Reform UK’s leader in Wales is a political opportunist

Martin Shipton and Hayley Jones

Reform UK Wales leader Dan Thomas can today be exposed as a political opportunist who has discarded the progressive social views he previously held to fit in with Nigel Farage’s reactionary agenda.

Mr Thomas was named by Mr Farage as the party’s leader in Wales in February 2026 despite being virtually unknown here.

Nation.Cymru has examined public statements made by Mr Thomas when he was the Conservative Leader of Barnet council in London between 2019 and 2022, as well as when he was in opposition later. He defected to Reform in Summer 2025.

Mr Thomas’s public statements while he was a Tory councillor show that he strongly supported diversity and anti-racist initiatives, backed moves towards net zero and oversaw environmental and traffic policies that differ from those set out in Reform’s current manifesto for the Senedd election..

Documents dated less than five years ago reveal that Mr Thomas publicly voiced climate concerns that Nigel Farage, the overall leader of Reform UK, considers “lunacy”.

In one of his statements as leader of the north London council, Mr Thomas said: “We have seen how climate change is playing a role in extreme weather events, such as storms and flooding.

“We must all play our part in supporting the government’s commitment of being net zero by 2050 and cutting emissions by 78% by 2035, compared to 1990 levels.”

Mr Thomas took action to support his concerns for net zero, including planting 4,500 trees, road resurfacing using 240 recycled tyres, installing more than 150 electric vehicle charge points and committing to the goal of net zero carbon by 2030.

Mr Thomas said at the time that Barnet council aimed to become: “the leading borough in London in sustainability”.

Yet despite having voiced strong views supporting environmental measures, as the current leader of Reform UK Wales he is now telling Welsh voters the opposite of what he recently firmly believed in.

The Reform UK Wales manifesto sets out the intentions to scrap net zero and related Targets, and Thomas is now saying: “For too long, Welsh energy policy has been driven by ideological net zero targets imposed without regards to cost.

“We will oppose any ban on fireplaces. We will review EU environmental law.”

Traffic enforcement cameras

During his time in Barnet, Mr Thomas also oversaw transport measures including traffic enforcement cameras and physical traffic-calming interventions such as planters designed to slow vehicles in residential areas.

These measures were introduced as part of wider efforts to improve road safety, though some were opposed by residents.

Now, less than five years later, Mr Thomas is saying: “We will scrap the default 20mph speed limit. We will remove unnecessary speed cameras and end the war on motorists.”

In 2020, following the global attention given to the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis by a police officer, Mr Thomas put out a statement headed “Black Lives Matter” in his capacity as Leader of Barnet council in London. It read: “It was incredibly distressing to see the reports of George Floyd, a black man killed by police officers in Minneapolis, USA.

“I am relieved that the officers involved, not just the one who took George Floyd’s life, but also those who aided and abetted by just watching, have been charged. I hope that justice is done.

“These events have also led me to reflect on racism at home, as well as abroad, and of how proud I am to represent Barnet, a borough made so much better and more interesting thanks to its rich diversity.”

‘Shocking racism’

The following year, in March 2021, Mr Thomas, in his capacity as Leader of Barnet council, issued a statement that said: “We in Barnet stand united, proud of what our hugely diverse national football team achieved in Euro 2020. The whole team are inspiring role models to millions of young people across the country, and they deserve to be lauded for what they accomplished. Shocking racism and hate speech in the wake of Sunday’s final has no place in our society.

“I am also proud of the staunch anti-racist stance we take in this borough, and condemn the vile and cowardly incidents targeting some members of our communities that are being brought to our attention. We will work with the Metropolitan Police to ensure all reported cases of racist abuse are investigated.”

In Wales, by contrast, Reform UK has sought to stir up racial hatred by making its opposition to the Welsh Government’s Nation of Sanctuary programme a major issue. The programme represents a tiny proportion of the Welsh Government’s overall budget and 91% of the money allocated to it was spent on resettling refugees from Ukraine. During the Caerphilly Senedd by-election campaign last year, Ukrainians living in the constituency as well as members of other minority ethnic groups said they had been made to feel unwelcome in their home communities because of the toxic, racist propaganda distributed by Reform.

Another policy area where Mr Thomas has changed his stance relates to the LGBT community.

‘Hostile environment’

Again, during his time as Leader of Barnet council Mr Thomas issued a statement supporting the LGBT community and stating that trans people face “a hostile environment” and should be protected. In the statement he said that trans people were often at the centre of: “a vitriolic national debate which is about them but often does not include them”.

The document, dating from January 2022, reveals that Mr Thomas warned of the dangers of isolating the trans community. It states: “This environment risks further marginalising this group of our fellow citizens” and called for LGBT residents “and in particular trans people” to be: “valued, celebrated and safe”.

During his time in office as leader for Barnet council, Mr Thomas made a point of celebrating LGBT people as, in his own words: “part of our community, our family and our friends”.

He also made statements supporting equality and inclusion. In July 2021, Mr Thomas issued a public message saying that as council leader, he was committed to advancing equality, tackling discrimination and ensuring diversity and inclusion as integral to everything he and the council did.

Council policy documents from the period set out a framework aimed at making the borough “fair, inclusive and safe for everyone”.

This contradicts the Reform UK Wales manifesto which states: “We will abolish DEI non-jobs”, adding that such roles promote ““divisive identity politics”. Nigel Farage has referred to all such areas as being part of “the woke agenda”.

Further evidence of Mr Thomas’s acceptance of LGBT and trans rights have emerged after one of his former Barnet council Tory colleagues told Nation.Cymru how his initial entry into the world of politics came about with the assistance and support of openly gay Westminster Conservative MP Mike Freer, who served as Equalities Minister during Boris Johnson’s government from 2021 to 2022.

Mr Coleman said: “Dan was Mike Freer’s favourite. I first came across Mr Thomas in 2006. He was young, good looking. He was very much the favourite of Freer who was the leader of the council at the time.”

Conversion therapy

Mr Freer was involved in policy work including engagement on issues such as conversion therapy. Conversion therapy is an umbrella term for practices that attempt to change, suppress or “cure” a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

Mr Coleman said : “He [Dan Thomas] is not really a Reform type. I’d have put him down as a left-wing liberal Conservative. Not a right-wing headbanger at all. What Farage sees in him, I don’t know.”

The former Tory Mayor of Barnet said Mr Thomas had been “totally critical” of Reform when another councillor defected to the party.

After he had gone into opposition at Barnet council, when Labour won control in 2022, Mr Thomas backed a pro-LGBT motion of the kind Mr Farage would undoubtedly consider “woke”, adding an amendment that praised Mr Freer for his campaigning efforts on behalf of the LGBT community.