Restore Britain group ‘likely to be formed at the Senedd with Reform defectors’
Martin Shipton
Political sources believe it is likely that some recently elected Reform UK Senedd Members will defect to Rupert Lowe’s party Restore Britain.
If five of them do so, it’s probable that according to the Senedd standing orders they would be able to form a Restore group.
A source that has been involved with Reform in Wales told Nation.Cymru: “There have already been some murmurings from Reform MSs who are not happy with the way things are going, Some want to take a full part in the Senedd’s business, while others are more interested in using their platform at the Senedd to promote Reform in advance of the next general election.
“There are also different views on the question of mass deportations. Restore is more gung-ho than Reform, which explains why Elon Musk is more sympathetic to Restore than Reform.
“There is a lot of bitterness over the Makerfield by-election, where Reform is losing votes to Restore, making it likely that Andy Burnham will win the seat for Labour and go on to be Prime Minister.
“Rupert Lowe and Nigel Farage hate each other and Rupert would be very happy to stop Reform winning the by-election. If that happens, there will be an even bigger falling-out.”
Restore has already succeeded in getting some Reform councillors to join it. Owain Clatworthy, who was elected to Bridgend council last year in a by-election, left Reform when he objected to candidates being parachuted into constituencies and being given top places on party lists ahead of local activists who had built up the local membership. He was wooed by Restore and now sits as a Restore councillor.
In neighbouring Vale of Glamorgan council, Reform candidate Brandon Dodd won a by-election and later also defected to Restore.
In May’s Senedd election, Reform won 34 seats and became the official opposition to Plaid Cymru’s minority government.
Officially formed
We checked the rules governing political groups to see whether it would be technically feasible for Restore UK to form a group of its own if some Reform MSs defected to it.
In the expanded Senedd, party groups can only be officially formed when at least five MSs join them.
However, there is an expectation that groups should be formed by parties that have won at least one seat in the last Senedd election.
The Senedd’s standing orders state: “For the purposes of the Act [which increased the number of MSs from 60 to 96], a political group is: a group of at least five Members belonging to the same registered political party that won at least one seat at the previous Senedd election; or five or more Members not satisfying the criteria in Standing Order 1.3(i), who have notified the Presiding Officer of their wish to be regarded as a political group, and satisfied the Presiding Officer that exceptional circumstances apply.”
The standing order continues: “The Presiding Officer must issue guidance to Members under Standing Order 6.17 on the interpretation and application of Standing Order 1.3(ii). The Presiding Officer must decide any question as to whether any Member belongs to a political group or as to which political group he or she belongs.”
We asked the Senedd Commission about the latest guidance relating to when “exceptional circumstances” would apply, and whether it would be possible for a group composed of Members who did not stand for election under its banner to be formed.
‘Exceptional circumstances’
A spokesperson for the Senedd Commission told us: “Examples of exceptional circumstances include, but are not limited to, a split in a registered political party, a national crisis, or a major event that changes political affiliations.”
This guidance was issued by the previous Presiding Officer Elin Jones in April 2026, and strongly suggests that a Restore group would be allowed, if at least five Reform MSs defected to it.
As well as speaking rights, the formation of a group leads to additional funding. A group of five MSs would be entitled to claim £300,000 per year to employ group support staff.
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No MS elected should be able to change party without triggering a by-election. I still do not understand why this is allowed in the Senedd? Imagine a constituency whose MS decided to join, say, Britain First. There would be outrage. This should not happen. All those would-be Reform MS defectors are doing is putting far-right antagonist Rupert Lowe political aspirations first rather than their constituents.
Agreed. Based on the new electoral system and with the exception of stand alone independents with no party affiliation, people voted for political parties. Restore Britain as a party did not stand a single candidate anywhere in Cymru so nobody could vote for it. We simply CANNOT have a situation where a non participating spectator party can look in from the outside, wait for the election to pass and then just walk in. Ruleless, lawless, anti democratic and banned entirely UNLESS a by election is held to legitimise any potential incoming MS.
This follows the pattern of the extreme right in Wales and across Britain over the years, tiny groups that splinter. I hope they do, and that it will give those who voted for them pause for thought.
The future of Wales is too important to be left to grifters and chancers who don’t have the patience for the work needed.
£300,000 a year for support staff for 5 MS’s!!!! Good grief. Who the hell will they be employing? Imagine how many nurses or care workers £300,000 would pay for!
If you paid them an average of £25k each (chosen to make the sums obvious, not for realism) and had no NICs or pension contributions to pay then twelve. But you do have to pay NICs and pension contributions so fewer.
Which is not to imply that I think it’s good idea to give the cash to Restore
Will RT join Restore since Reform spurned his Twitter auditioning? Or is the incriminating twenty photo just too damaging for the farther right parties.
Lowe is worse than farage and attracts Musks support. An evil man with an evil party.
What are the reform mutterings? Not racist enough, need a bit more bovver on the benches?
Should not be allowed – Restore didn’t even stand in the election so to get in with no votes is totally wrong.
The seat the member holds should cease to exist and the new seat should go to whoever would have got it under D’Hondt if there were seven seats in that constituency – at least someone voted for that party…
But Restore have not even bothered to run a candidate in the Llantarnam ward council by-election in Torfaen. This is a ward populated by Reform UK councillors close to Farage. If Restore are not prepared to take on Farage loyalists in an open contest, what hope is there of them doing anything bigger?
This is an outrage. No one voted for that party. They should resign and certainly not form an official group. There is no emergency circumstance here. / but it is nice to see them split.
There is an inevitability of defections. The driver is anti-immigrant rhetoric and dismantling the welfare state, especially the NHS. When we see some Senedd Members jump ship to Restore we will observe a real ramping up of anti-Cymru and anti-Cymraeg rhetoric. Restore want to dissolve the Senedd, so they will voice this on every occasion. Dark days ahead!
We can sit back and enjoy the Reform wrapper being lifted.
Watching them squabbling amongst themselves as they try to appear to be relevant
They look lost at the Senedd searching for something to say
Newbie Joe Martin sees the pressing issue of the day as the protocol behind shaking hands with Muslim women at the Senedd
An interesting side effect of the change to PR is that there is no longer a rationale to allow elected members to swap party after an election, AND retain their seat.
Otherwise, what is there to stop a coup by deceit ?
I think we should be told….
Why are parties that want to remove the closest thing to democracy that Cymru has even allowed to stand??
This is blatant hatred towards the Welsh.
Neither party is truly concerned with preserving electoral democracy
Restore? Did they feature in that recent Senedd election? I don’t recall anything of that name cropping up among the party lists. Those A.S’s now claiming the right to transfer should be told to leave Y Senedd as they were elected on a party list and should be replaced by others who were on their party’s candidate list in the relevant constituency. I appreciate that this might drag in some even more odd characters but this vividly defines the weakness of this so called democratic mechanism created by Labour and Plaid in their moments of madness. Change it as soon… Read more »
A very knowledgeable and hard working MP and not afraid to tell it like it is we really need more like him
If he’s a traitor to his own party, we really don’t. No place for the filth of racism in Cymru.
This is proof positive that legislation should be enacted in the Senedd to mandate a by-election whenever an MS decides to switch to another party without the say-so of the electorate.