Reform defeats discredited Labour candidate in council by-election

Martin Shipton

Reform UK has retained a seat on Torfaen council after its main by-election rival was exposed as a struck-off social carer.

Jonathan Hollins is the new Reform councillor for the Llantarnam ward, after winning 505 votes (42.7%), 143 votes ahead of Labour’s Sean Wharton, who polled 362 votes (30.6%).

Plaid Cymru’s Joe Tresidder came third with 190 votes (16.1%), ahead of Conservative candidate Roger Morgan with 58 (4.9%), the Green Party’s Tom Pedley with 49 (4.1%) and Liberal Democrat Brendan Roberts with 18 (1.5%).

The turnout was 22%.

The by-election was caused by the resignation from Torfaen council of Jason O’Connell, who having previously been a Tory councillor was elected as an Independent councillor in a 2023 by-election, joining Reform in 2024.

Mr O’Connell was elected as a Reform MS for Pontypridd Cynon Merthyr in May’s Senedd election . Earlier this week it emerged that former professional footballer Mr Wharton had been removed from the register of people qualified and entitled to work in social care in Wales in 2022 when it was reported he had sent friends a sex video of two adults from a work email address.

He was first subject to conditions placed on his registration in March 2020 and removed from the social care register, following a review, in October 2022 with the order still in place.

Torfaen Labour issued a statement ahead of the by-election which said: “We are confident that Sean would make an excellent councillor, and hope that people in Llantarnam will support his campaign for a positive future for the area.”

In March 2020, Mr Wharton, then 51, had conditions placed on his registration for 12 months after a panel found his fitness to practise had been impaired.

It was reported Mr Wharton accepted sending the sexual photographs was “unacceptable and unprofessional”.

A misconduct hearing was told he’d received the photos in a social media group on his mobile phone and he said he’d accidentally sent them on using his work email rather than a personal account.

The Social Care Wales hearing was also told that Mr Wharton had sent emails containing confidential information, including the names of children, foster carer records, and medical reports, from his private email address.

Social Care Wales said: “On 4 October 2022, the order was reviewed again and the panel removed Mr Wharton from the Social Care Register as his fitness to practise was found to be impaired. The removal order is still in place.”

Torfaen Labour’s statement read: “As we have been hearing time and time again on the doorsteps – Sean is widely recognised as a fundamentally decent and well-liked individual who has a track record of supporting the community and its people.

“Mistakes should not forever define a person – how they take ownership and pay for those mistakes is crucial and Sean has already done both and apologised for his actions at the time.”

Sunderland

Mr Wharton grew up in Newport and played professionally for English Premier League side Sunderland, before playing in the Welsh top flight with Cwmbran Town, a club that he later managed.

Three by-elections also took place for seats on Powys County Council on Thursday July 2, with votes counted on Friday July 3. All three were also caused by resignations of councillors elected to the Senedd.

Two seats – Yscir with Honddu Isaf and Llanddew and Llanyre with Nantmel – were previously held respectively by Reform MSs Iain McIntosh and Claire Johnson-Wood, while Glantwymyn was held by Plaid Cymru MS Elwyn Vaughan.