, 3,353 asylum seekers were being supported in Wales, 76 of whom were housed in ‘asylum hotels’ in Cardiff.

They also pledge to “prioritise Welsh men and women for social housing.” No definition of who Reform UK consider a Welsh person is provided in their manifesto.

Hopkins concludes: “If you vote for any of the others, you’re getting more of the same. Plaid Cymru said that they will work with Labour and the Greens. And you can see how if you look at the balance of votes, if Reform can get a majority, Dan Thomas can get these things done.

“Bloody well, come on Wales, let’s try something new. And for Christ’s sake, let’s get back to driving like normal people, not mentalist morons.

“And it’s because bloody wokearati leftist kids never learnt to pissing-well drive so they don’t give a shit. Whereas people like us who understood freedom because we were born with freedom in our souls, like I passed my driving test just by giving the driving instructor, you know, a blowy in a lay-by. We need to get back to that.

“Well, maybe not that, but you know where I was going.”

Katie Hopkins visited Cardiff as part of her ‘Free Range’ tour. She performed at Vale Arena in Llandough on Friday 24 April.

In the same week she announced the tour, Hopkins took to social media to weigh in on the online abuse of Athika Ahmed, a 23-year-old volunteer and medical student at Cardiff University, saying Ahmed looked “about as healthy as cancer.”

In 2018, Hopkins was the subject of controversy in Wales after she urged the Welsh Government to “focus on its failing schools rather than forcing a dead language down the throats of children.”