Welsh First Minister Eluned Morgan said Reform UK were just ‘repackaged Tories’ with the same old answers who see the May elections as a stepping stone to Westminster
Nigel Farage’s Reform UK has been accused of being repackaged Tories(Image: PA)
Nigel Farage has been accused of “taking Welsh voters for fools” by offering the same old Tory answers.
Wales’s First Minister Eluned Morgan said Reform UK were nothing more than “repackaged Tories” who only want to use the May elections as a “stepping stone” to Westminster. Labour has dominated Welsh politics for decades but the party is now locked in a battle with Reform and Plaid Cymru in the run up to the Senedd elections.
Reform is pushing to make major gains in Wales but its momentum was dealt a blow in a seismic by-election in Caerphilly last year saw Plaid Cymru steal a march on Mr Farage’s party. Questions have been raised over whether there could be a majority for anyone but Reform in the contest.
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Welsh Labour leader Ms Morgan has come out fighting, saying she is laser focused on key concerns for voters: improving the NHS, easing the cost of living and building a strong economy. Writing in the Mirror, she said she refused to “match the empty noise and easy promises” of rival parties, who she accused of being more interested in rows with Westminster than the concerns of voters.
She said: “Nigel Farage and his party are taking Welsh voters for fools, repackaged Tories with the same old answers, using Wales as a stepping stone. They don’t care about Wales and they don’t have a plan for our future.”
And turning her fire on the Welsh nationalists, she said: “Plaid Cymru say they stand up for Wales. But when it matters, their priorities don’t answer the worries of Welsh people.
“When it came to protecting shop workers and emergency staff, they voted against stronger protections. When it came to justice for Hillsborough families, they chose not to back it. Why? Because for them, a row with Westminster is always
She added: “This election is not about political theatre. It is about something much simpler, the future of Wales.
“Reform are wrong. Wales is not broken, it is brimming with potential. This election is about turning that potential into something people can actually feel in their daily lives.”
It comes after the first major seat-by-seat analysis by YouGov found no party is on course to win a majority. Plaid Cymru’s Rhun ap Iorweth was in pole position to be the next First Minister with 43 seats, followed by Reform on 30 and Labour on 12.
Former First Minister Mark Drakeford last week said left-wing parties could team up to stop Reform from forming a Welsh Government. He told the BBC: “I don’t believe for a moment that a Reform nominee would be endorsed by the Senedd because I think that next Senedd will have three-quarters or two-thirds of its members who do not share the views of that party.
“So even if they are the largest party – and I don’t think they will be – but even if they were, they could put forward their nominee and that nominee will not succeed.”
Dan Thomas, Leader of Reform Wales, said: “The people of Wales will rightly vote to end Labour rule this May. The key question is what comes next.
“Reform has an ambitious and credible plan to put Welsh people first and restore common sense to politics here in Wales.”
