James Saunders
Guest Reporter
Reform UK is set to be Labour's "main challenger" in the 2026 Welsh Senedd election, Nigel Farage has vowed ahead of the party's Wales conference today.
Farage - alongside chief whip Lee Anderson and chairman Zia Yusuf - will be taking to the stage today as the populist party sets out its 18-month plan to make strides in the devolved Government.
In a statement ahead of the landmark conference today, Farage said: "The Senedd elections are now just 18 months away.
"During the general election, we launched our Contract with the People in Merthyr Tydfil."
He hailed Reform as "now the main challenger to Labour in Wales", and added: "Our conference in Newport marks the beginning of our efforts to present a fresh choice to voters who have been badly let down.
"Wales needs Reform.”
The Brexit heavyweight warned that the Welsh people have paid the price for "failure after failure" by successive Labour Governments, and vowed that Reform will come out on top against Labour, Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Conservatives' "same old stagnant promises and policies".
The party isn't expected to appoint a specific Welsh leader - so under Farage's tutelage, Reform is eyeing up having 16 Members of the Senedd in 2026, with its leader having previously said that it would win "a lot of seats".
It's also polling ahead of the Tories - in a new poll from Survation, which surveyed 2,006 adults living in Wales, 30 per cent of respondents said vote Labour if a Senedd election was called now, with Plaid Cymru on 21 per cent, Reform on 20 per cent, and the Conservatives on 17.
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Leaked messages show BBC staff expressed their dismay following Donald Trump's election victory, GB News can reveal.
"Somehow I knew this was coming and yet I'm still disappointed", one BBC employee wrote on an internal communications channel, seen by this broadcaster.
Another wrote: "For those of you have only just woken up, the Annoying Orange has just won the election."
BECOME A GB NEWS MEMBER AND READ THE FULL STORY HERE
The Welsh Conservatives have taken aim at Reform UK for "betraying Welsh voters" ahead of the populist party's landmark conference in Newport today.
Just yesterday, Nigel Farage vowed that his party will be Labour's "main challenger" in the May 2026 Welsh Senedd election.
Meanwhile, Lee Anderson has said the workers of South Wales view Reform as a "proper alternative" to a Government which has only ever seen Labour or Labour coalition leadership since devolution in 1997.
READ THE FULL STORY HERE
Sir Keir Starmer has appointed Tony Blair's chief of staff Jonathan Powell as the UK's new National Security Adviser to replace the outgoing Tim Barrow.
Powell, whom Starmer said "has devoted his career to protecting the interests of the country", was handed a job as the PM's Special Envoy for negotiations between the UK and Mauritius over the Chagos Islands less than a month before Britain agreed to surrender them.
"Together with his experience helping to negotiate the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement and work on some of the world's most complex conflicts, he is uniquely qualified to advise the Government on tackling the challenges ahead and engage with counterparts across the globe to protect and advance UK interests," Starmer added.
Transport for London's "groundbreaking" offer to Tube drivers to ward off strikes has been compared to Animal Farm in a scathing attack by a former Tory MP.
TfL is set to hand the drivers a four-day work week, a 4.5 per cent pay rise, paid lunch breaks, fewer hours in the working week and more paternity leave, according to The Standard.
But an incredulous Alexander Stafford has labelled the offer "just like Animal Farm".
He wrote on social media: "Labour giving in once again. It's just like Animal Farm. Public sector good. Private sector bad. Who do they think pays for the public sector?"
Kemi Badenoch will "make PMQs important again", former Chancellor George Osborne has said.
Osborne lauded Badenoch's Wednesday debut in the Commons against Sir Keir Starmer this week - and has claimed she will restore the session to its past prominence.
He told Ed Balls on their Political Currency podcast: "When you and I used to sit across from each other in the chamber, PMQs really mattered. It was like a core pivot of the political week and it really matters in opposition because it is your big opportunity for everyone to focus on what you are saying.
"Ever since the Miliband-Cameron clashes, I felt like PMQs had become much less important, even in the run-up to the last election with Keir Starmer as leader of the opposition and Rishi Sunak as Prime Minister. It just didn't feel like that was where all of the political energy of the week was focused.
"I thought on the basis of that one performance this week Kemi Badenoch is going to make PMQs important again.
"That is partly a reflection of her very pugnacious style, it is partly a reflection of the political reality which is the Government is not doing as well as the Government would hope and so there is a bit of a chink for the opposition to go at."
Reform UK chairman Zia Yusuf has piled praise on his party's newly-elected councillor James Crawford, who ousted the Conservatives in Wyre overnight.
Crawford pipped the incumbent Conservative councillor to the post by more than 100 seats in another boost for the surging populist party.
Reacting to the news, Yusuf wrote on social media: "Another Reform WIN. Congratulations James Crawford, the latest Reform Councillor. Reform has all the momentum in British politics."
