Wales gets its first Reform UK council group as party targets Senedd elections

• ITV Wales journalist Sion Jenkins reports.

Wales has its first Reform UK Council group, after three Independent councillors in Torfaen joined the party.

One of the party's newly-elected MPs, Lee Anderson, who represents Ashfield in Nottinghamshire, was there to welcome to new inductees, calling the change "superb".

"Labour in Wales are useless," he said, addressing supporters. "They are letting you down."

Two of the new councillors previously represented Labour, and another was previously a member of the Conservatives, but before turning to Reform they were all Independents.

Cllr David Thomas said: "We believe in the party's focus on common sense policies, the economy, and the fact that we can put local communities first, which aligns with our vision for affective governance."

Cllr Alan Slade agreed that Reform could offer communities like Torfaen "common sense," as well as "cutting out bureaucracy, it's really as simple as that, there is money there, it's just spent in the wrong areas".

Reform failed to win any Welsh seats at this year's General Election, but came second place in 13 constituencies in terms of vote share, outperforming the Conservatives in those areas.

Looking to the Senedd elections in 2026, Lee Anderson MP said: "Between then and across the UK in council elections, we're going to win seats, we're going to win lots of seats, and I think we're going to see more councillors from all parties join Reform UK."

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