Reform’s Arron Banks questions whether a black person can be Welsh

Former Reform UK candidate and businessman Arron Banks has been accused of committing a hate crime after questioning whether a young black community organiser in Cardiff could be Welsh.

A video released by Plaid Cymru shows the organiser outside Cardiff Castle, expressing his support for the party.

Banks posted on X the comment: “Welsh lad?”

Plaid’s Westminster leader Liz Saville Roberts responded, also on X, stating: “Reform donor and 2025 candidate for the West of England mayoral election thinks black people can’t be Welsh.

“Racism is rife within Reform. We must stop them from being the largest party in the Senedd. Only Plaid Cymru can stop them.”

A spokesperson for Reform UK pointed out that Banks had not in fact been a donor to the party. He did however bankroll the Leave EU pro-Brexit campaign group in the run-up to the 2016 referendum on EU membership, and donated to Nigel Farage’s earlier party UKIP. Last year he was Reform’s candidate to become the directly-elected mayor of the West of England Combined Authority, losing narrowly to the winning Labour candidate, Helen Godwin.

Reform donor and 2025 candidate for the West of England mayoral election thinks black people can’t be Welsh.

Racism is rife within Reform. We must must stop them from being the largest party in the Senedd.

Only @Plaid_Cymru can stop them. https://t.co/ovCb5Hqb0n pic.twitter.com/u4n5X5RvoA

— Liz Saville Roberts AS/MP (@LSRPlaid) April 27, 2026

A political source who contacted Nation.Cymru said: “What Banks has stated is a hate crime. Plaid should really be reporting it to the police.”

In the video, the young community organiser states: “My name is Bashir and I’m a community organiser from Butetown in Cardiff – and there’s something really important I need to tell you today.

“The Senedd election on May 7 is the most important election we’ve ever had in Wales. And this is a straight-up fight between Plaid Cymru and Reform.

“This is a choice between hope or division, substance or noise, ambition or chaos. Responsible leadership under Plaid Cymru or Donald Trump-style politics with Reform. You can’t risk Wales’s future being in the hands of a Reform government. It just doesn’t make sense. They will privatise the NHS, work for their billionaire mates and raise council taxes – just like what they’re doing in England.

“Don’t stay at home on May the 7th thinking everything is going to be OK. Plaid Cymru is the only party in Wales that can stop Reform. So on the 7th of May vote Plaid Cymru. Together we can stand up for Wales.

Racist comment

It is not the first time Banks has been accused of posting racist comments on social media.

Last year, during the mayoral campaign, Banks stood by a tweet he had made in 2017 in which he called Bristol “little Somalia”, going on to blame crime in the city on the Somali community and Romanians.

In the tweet he stated: “Take a stroll down any high street in a city in the UK, Bristol looks like little Somalia. Sod all integration and horrendous problems.”

A group of Bristolians protested against Banks outside an election hustings meeting in April 2025.

Asked about the tweet by BristolLive, he said: “It’s not to say all Somalians are bad people, but in the same way that Romanians are at the forefront of criminal activities in most cities, certainly Somalians in Bristol are at the forefront of crime in Bristol.”

He claimed that Home Office statistics showed that the Somalian community was 10 times more likely to commit serious crime than other communities. However, the Home Office confirmed that crime conviction statistics did not record the nationality of those convicted.