Senedd Member to attend sentencing of disgraced former Reform Wales leader

Emily Price

A Senedd Member of Ukrainian heritage will attend the sentencing hearing of Reform UK’s disgraced former leader in Wales, Nathan Gill.

Gill will be sentenced at the Old Bailey in London on Friday (November 21) after pleading guilty to 8 counts of bribery.

Earlier this year, he admitted to receiving payments in return for making pro-Russian statements whilst he was a member of the European Parliament.

Gill’s trial had been due to go ahead in May 2026, shortly after Wales’ election where the party he led could win the highest number of Senedd Members.

By pleading guilty, he has avoided the need for a trial which could have seen more detailed evidence emerge.

Gill was first elected as a UKIP MEP in 2014 and was one of seven UKIP members who won seats in what was then known a the Welsh Assembly in the 2016 election.

After infighting, he left the party’s group in August that year to sit as an independent member for north Wales before he was replaced by UKIP’s Mandy Jones in December 2017.

He was also the leader of Reform UK in Wales during the party’s Senedd election campaign from March to May 2021.

Welsh Labour Senedd Member Mick Antoniw will attend Gill’s sentencing in London.

The Pontypridd MS comes from a Ukrainian family, with a Danish mother and a Ukrainian father who sought refugee status in the UK following World War II.

War

He has visited the front line in Kyiv to deliver vital aid on several occasions throughout Russia’s illegal attack on his father’s home country.

Antoniw has raised grave concerns about Russian influence over UK politics and has warned that Gill’s wrong doing could be “the tip of the iceberg”.

A redacted 2020 Russia Report of the Intelligence and Security Committee of the Westminster Parliament revealed that the UK Government has not seen nor sought to see any evidence of Russian interference in UK democratic processes.

At the time, a spokesperson for the former Conservative UK Government said: “We have seen no evidence of successful interference in the EU referendum,” and added that there was no need to launch an inquiry because Britain’s spy agencies made “regular assessments” of the Russian threat.

‘Corruption’

Ahead of Gill’s sentencing, Antoniw has called on the new Labour UK Government to launch an inquiry into Kremlin interference in UK politics.

He said: “There are many unanswered questions about the nature and scale of Russian interference in UK politics and democratic processes.

“London is widely known as the Russian money laundering capital of the world but the nature of Russia’s war on democracy goes way beyond mere corruption.

“This bribery scandal highlights that Russian interests are seeking to target UK politicians and political parties such as Reform for influence and interference in democratic processes.

“Nathan Gill a former Member of the Welsh Parliament, is just the tip of the iceberg.

“The UK Government needs to act and there needs to be an inquiry and investigation into the full extent of Russian activities in UK politics.”

The UK Government was invited to comment.