Mother who went viral after by-election debate to stand as community councillor for Plaid Cymru

Emily Price 

A mother who went viral after challenging Reform UK’s Caerphilly by-election candidate in a televised debate has announced she will stand for Plaid Cymru as a community councillor.

Alison Vyas hit the headlines last year when she appeared alongside her son Cole as an audience member for a BBC Wales debate programme ahead of the October 23rd by-election.

In a widely shared social media clip, Alison called Llyr Powell out over his campaign’s anti-immigration rhetoric and told the Reform hopeful she blamed him for her family feeling unwelcome in their own community.

The exchange began with Alison’s 22-year-old son Cole asking if Powell thought immigration was a big issue in Caerphilly.

Reform’s candidate said he thought it was.

Cole responded by citing the 2021 Census which showed that only 2.9% of Caerphilly residents were born outside the UK.

His mother Alison later spoke up for her son, telling Powell: “I’m Cole’s mother. I’m born and bred in Caerphilly. I’ve lived here all my life, and my son is part of the 2.9% that you say are overtaking Caerphilly.

“We’ve lived here all our lives, and I have never felt so unwelcome in my own home town as I do since your party came into Caerphilly with all the rhetoric that you bring in. I have to say to my sons, ‘please don’t go there’ and ‘please don’t do this’. Quite frankly, Mr Powell, I blame you for that.”

Powell responded to the criticism by rolling his eyes. A week later he lost the Caerphilly by-election to Plaid Cymru’s Lindsay Whittle.

Powell’s campaign was overshadowed by news that his former employer, ex-Reform Wales leader Nathan Gill, had admitted to taking bribes from Russia.

Abuse

Following the programme, Alison faced horrific social media abuse from Reform supporters and far-right internet trolls.

On Tuesday (January 6), Plaid’s Caerphilly branch announced she would stand as a Van Community Councillor in the Porset Ward where she grew up.

This position is voluntary and unpaid.

In a Facebook post, the party said: “Rooted in our community. Ready to serve. A proud Valleys woman raised in Lansbury Park, Alison brings the strength, warmth, and community spirit she grew up with. She’s ready to listen, work with residents, and stand up for Van Ward.

“Alison’s priorities: Safer streets and parks, empty homes back in use, better roads and greener spaces, including Porset Park, real opportunities for young people.

“She stands with Plaid Cymru because decisions about our communities should be made here in Wales, by people who care.

“In Van Ward, we didn’t grow up as neighbours — we grew up as family.  Aunties on every street. Uncles who kept you safe. Doorsteps that felt like home. Alison is ready to protect that togetherness.”

Experience 

A Plaid Cymru source told us Alison was not a member of the party prior to the BBC debate and was not in any way primed by the party to attack Llyr Powell but was merely “expressing her own experience as a mother living in Caerphilly with a mixed race son”.

The source added: “The online abuse she suffered following the debate was one of the reasons she joined Plaid and is one of the reasons she is now standing for us as a community councillor.”

Llyr Powell responded to the news by sharing an image to X of Alison and her son Cole taking part in the televised debate. Alongside the photo, he wrote: “Scrap the BBC licence fee.”

Reform’s Regional Director for Wales David Thomas also posted comments online suggesting the BBC debate had been “set-up” to favour Plaid Cymru.

Thomas wrote: “The Caerphilly by-election ‘debate’ was a set-up.

“The woman used to attack Reform on TV is now standing as a Plaid Cymru candidate. That tells you everything.

“We said at the time: don’t take these studio ‘audiences’ at face value. They’re curated, stage-managed, and too often stacked to make us look bad.

“This isn’t journalism. It’s anti Reform disinformation campaign.

“The Welsh media must be challenged on these disgraceful tactics. Wales deserves honest debate.”

Vetting

Up until recently Thomas was a community councillor in Cwmbran – a voluntary role similar to the one Alison Vyas hopes to take up.

However, it was announced yesterday that Thomas had been automatically removed from the council after failing to attend meetings for six months under statutory requirements.

The BBC told Nation.Cymru the audience members for the Caerphilly by-election debate show had been selected using an “impartial vetting process”.

A BBC Wales spokesperson said: “As with all BBC election debates, the audience was selected through an established and impartial vetting process designed to ensure a fair representation of political views.

“All participants were selected in line with our standard editorial guidelines.”

Reform UK’s leadership has repeatedly accused the BBC of being institutionally and left-wing biased against their party and leader Nigel Farage.

At the weekend, Reform refused to take part in the first broadcast debate of 2026 in advance of May’s Senedd election hosted by BBC Radio Wales’ Sunday Supplement programme.

The show went ahead with spokespeople from Welsh Labour, the Welsh Conservatives, Plaid Cymru, the Welsh Liberal Democrats and the Wales Green Party.

Reform UK was accused by other parties of cowardice for not submitting itself to scrutiny.

It comes after the National Union of Journalists in Wales “unequivocally condemned” Reform UK’s ongoing attacks on the Welsh media.

In November, Nation.Cymru revealed screen grabs from an internal Reform UK group chat which showed offensive language used to describe journalists that had been critical of the party.

We also reported how a lawyer working for Reform UK had attempted to bully Nation.Cymru and other media outlets with legal threats.