Welsh Reform councillor teams up with Tommy Robinson allies in parents meeting
Emily Price
A Reform councillor has chaired a meeting with a far-right group and parents of young children to discuss “completely untrue” allegations about religious education at a Swansea school.
Reform Councillor Francesca O’Brien claimed that pupils at Sea View Community Primary School in Mayhill were being forced to pray on Muslim mats and recite prayers from the Quran and that Christianity wasn’t getting the same representation in lessons on religion.
The claims have also been made by designated hate group Voice of Wales.
Swansea Council have strongly refuted these allegations.
A spokesperson said: “The claims being made are not true.
“We have a strong ongoing relationship with our local churches. We have regular visits and our pupils participate in major Christian festivals with them including Christmas, Easter and the annual Harvest Festival.
“This was the first time someone of the Islamic faith from our local mosque was invited to the school.
“It is untrue to claim pupils were told they would all be Muslim by the time they get to year six or that they were taught Islamic prayers.
“We pride ourselves on being a school where everyone is treated with dignity, tolerance and respect.
“Like all schools in Wales we are required to include religious studies as part of our curriculum.
“Lessons and assemblies mainly reflect the broad traditions of Christian belief but we also try to give our pupils a basic understanding of the world’s other major religions.”
Fraudster
Cllr O’Brien appeared to team up with Voice of Wales’ two co-founders at a public meeting for parents of children that attend Sea View School.
The purported media outlet is run by failed UKIP candidate Stan Robinson and convicted fraudster Dan Morgan.
The pair are associates of one of the UK’s most prominent anti-Islam activists, Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – better known as Tommy Robinson.
In recent weeks Voice of Wales have made unsubstantiated claims that young children are regularly being “abducted” by “migrant men” in Swansea city centre.
It’s understood that senior Reform figures have warned the party’s elected representatives in Wales and potential Senedd candidates not to interact with Voice of Wales.
Despite this, the far-right group posted a photo on Facebook on Tuesday (October 7) of Cllr O’Brien meeting with the group’s co-founders and parents.
On the left of the image, the Reform councillor can he seen in a conversation with Voice of Wales co-founder Stan Robinson.
Sharing clips of Cllr O’Brien repeating claims about the school on GB News later that evening, Voice of Wales described the Reform newbie as a “friend”.
‘Hate’
Leader of Swansea Council, Rob Stewart, says Cllr O’Brien – who represents Mumbles – has “questions to answer” about her relationship with the extremist group.
Cllr Stewart said: “She claims that parents have reached out to her – but why would parents in Townhill and Mayhill reach out to a councillor from such an affluent area of the city on this matter?
“If Cllr O’Brien was approached by parents – how did it come to pass that Voice of Wales were promoting her meeting and what did she do to distance herself from the group?
“It’s incumbent on all elected representative to not stoke hatred and intolerance or feed the types of agendas that Voice of Wales are intent on pushing.
“Cllr O’Brien has done nothing to take the temperature down. She has contributed to stresses that our teaching staff are facing in Sea View Primary.
“Mayhill is still recovering from the riots of a couple of years ago. What Cllr O’Brien has done is extremely irresponsible.”
Cllr O’Brien hit the headlines in 2019 when the Guardian reported how she had posted comments online saying people on benefits needed “putting down”.
She defected to Nigel Farage’s party from the Conservatives in August – leaving the employment of Tory Senedd Member Tom Giffard.
We asked Cllr O’Brien the following questions:
*Did you invite Voice of Wales to your meeting yourself?
*Are you friends with Stan Robinson or the group’s co-founder Dan Morgan?
*Are you aware that Dan Morgan was found guilty of scamming pensioners in 2023?
*Are you aware that the pair are associates of Tommy Robinson?
*Do their links to Tommy Robinson concern you at all?
*We understand that the general rules within Reform UK are that members should declare any links to the far-right. Is Reform aware that you invited a far-right group to a discussion about a school?
Cllr O’Brien did not respond.
It’s the second time in recent days that Voice of Wales have been linked with Reform in Wales.
At the weekend, Stan Robinson posted a photo of himself smiling alongside ex-Liberal Democrat MP, now Nigel Farage supporter, Lembit Öpik at Reform’s Caerphilly headquarters.
‘Foul’
Nigel Farage’s party is hoping to win the late Hefin David’s Senedd seat from Labour in a by-election on October 23.
Reform candidate Llŷr Powell did not respond to Nation.Cymru’s questions about why a notorious far-right figure had visited his office.
Voice of Wales were condemned by several political parties in 2021 when they had their YouTube channel banned after it was labelled “racist” and accused of expressing “foul” and “unacceptable” language and ideas.
The group has taken part in several Tommy Robinson protests over the years and have provided support and coverage for demonstrations against asylum accommodation.
Stan Robinson’s current banner image on X is himself with his arm around Tommy Robinson – the former English Defence League leader who was previously jailed for contempt of court.
