Reform UK wins Ynys Môn by-election
Reform UK has won its first-ever seat on Ynys Môn council after taking the Ynys Gybi ward in a by-election.
Reform candidate Celfyn Furlong secured victory with 603 votes, gaining the seat from Plaid Cymru with a majority of 260.
Plaid’s Bethan Jones finished second on 343 votes, followed by Labour’s Mary Roberts on 171. Voter turnout was 33.3%, with one ballot paper rejected.
The by-election was triggered by the death of long-serving councillor and former Football Association of Wales president Trefor Lloyd Hughes MBE, who died in November aged 77.
The result gives Reform UK its first representative on Isle of Anglesey County Council, where Plaid Cymru remains the largest group with 19 councillors. The council also includes 11 independents, three Labour councillors, and one each from the Liberal Democrats and Reform UK.
Ynys Gybi is also represented by Labour councillor Keith Roberts and independent councillor Dafydd Rhys Thomas.
In a statement following his win, Cllr Furlong paid tribute to his predecessor, describing Mr Lloyd Hughes as a “talisman” who had given years of service to the community and to Wales. He said he was “humbled and honoured” to be elected and pledged to work hard for local residents.
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Not entirely surprised by this result. The Caergybi/Holyhead area seems to have become Reform UK central (along with Llanelli). If those two places were typical of Cymru as a whole, then we really will be in the sh*t!!
You can’t be any more in the sh*t than having Labour running the country for Iover 20 years. The countries a mess even worse than England which is saying something!
Accurate, but Reform despise Wales and the Welsh. They want to forcibly remove whats left of our culture and make us an extension of their failed country.
Wales is a very decent anti racist country and having just one supporter in Wales is a serious threat to our communities.
Get real, Wales isn’t much different to England as regards racism
You really should have attended the Reform conference in far away Newport last week. There you would have seen the man Farage has chosen to lead the party in Wales.
A Welsh man of the valleys. Returning home after 25 years in London where he successfully ran Barnet council. He returns to the valleys so that his children can have the upbringing that he had. Farage also appointed an excellent young Welsh farmer.
The days of a donkey wearing red rosette are over.
Returned “home” – to Bath.
Reform Bot
It can always be worse. That’s the bitter lesson for voters who in 2016 said “it can’t be any worse” when they ticked the Leave box and now realise how wrong they were.
Agree it’s in a mess but no way is it worse than England. that’s why all the English are piling over here
The English mansion tax is bringing them, well done Ms Reeves
Maybe someone owning a home worth £2,000,000 or more would decide to move to Cymry, but not to save the £2,500 p.a. the mansion tax will cost them. Besides, it doesn’t come in until 2028, and who knows where we will be then? You definitely win a shoehorn award though, for your irrelevant dig at the chancellor.
All of them? I hadn’t noticed, maybe I should get out more.
There is a portugese saying to the effect that “no situation is so bad that it cannot be made worse”. Should reform ever come to power here, the truth of that saying will become obvious.
Despite the polls, if I was a betting man I would put money on Reform at least winning the most votes and seats in May. This is not a good result for Plaid. Once more this also shows the Green vote is not anywhere near the hype. Like it or not Rhun ap Iorwerth needs to come up with a compelling responses to things like 20mph, the M4 relief road and immigration (not say there is no such thing as illegal immigration). More than just mumbling non answers.
The latest polling puts them well ahead in the senedd election. It wasn’t highlighted on this site. Not enough for a majority, but quite ahead in terms of seats from Plaid.
Despite the opinions yesterday, their leader in wales is someone more people can relate to than Eluned and Rhun – working class background etc
What is wrong with the 20 limit? It has saved lives and injuries, reduced insurance premiums, and generally made driving through populated areas a more relaxing and safer experience. The only people who complain about it are entitled arrogant types who think the law doesn’t apply to them. If they are always in a hurry maybe they could just get up earlier.
I agree with the 20mph myself. But when I’ve heard Rhun talk about 20 it’s all about how they were angry with the implementation. Come out and say it’s saved 100 lives etc and make them bat that away. Say if neighbourhoods want to change it they can.
The twenty argument is simple because it’s a default not a blanket and it’s up to local communities to decide which roads remain at the default and which can be increased. This is exactly the same argument the new Reform leader made when he was running a London council.
Plaid has to do plenty to distinguish itself from Labour because by supporting Labour in the Sennedd on many occasions, people think they are the same as Labour, only a bit more Welsh.
KEEP THE FILTH OF RACISM OUT OF WALES
Who owns the ‘free port’ of Holyhead, have a walk round, lots to commend but in need of millions, if only one could prise it out of the Senedd’s fingers…
The actual port is privately owned which is why there’s no investment and ships keep breaking the cheap shoddy infrastructure.
I know, just testing, it is the rest of the Island that let the side down…
I expect the ‘Elbow from Trearddur Bay’ is a supporter…
It is a rotten borough where for the price of a pint you can by a vote, it is an untypical environment, the food chain is a prime mover, the ratio of house renovator, architect and building supplier to absent householder must be remarkable, enough to find the gallant 600…
???
“Into the Valley of Death rode the 600” – in a feudal society, will the workforce ever vote against the hand that feeds it?
“You walk into the room with your Pencil in Your Hand” I’ll let Bob Dylan explain…
Ballad of a Thin Man title if that helps…
Can’t miss an opportunity to point out how the private sector always makes a mess of critical economic infrastructure. The pro-privatisation lobby actually know this because they never demand that the roads they use on a daily basis are flogged off to the highest bidder.
