Nigel Farage has unveiled the new leader for Reform UK in Wales as former London council leader Dan Thomas.
The Welsh-born former councillor addressed the crowd at an event led by Mr Farage during a press conference ahead of the Senedd elections.
Mr Thomas, who grew up in Wales, was the Conservative leader of Barnet Council from 2019 to 2022 and joined Reform UK last year.
In December, he quit as a councillor for Finchley Church End after returning to Wales with his family.
He told a party event in Newport: “I was born and raised in the Welsh Valleys, where my family lived for generations. My granddad was a miner, as was his dad before him.”
Mr Thomas said he had “fond memories” of growing up in Wales and did not want to leave when he turned 18.
“But for many Welshmen and women, good opportunities in Wales are few and far between,” he said.
“The well paying jobs and the high flying career paths are simply not there. So I left to build a successful career in financial services in London while serving my new community as a councillor and council leader.
“After 27 years, I’m back home raising two young boys in the Valleys so they can enjoy the same beautiful Welsh countryside that I played in as a child. I’ve come back to where I belong.”
Earlier at the press conference, Mr Farage announced Reform UK’s latest defector as former Tory politician James Evans ahead of the Senedd elections in May.
Mr Evans said Britain is “broken and Wales is broken too” as he took to the stage at the Reform press conference in Wales.
He said: “Britain is broken and Wales is broken also. Not under pressure, not challenged, it is fundamentally broken.
“And the real failure in Welsh politics is not just the bad outcomes for its people, it is the refusal by the people in power to admit what everybody else can see.
“I did admit it, I challenged it openly and I challenged it inside the Seneed and the Conservative party. I said that Wales was broken, I said that Britain was broken and for that honesty and for the people of Wales, I was kicked out.”
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