In recent years he has made repeated outrageous statements such as advocating that the TV journalist Adam Boulton should be castrated with a rusty blade.
Voice of Wales’ other founder, Dan Morgan, was handed a suspended sentence in 2023 for his role in a large-scale scam that stole millions from people who believed they were applying for compensation for mis-sold PPI.
Many of the victims who were duped into paying £550 were elderly and vulnerable.
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Swansea Council spokesman -“Lessons and assemblies mainly reflect the broad traditions of Christian belief but we also try to give our pupils a basic understanding of the world’s other major religions.”
Encouraging respect for other faiths helps to build a more inclusive society, unlike the scumbags peddling hate and division in this instance.
Judging by the photo accompanying this article there doesn’t seem to be much support for the hatemongering being promoted by Cllr O’Brien.
I can’t see many mothers in this photo. That says a great deal.
From the cradle to the ballot box the racist family member(s) will poison the minds of the next generation and beyond…
Wales is in serious jeopardy, we are the petri dish for the rest of the UK and our defence forces are awol from what I can’t see…
If Reform have instructed their councillors and senedd candidates to have nothing to do with the far right group Voice of Wales then its clear they must now suspended her from the party and remove her from their Senedd election candidates list. As after this shameful episode – and Stan Robinson popping up in Llyr Powell’s election office – people in Wales will understandably be asking what exactly is the difference between Reform and Voice of Wales?
These strange men seem to have an unhealthy interest in young children because there’s nothing healthy about fabricating facts. What are we not being told.
Reform want to do away with the Online Safety Act. Just saying.
Sinister stuff
‘Voice of Wales’?! Not the Wales I know. How dare they peddle hate in the name of our beautiful country?
Stan Robinson is not even Welsh
It’s the likes of this councillor Francesca O’Brien associating with these far right racists that give them credibility, Councillors should be closing them down not giving them a platform,
S & D are causing Reform UK so much bad publicity, you’d think they were working for us…
Thank you Emily and nation.cymru for bringing this news to us. Please do not accept any silence from Francesca. She has to respond. This is a very inflammatory, very intolerant and anti Islamic meeting that she has chaired and I am incredibly insulted by this attack on my faith. She has to respond and she had better apologise.
Thanks so much Amir – Emily
She was elected on the Conservative (she has been the Deputy Leader of the Welsh Conseratives) ticket for the Mumbles Ward in 2022 and was the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Gower in 2019. She joined Reform Party Limited in April 2025. Her father is a well know, but not very loved, political maverick Richard Lewis who was a supporter of the UDM during the miners strike and has been a Tory, Lib Dem, UKIP and Independent Councillor …….
Well that say it all.
supporter of UDM tells you all you need to know, the scab union.
In the last national census 46.5% of people in Cymru said they had no religion. I respect any person who is religious and whatever religion they chose, but when almost half the population have no religion, what are reform doing banging on about religion, is it just an easy way to show their racism while claiming to stand up for christian values as a front to cover racism, just asking.
“pupils were told they would all be Muslim by the time they get to year six”
Even this rabble can’t be gullible enough to have genuinely believed this might be the case, they’re knowingly spreading lies.
Reform is our equivalent of the Trump cult in the USA. When confronted with facts and evidence they will perform intellectual gymnastics to make the facts fit their beliefs, such as, Trump found guilty of sexual abuse, they blame E Jean Carroll, while here, Reform supporter Lucy Connelly wanting migrants burnt alive inciting violence, is termed as free speech. They will not be reasoned with.
Of course they know it’s lies. They don’t care about the truth. Their goal is to “flood the zone” so to speak, spewing so much nonsense that it’s impossible to keep up with. Individually any claim is trivially refutable, but by the time that’s done they’re already onto the next thing, or even the one after that. For any lie they tell, some small percentage will believe it. The greater the spectacle the better. The more social media posts it spawns, the more people see in passing, the more people slowly come to think “oh maybe there’s something to this”… Read more »
The Council should have a Standards and Ethics Committee. They should be looking at this.
A complaint to the Council regarding breaking the Council’s code of conduct could be made.
Similarly, a complaint to the Ombudsman regarding Conduct of a Councillor and bringing the Council into distribute.
Some of the actions on offer.
Keep these people and their supporters well away from our children and communities.
Seeing a reform sign outside a house suggests sinister intentions. Back in the day, Weslsh nans would have known how to treat “those types” in the street.
The connections between Reform and the racist scumbags behind Voice of ‘Wales’ are becoming clearer by the day. A vote for Reform is a vote for Fascism.
Huge turn out
You have a scenario here with a Reform councilor originally from an affluent part of The Gower Peninsula taking an interest in Mayhill one of the most economically deprived areas of Swansea.
Of course if there are social issues in Mayhill that seriously need addressing this bigot would be nowhere to be seen.
Apparently there has been a bust up between the VoW and Shoaib Sohail…worth looking into NC?