Reform’s defeat is a triumph for Wales

Martin Shipton

Lindsay Whittle’s triumph in the Caerphilly by-election is a victory not only for Plaid Cymru, but for Wales.

Like many others, I had been seduced into believing that the Farage bandwagon was unstoppable and that his party’s appeal to the basest human instincts was winning.

What depressed me particularly was the thought that a nasty English nationalist party prepared to stir up racial hatred out of cynical opportunism could swan into Wales and con people into voting for it.

It’s true that it got thousands to do so.  But Plaid, with the support of progressives who would normally vote for other parties, especially Labour, got thousands more.

Flying visits

The defeat of Labour in a seat it had held at Westminster and the Senedd for more than 100 years, would in normal circumstances be a massive story in its own right. But that became an accepted fact weeks ago.

Reform became the party to beat, and the huge, often uncritical media attention given to Farage and other Reform politicians when they made flying visits to the constituency gave the party the appearance of being the frontrunner.

Very early in the campaign their strategy became clear: don’t bother to concentrate on real issues like health, education and the economy, but go low and play on people’s concerns about immigration.

There are no small boats landing asylum seekers on the Welsh coast, so there was the need to manufacture a row over the Welsh Government’s Nation of Sanctuary policy.

Reform picked up on the fact that around £55m had been spent on the programme over several years and made this the main theme of its campaign, alleging that public money was being squandered on asylum seekers who, it was strongly implied, were illegal immigrants who had arrived by small boat. A lie.

Lies

In fact, the great bulk of the money was spent on resettling Ukrainian refugees. Even after this was pointed out, Reform continued to spread lies about the matter.

They hadn’t counted on the fightback from members of the Caerphilly Ukrainian community, led by an articulate woman called Yuliia Bond, who spoke and wrote passionately about how generously they had been welcomed by the people of the constituency and how they were making positive contributions to the local community.

The most memorable moment in the candidates’ TV debate came when a woman and her mixed-race son in the audience called out Reform’s Llyr Powell, blaming him and his party for trying to create racial tension when none previously existed.

In order to counter the relentless racist abuse on social media, the campaign group Stand Up To Racism delivered leaflets across the constituency.

Powerful

In a statement after the by-election result was declared, the group said: “Reform UK threw everything they had at this by-election — and they still lost.

“This result stands as a powerful testament to the dedication and determination of anti-racist campaigners and community activists across Caerphilly. Volunteers delivered thousands of leaflets, spoke directly with residents, and made clear the real dangers posed by Reform’s divisive politics.

“The defeat of Reform is a major victory for everyone committed to opposing racism and intolerance. The significance of this outcome cannot be overstated.”

At Nation.Cymru we tried to do our bit to show up Reform for the charlatans they are – and in doing so countering the uncritical coverage that Nigel Farage receives from many news outlets who consider him to be a source of entertainment. There was no shortage of negative material about Reform for us to write about.

In the end, the result wasn’t nearly as close as some had predicted. Plaid Cymru won with a healthy majority. Had Reform won, it would have been a national humiliation for Wales. We have avoided that thanks to good sense prevailing in Caerphilly, with people prepared to vote tactically to defeat what many would have perceived as an external threat.

Gloating

We have also avoided the gloating visits of Farage and his sidekicks like Richard Tice and Lee Anderson. They would have patronised the locals while privately despising them as a bunch of oiks.

It must never be forgotten that Reform is an offshoot of the far right of the Conservative Party, bankrolled by donors who represent interests like the fossil fuel industries and offshore banking, who want to deregulate as much as possible so they can engage in buccaneering capitalism without restraint.

They oppose extending workers’ employment rights and want to impose huge spending cuts on all levels of government. The idea that they would improve public services is ridiculous. Their whole philosophy is predicated on reducing public spending and cutting taxes for the rich.

On the international stage they stand with Trump and Putin and approve of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Their defeat by the combined forces of the progressive left demonstrates that things have not sunk so low that the electorate’s top choice will be a political party that so evidently doesn’t represent the interests of those who vote for it.

The people of Caerphilly are not nearly as gullible as Nigel Farage thought they were. For him and his abominable party, the by-election loss is a huge setback that they weren’t expecting.