In the general election, back in 2024, I was so proud to stand for my local area of Llanelli for Reform UK. I’m not a career politician, far from it.
I wasn’t in it for the money or the glory. I’m in it for the people who have been left behind and deserve real change after decades of failure from the old parties.
We ran a great campaign in a seat that we were not projected to win, but when the final results were announced, we came a strong second, and it was clear that we had come incredibly close to taking the seat from Labour.
So close that many people, who had voted for other parties, began to realise that Reform were the only party capable of beating the left-wing establishment not only here in Llanelli, but across Wales too.
We put forward a positive vision for change, with policies to cut the cost of living, grow our economy, stand up for our local health service and put the people of Wales first.
That’s exactly what Dan Thomas’ Reform Wales manifesto is all about in this year’s Senedd election and why I’m standing, putting what I learned in 2024 into action so that we can turn that strong second into a solid victory this time around on 7 May.
One of the things I learned was that many people on the doorsteps are surprised to hear about what Plaid Cymru, our main competitors in this election, really stand for.
Plaid’s extremist ideology on gender self-ID is dangerous. Men in women’s sport and in single sex spaces. Women don’t want this, and only Reform is talking common sense on the issue.
A relentless campaign to give puberty blockers to children from one of Plaid’s candidates, standing here in our area, none other than their disgraced former leader, Adam Price.
Separatism is the big one, of course, and many people know about Plaid’s ambition to rip Wales out of Britain, but Plaid have been deceptive in this campaign.
They’re not telling people their true intentions. It would be a disaster for Wales, and only Reform can stop Plaid from pretending that there’s any kind of mandate for that kind of huge act of economic self-harm.
Plaid has admitted that they can’t win alone.
They’ll need to do yet another deal with Labour, who have failed Wales for 27 years, or the Green Party. The Greens have put on their leaflets that they’ll push Plaid to go “even further”.
What does that mean? We know that the Greens want to legalise all drugs, including crack and heroin, and they want to open the borders completely.
Only Reform can stop Wales from being ripped out of Britain. We must make this electoral win too big to rig | Getty Images
On the latter, Plaid would gladly sign up to without the Greens’ input, because their leader said on TV that “there’s no such thing as illegal immigration”.
I’ve never heard anything so tone deaf. But even on the former point on drugs, Plaid have been very open to decriminalising drugs in the past, and they make no secret about their wish to devolve justice to Wales so they can make this happen.
Reform says no to more powers, because the next government needs to be focussed on the NHS, schools and the economy, not tiptoeing towards the break-up of Britain. We know from both Plaid and the Greens that they secretly want a deal to happen after the election.
The Welsh media and academic class are itching for it: a leftist separatist utopia. The people of Carmarthenshire, Llanelli and Wales are clear: we say no to the separatist Plaid-Green coalition of chaos.
And the only way to do it is to vote for Reform! Instead, Reform stands for lower taxes and proper public services, not wasteful spending on foreign aid, international affairs and the ‘Nation of Sanctuary’ pull factor for illegal migrants, with hotels and HMOs to house them at your expense.
Plaid and Labour designed the new electoral system with one thing in mind: keep the cosy consensus in power. It’s an unfair system, as admitted by Mark Drakeford himself.
He said that the Senedd will try to block a Reform First Minister, even if we win the most votes and seats. My message to Reform voters and decent people across Wales is this: make it too big to rig.
Vote Reform in overwhelming numbers to really show the establishment that change is inevitable. We came so close last time, so we know that every single vote counts. So don’t sit this one out. Get out and vote.
We in Reform can do it, but only we can do it. A vote for any other party will let through the Plaid-Green-Labour coalition of chaos. Vote Reform to put the people of Wales first, once and for all. Diolch yn fawr iawn.