Reform UK 'would work with any other Senedd party'

Nigel Farage has said Reform UK would be willing to work with any other party to form a government in Wales next year.

Reform is hoping to win its first Senedd seats at the Welsh Parliament elections in May 2026, with recent polling suggesting support for the party is closely behind Labour, and neck and neck with Plaid Cymru.

Farage told BBC Wales that he was open to doing a deal because the Senedd's new voting system will mean "it's not going to be easy" to win an overall majority.

The party leader also refused to be drawn on whether Reform UK would appoint a new Welsh leader prior to the Senedd elections, replying: "Give me time".

Meanwhile UK Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has refused to be drawn on whether the Tories would enter a post-electoral pact with Farage's party.

Reform failed to win any Senedd members at the last vote in 2021, but came second in 13 Welsh constituencies at the general election last summer.

Polling by Survation conducted in March and April put Labour on 27%, and Plaid Cymru and Reform on 24% each, with the Tories behind on 15%.

The new voting system will elect a larger Senedd with 96 seats instead of the current 60, and will use a list system that aims to better reflect how the public voted.

While Labour has never held a majority in the Welsh Parliament, other parties will likely hold leverage than before if the election result reflects the state of the polls.

When asked, Farage refused to rule out any kind of post-electoral pact with the Conservatives in the event of a hung parliament.

"Confidence and supply relationships we will of course consider with anybody if it's the right thing to do," he said.

Reform currently has no leader in Wales. The man who represented the party in Wales' general election campaign, Oliver Lewis, was recently revealed not to be standing for the Senedd election in 2026.

Farage admitted that he currently had nobody in mind for the job but insisted that "new talent" would emerge as the party continued to "grow" and "develop".

He said: "We haven't even picked our candidates yet for the Senedd elections, once we do it will become increasingly clear who [the likely leader] is."

The Reform UK leader told the BBC that his fledgling party had a "huge amount to do in Wales in a short space of time" but said its local branch structure in the country was "developing".

Farage also said he believed there was "no evidence" that him being leader of Reform UK, including Wales, was doing the party "any harm at the moment."

He revealed that any new leader in Wales would have to be selected among party members, saying "that's very, very clear, and that's what will happen."

Asked whether Reform UK was a "protest party" in Wales without Welsh-specific policies, Farage hit back: "We're not protesting. We want to reindustrialise south Wales.

"Let's be absolutely clear about that.

"The fact that we've all bowed down to this god of net zero, closing down steelworks, closing down some of the coal that we still need, all of this is madness.

"The Senedd has been overtaken by people who all believe in the same blooming thing.

"We're going to be a big antidote to that. It's not a protest, this is about positive change."

Asked if his party would commit to keeping free prescriptions in Wales, Farage replied: "If we can, yes of course."

Meanwhile, the UK Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has told BBC Wales that her party is "fighting to win" the Senedd elections next year.

She admitted the Tories were working to "rebuild the public trust" after a "serious defeat" in the 2024 General Election, which saw the Tories lose all fourteen of their Welsh seats in Westminster.

But Badenoch told BBC Wales she was "hopeful" that by the time of the Welsh elections the Tories would be "on the up", insisting she was fighting for every single vote.

The Tory leader refused to be drawn on whether she would enter a post-electoral pact with Reform UK in Wales in the event of a hung parliament after the 2026 elections.

She said: "I don't think it's right to talk about pacts.

"I have ruled out a pact with Nigel Farage in the Westminster parliament.

"I think the public needs to know what it is you're going to deliver for them not how you're trying to stitch things up to win and that's why I want to focus on what the Conservative offer is... for the British public.

"Right now we're really focused on the local elections in England and I have said at that level people need to decide who is going to support the Conservative agenda, that's what we want to see," Ms Badenoch added.