Reform is ‘in it to win it’ in Wales, says Nigel Farage

Eleanor Storey – Press Association

Nigel Farage has said Reform is “in it to win it” in Wales but declined to predict victory for his party in the Welsh Parliament election.

Speaking to reporters in Merthyr Tydfil on Thursday, the party leader said success in the Senedd election on May 7 looks like “doing as well as we possibly can”.

Plaid Cymru and Reform have topped recent opinion polls in Wales, with Welsh Labour forecast to lose its grip on the Senedd after more than two decades.

On Thursday, Mr Farage told reporters: “I want us to win, and we aim to win. I’m not going to predict we are, but we’re aiming to win, absolutely.”

“It’s now a fight (over) who comes first in these elections,” he added.

“And it’s a fight between us and Plaid, as Labour, despite their enormous history here going back over a century, are not even in contention.

“Are we going to win? Well, you know what, we’re going to try to.”

Speaking at Reform’s Welsh manifesto launch in March, the party leader said there would be a published list of costings to follow.

However, on Thursday, he told reporters: “We’d like, first, to challenge the other parties… We’re going to challenge the others to join us.

“We will publish it, but I’m going to challenge the others to do it as well, because that would be open, democratic and fair.

“If they do it, we, of course, will do it, if they don’t do it, we’ll embarrass them.

“I haven’t changed my position one little bit, but I’m challenging the others to meet the same standards.”

The vote takes place in three weeks, which Mr Farage described as an “absolute age in terms of an election”.

“It’s a straight fight,” he added. “We’re in it to win it.”

Photos

The Reform leader received a warm reception in Merthyr Tydfil, with locals stopping him to ask for photos and business owners sharing their frustrations.

Claire James, 39, stopped Mr Farage in the street to take a photo for her son Brooklyn, 16, who she said is “obsessed” with the politician.

She told the Press Association: “My nan has always voted Labour, and she’d be turning in her grave now if she’d seen the way the country was today, it’s disgusting, it’s vile.

“I think (Reform) can turn it around, just give them a chance.

“I think (Sir Keir Starmer) needs to go, for a start. That’s the first one that needs to, I just don’t agree with the stuff he’s doing.”

Policies

Penny Fisher, 61, who previously voted Conservative, said: “We’ve got a small business and it’s hard with Labour, so (Farage) is fab, he’s got great policies, and that’s why I’m voting Reform.

“I like him as a person, he comes across as (though) he’s telling the truth for once.”

Business owner Amanda Jones, 60, said she has not decided how she will vote in May but it “definitely won’t be Labour”.

She said: “We’ve been here 30 years and this is the worst year ever.

“It’s crippling us. If it carries on there will be no store left.”

Doreen Murray, 83, said: “(Labour) have had enough time to prove themselves.

“We need somebody with a bit of fight in them.”

On Thursday, Mr Farage was asked about policy differences between Reform and Plaid Cymru, including climate and gender self-ID.

Reform has pledged to “end net-zero dogma” in its Senedd manifesto, as well as proposing a ban on new onshore wind farms and solar farms, while Plaid wants to make Wales a “world leader” in renewables.

Plaid’s manifesto also includes a commitment to working towards a simpler and non-medicalised process for gender recognition.

Asked about his view, Mr Farage said: “We had a very important – a year ago – a very important Supreme Court judgment on the way we should approach all of this, and we should approach people who are different with tolerance.

“But frankly, I think the direction some of this goes in, and what we start telling some of our kids at school from the age of five about these things is deeply disturbing.”