Reform UK has hailed victory in the backyard of Plaid Cymru’s leader, saying the overnight by-election result is a great sign ahead of the May local elections. The party stormed to a win in the Ynys Gybi council by-election, a large constituency comprising over half of Holy Island off Anglesey.<\/p>\n
Reform took 43.9% of the vote from a standing start, after having not fielded a candidate in 2022. Plaid Cymru won just 25%, down 3.7 points, despite the party’s leader, Run ap Iorwerth, representing Anglesey in the Welsh Parliament since 2013.<\/p>\n
Labour lost 11 points, collapsing to just 12.5% of the vote, while the Tories<\/a> also shed 13.1 points, down to 8.2%.<\/p>\n Reform benefited from no independent candidate standing, who won 26.3% of the vote the last time an election was held in the ward four years ago.<\/p>\n Reacting to the win, Reform’s new leader in Wales Dan Thomas said: “This is a sensational victory for Reform, and it shows that we can win absolutely anywhere here in Wales.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom the former Labour heartlands to the former Plaid heartlands, we are fighting for every single vote so we can deliver the change Wales desperately needs.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr Thomas was unveiled as Reform’s leader in a press conference yesterday, with Nigel Farage<\/a> saying: “I think we deserve Reform UK, here in Wales, to be led by somebody who’s been battle hardened, who’s been there before.”<\/p>\n He said Mr Thomas would “keep a calm head through the good and bad, because you’re always going to get both in a campaign”.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Reform was deprived of a second council by-election win overnight in North Somerset as they fell just 1.3 points shy of taking Clevedon South from Labour.<\/p>\n Many Reform supporters online accused the Tories<\/a> of handing Labour the win, as the Conservatives<\/a> took 18.6% of the vote, which would have seen Reform comfortably beat Labour.<\/p>\n