‘Pull up the drawbridge!’ Lee Anderson declares war on asylum housing in Wales after Nigel Farage pledge

The party's Welsh policies, unveiled during Farage's speech in Port Talbot today, include scrapping the Welsh Government's "Nation of Sanctuary" designation and redirecting all associated funding.

Reform has pledged to ensure "local people go to the front of the social housing queue" as part of its manifesto for the 2026 Senedd elections.

The announcements form part of a broader industrial strategy for Wales, with Farage promising to allow coal mining to resume and expressing a "long-term ambition to reopen the Port Talbot steelworks".

The party also plans to establish a "Welsh DOGE" - modelled on Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency - to identify what it calls "woke and wasteful spending" and redirect funds to frontline services.

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When GB News host Martin Daubney suggested the plan would put Reform on a "collision course" with Westminster, Lee responded: "So what?"

He proposed that if Westminster continued sending asylum seekers to Wales, Reform should "push them out and put them into some of these Lib Dem and Labour constituencies."

"Stick them in their attic. That will teach them," Lee added.

Defending the hardline approach, Lee cited crime statistics, saying "25 per cent of the sex crimes committed in this country were committed by foreign nationals."

"We have the stomach for a fight over this and we will put the drawbridge up. We'll have a battle with Westminster because the people in Wales are on our side," he declared.

Farage's Port Talbot speech comes as polling suggests Reform could secure its first Senedd seats in May 2026, with a YouGov/Barn Cymru poll placing the party second on 25 per cent of the vote.

The party leader claimed Reform now has "almost 11,000 members and tens of thousands of supporters" in Wales and is "winning Council by-elections in Wales with almost 50 per cent of the vote."

Beyond immigration policies, Reform's industrial plans include using Welsh Development Grants to support "actual factory floors, machinery, and industrial jobs in places like Llanelli, Shotton, and Ebbw Vale" rather than consultants and NGOs.

The party also pledged to establish regional technical colleges teaching trades including welding, plumbing, robotics and electrical skills, ensuring "every young person who wants to work should have a path into a proper trade."