Asking who leads Reform in Wales is a 'distraction'

The question of who leads Reform UK into next year's Senedd election has been dismissed as a "distraction" by the man handling the party's communications in Wales.

Llyr Powell said Nigel Farage was party leader and "at the moment, there's no one we're going to appoint as the leader of the party [in Wales]".

Powell was speaking after Reform won its first Parliamentary by-election, taking the north west of England seat of Runcorn and Helsby from Labour, and its first mayoral election, in Greater Lincolnshire.

Reform hopes to win its first Senedd seats next May. Recent polls suggest support for the party is closely behind Labour and neck-and-neck with Plaid Cymru.

Asked on Radio Cymru's breakfast programme Dros Frecwast if Reform has a leader in Wales, Powell said: "The leader of the party is Nigel Farage, but in Wales there are a lot of people who will be standing as candidates in the next election."

Pressed on whether it would have a leader for the Senedd election, Powell responded: "In the next election people will be able to see who stands, but words like 'leader in Wales' are just a distraction.

"At the moment, there's no one we're going to appoint as the leader of the party [in Wales]."

Last month, Reform said Oliver Lewis, who represented Reform in Wales at last summer's general election campaign in debates and media interviews, will not be a candidate next year and is no longer the party's Welsh spokesperson.

Last week, Farage refused to be drawn on whether Reform would appoint a new Welsh leader before the Senedd election, telling BBC Wales "give me time".

Caroline Jones, Reform chair in the Vale of Glamorgan and Bridgend, called the English overnight election results "astounding".

She was "looking forward to the Senedd elections and we will do very, very well", she added.

The Conservative shadow Welsh secretary at Westminster, Mims Davies, said Reform's electoral successes in England meant it now faced a test.

"This is about who runs your services, who steps up and delivers for you locally," she told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast.

"Reform are going to have to do that - moving from protest party to actually being in the driving seat and seeing if they can cut it and can deliver."

On Labour's Runcorn by-election defeat, the party's Pontypridd Senedd member Mick Antoniw said a "lot of people" were "basically so hacked off by the Conservatives at the general election but don't feel yet that there's any inspiration or change coming from Labour".

"But it is really early days for [the UK] Labour government," he said.

"A very difficult economic situation, all sorts of things happening internationally and we're only nine months in."

Yet the "warning bells" were ringing for Labour and the party needed to "think carefully", Antoniw added.