MP Lee Anderson has said that three councillors in Wales joining Reform UK marks a “historic” moment in British politics and revealed that the party now has nearly 80,000 members.
Formerly independent Torfaen county councillors David Thomas, Jason O’Connell and Alan Slade have announced that they are joining the party.
Anderson told GB News: “They are the first Reform group of councillors in the whole of Wales. It's a historic moment.
“And I tell you what, the feeling I got around the town and in the pub that we went into after is that Reform, the People's Army, are now on the march in Wales.
“That's wonderful news for the people of Wales who, quite frankly, have been let down for donkey's years by the Labour Party.”
He added: “Politics changes very quickly these days. People are fed up. Look at the last election, for example. Yeah, Labour got a massive landslide, but the actual number of people that voted for Keir Starmer was well down.
“People are a little bit fed up with politics…they’re fed up of voting for one thing and getting another.
“Reform has got five world class MPs in Westminster. We've got councillors now, our membership has shot up from 20,000 when I first joined to nearly 80,000.
“People are joining every single day. Donors are coming on board. My General Election campaign was fantastic. I got people coming out of the woodwork I'd never heard of who wanted to help deliver leaflets or put posters up.
“There is something happening out there. I know Nigel [Farage] says this a lot, but people are genuinely fed up with the two mainstream parties and Reform UK offers a glimmer of hope.”
He said he has written a letter to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper to complain about people arrested in relation to the recent riots being called criminals.
Anderson said: “Do you know, if you talk about a live court case and make statements on social media, even when we're sat in the House of Commons, if we accidentally mention a current court case, we get slapped down by the Speaker.
“We can't influence the outcome and any sort of trial and for the Home Office to say these 1,000 people are criminals - now it might be the case that most of them get convicted and face to full wrath of the law, and so be it. But you cannot prejudge that.
“You cannot say these people are automatically criminals. Where have they got this information from and to what end?”