Reform UK is a Limited Company masquerading as an undemocratic political party – an extreme right-wing English Nationalist party. It has a self-appointed leader, Nigel Farage, who effectively makes all the important decisions such as selecting Dan Thomas as his puppet leader in Wales. At the Reform Party rally in Newport on 5/2/2026, recent Tory defector to Reform, James Evans MS, said “Wales is broken and Wales needs Reform”. What nonsense – Wales needs Reform like a hole in the head. It is amazing that so many people in Ynys Gybi by-election were duped to vote for them.
I’m not surprised, many people in Wales voted to leave the EU too. The hard of thinking will always jump on bandwagons.
The vote was skewed by English retirees.
There are plenty of studies out there to confirm this
Not sure what the evidence is on this…hang on….
Ah ok https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/sep/22/english-people-wales-brexit-research?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
Have you read that and thought about it a bit? It falls apart so easily, I’ve done a lengthy comment on it, it’s important to explain because the idea has grown and it’s nonsense.
Ynys Gybi includes Rhoscolyn rapidly morphing into a holiday and retirement village. It also boasts the residential abode of Jake Berry the former Conservative MP and northern powerhouse minister. From Lancashire, a big cheese who defected to Reform after losing his seat. Celfyn Furlong himself is a former Conservative. He already sits on the community council on the main island at Llanfihangel-yn-Nhywyn the road to RAF Valley, where he lives. This result is indictive of the cultural and demographic changes in such locations.
You saved me from writing all this down. However, just to say, Rhoscolyn has always been a holiday place from when the Verneys owned Plas Rhoscolyn and Plas Rhianfa in the mid 1800s. Rhoscolyn and the White Eagle have been the roost of the brewery magnates of the NW of England for many many years.
Damned disgusting result for.our Wales,we do not need fascists in our gov any where.
He is not going to work for locals, his is going to do what farage says.
Trumpian English Nationalism raises its flag upon Ynys Mon. Sadly, there’ll be other instances before people – hopefully – will one day wake up and see through the bigoted grifters.
“A massive majority despite a low turnout”, I quote Reform Bangor Aberconwy & Mon FB page. Any astute political activist will spot the key phrases here. Plaid put in a young unknown candidate to take on the mantle of a leviathan of Anglesey political life. More to the point, I can see Ynys Gybi from my window and I had no idea this by-election was taking place. Second-homers can vote in local elections so Reform and Mrs Crosbie’s former sidekick and gentleman farmer Celfyn Furlong were smart and subtle in getting their vote out. Not sure where the information comes… Read more »
I don’t think anyone said YM is Reform Central. Caergybi/Holyhead and the surrounding area on the other hand…
According to my research, the only Reform UK Cymru branch across the whole of Wales which actually has an active website is Bangor Aberconwy YM. Their meetings are held in Llanrhos which is the far eastern boundary of the new constituency (Conwy). Even there, there is no news piece on their recent election triumph. Each branch page invites you to Join or Donate and gives you an email for a local named chairperson and that’s it. Conwy has always had the Tory vote and Reform will probably do very well there
You could describe Llanrhos as being on the far right boundary of the constituency!!!
I suspect Mr Furlong is really a Tory,I come to this conclusion due to the respectful way be speaks of Trevor Lloyd Hughes unlike most Reform politicians who seem to think that ererything before them is rubbish.
Was Chairman of Anglesey Conservatives under Virginia Crosbie, they are all ex-Tories
Another ridiculous choice by us. What has happened to the Freeport 26 million?
An act of self-harm. Will they ever learn. Those voters on Ynys Mon who chose an English imperialist will regret their decision.
Still pretty Feudal on Ynys Mon, Lord Sterling rules ok…
Has the Pavilion Cafe of Llanfairfechan switched to Reform yet, the last time I stopped there it was all Tory…
The easiest job politics is the office of opposition. Labour have found that out. If Reform get into power, (unfortunately it looks like it) lets see how this shower handle the levers of government. Just maybe, Farage might be held to account over the shambles of Brexit.
Hope this result, focus minds in Plaid, still a lot of work to do .Only one poll matters.
Funny old ward with discontnted deprived areas and second homeland
Strong local canddiate too
Expect some of the Cheshire set who have designated ther holiday home as main residence voted Reform
They do this to avoid the punitive council tax charges
Five years from now we’ll be saying “Reform who?” just like we say “UKIP who?” today
Dyma rybudd nad oes wiw i ni ymlacio am eiliad.
The hard fact is that there’s at least a fundamental truth to the old adage that ‘the voters are never wrong’.
In the light of that, the most sensible and pragmatic critical reaction to a verdict delivered by them is the one offered decades ago by a long dead and forgotten US politicians:
‘The people have spoken – the b*st*rds!’
Party that lied about Brexit. Made Holyhead poorer. National party leader is pals with a racist insurrectionist rapist. And many did not bother to vote.
I think the eagerness from some to blame English immigrants is an issue. Reform’s biggest votes in May are likely to come from Welsh areas with far lower than average English immigration. The same was true for Brexit. The report by Professor Danny Dorling is often dragged up, and in these comments too. However, his report was based on retirees moving to Wales, and Welsh speaking areas voting Remain. He didn’t then do further research into those areas. He failed to consider several key points. 1 – There were not so many areas of Wales which voted Remain. The major… Read more »