Reform UK outlines Wales agenda after Senedd breakthrough
Laura Anne Jones details Reform’s policy push, UK‑France pact and rural priorities following historic Senedd gains.
Reform UK’s senior Welsh representative Laura Anne Jones used a Birmingham conference to spell out the party’s next steps after a historic breakthrough in the Senedd.
Jones said the Reform conference “felt like the beginning of something”, describing packed halls and “energy that was palpable” as thousands gathered around the belief that Britain is broken and needs serious change.
Welsh leader Dan Thomas, she added, delivered a “superb speech” that demonstrated Reform’s leadership in Wales, positioning the party as “the largest and most effective opposition in the Senedd’s history”.
According to Jones, Reform is not content with merely “making up the numbers or providing decorative opposition”. She argued the party intends to “expose the failures of a socialist Plaid Cymru government, to offer alternatives and to fight for the people ignored by Cardiff Bay for decades”.
She outlined Reform’s first‑100‑day plan, describing it as “ambitious because the country’s problems are enormous, but realistic because every proposal is rooted in one simple concept: common sense”.
The agenda, she said, spans “borders and policing to tax, energy, education and the NHS”, branding it a “programme for action—not some glossy booklet destined to spend eternity beneath a ministerial coffee cup”.
International cooperation featured prominently when Jones highlighted a memorandum of understanding signed by French National Rally leader Jordan Bardella and UKIP veteran Nigel Farage.
The pact, she explained, commits Reform and the National Rally to work together against illegal Channel crossings should both parties win a future general election.
“Britain and France have spent years producing excuses, while criminal gangs produce more and more boats,” Jones asserted, adding that the two leaders aim to “achieve the immediate stop to the invasion of our shores and dismantle the trade behind it”.
Rural concerns also featured, with Jones warning that “dairy prices are soaring for families while farmers struggle to receive a fair return”.
She criticised current agricultural policy for aggravating this summer’s wildfire crisis, saying it “made the situation worse”.
Reform, she claimed, recognises that “food security is national security”. The party plans to “trust farmers, restore sensible land management and put food production back at the heart of policy”.
Jones warned that the establishment would “sneer, obstruct and panic”, but insisted Reform would stand firm.
“Let it,” she concluded, describing the Birmingham gathering as proof that Reform “has the people, the policies and the courage to fight to fix our country — and win”.
The speech marks a pivotal moment for Reform UK as it seeks to translate its Senedd presence into a broader challenge to the Welsh government’s agenda.