Customers are set to foot the bill for a "barrage of costs" imposed on businesses by Rachel Reeves's Budget, the Shadow Business Secretary has warned.
Reacting to a warning from retail giants Sainsbury's that the Budget "is going to feed through to higher inflation" and "there will be difficult decisions to take as a result", Andrew Griffith said it wasn't just supermarkets staring down the barrel of soaring costs.
It's "not just supermarkets, every business I’ve spoken to has same story", he said.
David Lammy has refused to apologise for calling Donald Trump a "Nazi sympathiser" in the wake of the 45th President's electoral success this week.
The Foreign Secretary was pushed on whether he thought Trump had changed since he labelled him a "woman-hating, neo-Nazi sympathising sociopath" six years ago.
On social media, the Tottenham MP had written: "Trump is not only a woman-hating, neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath...he is also a profound threat to the international order that has been the foundation of Western progress for so long."
And the year prior, he said: "Yes, if Trump comes to the UK, I will be out protesting on the streets. He is a racist KKK and Nazi sympathiser."
But speaking on the BBC’s Newscast podcast, Lammy threw out his own statements as "old news".
***GB News will rise to the challenge of holding this Labour government to account: Help us stand up for YOU - please consider supporting GB News here***
He said he had made in-roads with Trump in September because he "felt it in my bones" that he would return to the White House.
He told the broadcaster: "My gut had been telling me, but also my head had been telling me, that they were in a strong position.
"I think that what you say as a backbencher and what you do wearing the real duty of public office are two different things.
"And I am Foreign Secretary. There are things I know now that I didn't know back then."
He added: "You don't get to be a senior politician in our country unless you can find common ground. I'm well known in Westminster. I get along with folk. I just do!"
Reform UK's Welsh conference is set to kick off in Newport today, with Nigel Farage billing the party as the future "main challenger" to Labour at the Senedd election in 2026.
Farage is set to speak today - we'll bring you the latest updates from the conference as they come in.
Reform UK have won yet another council by-election, exactly one week after Nigel Farage's party sent a warning shot to Labour in Wolverhampton.
Last night, Reform won the Marsh Mill ward seat in Wyre, Lancashire - ousting the incumbent Conservative councillor by more than 100 seats.
James Crawford surged to victory with a 38.6 per cent vote share in the party's first attempt in Marsh Mill, which saw Labour and the Tories suffer a -15 per cent and -27.2 per cent slump respectively.
Last week, when Anita Stanley won in Wolverhampton, party chairman Zia Yusuf called the result as a "stunning victory" and said it proved no Labour seat was safe, while the Tories were falling "even further behind".
"Reform is rapidly opening local branches and assembling its ground campaigning capabilities... By the time of the English county council elections in May, Reform will be a formidable electoral force," he vowed.
Welcome back to GB News' Politics LIVE blog.
We'll be updating this page throughout the day with live political updates as they come in.
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Farage - alongside chief whip Lee Anderson and chairman Zia Yusuf - will be taking to the stage today as the populist party sets out its 18-month plan to make strides in the devolved Government.
In a statement ahead of the landmark conference today, Farage said: "The Senedd elections are now just 18 months away.
"During the general election, we launched our Contract with the People in Merthyr Tydfil."
He hailed Reform as "now the main challenger to Labour in Wales", and added: "Our conference in Newport marks the beginning of our efforts to present a fresh choice to voters who have been badly let down.
"Wales needs Reform.”
The Brexit heavyweight warned that the Welsh people have paid the price for "failure after failure" by successive Labour Governments, and vowed that Reform will come out on top against Labour, Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Conservatives' "same old stagnant promises and policies".
The party isn't expected to appoint a specific Welsh leader - so under Farage's tutelage, Reform is eyeing up having 16 Members of the Senedd in 2026, with its leader having previously said that it would win "a lot of seats".
It's also polling ahead of the Tories - in a new poll from Survation, which surveyed 2,006 adults living in Wales, 30 per cent of respondents said vote Labour if a Senedd election was called now, with Plaid Cymru on 21 per cent, Reform on 20 per cent, and the Conservatives on 17.
FOLLOW BELOW FOR MORE LIVE UPDATES THROUGHOUT THE DAY...
EXCLUSIVE: Staggering leaked messages show BBC staff in meltdown at Trump win: 'The Annoying Orange won'
Leaked messages show BBC staff expressed their dismay following Donald Trump's election victory, GB News can reveal.
"Somehow I knew this was coming and yet I'm still disappointed", one BBC employee wrote on an internal communications channel, seen by this broadcaster.
Another wrote: "For those of you have only just woken up, the Annoying Orange has just won the election."
BECOME A GB NEWS MEMBER AND READ THE FULL STORY HERE
'Same old faces, same old message!' Tories take aim at Reform as crunch election battle heats up
The Welsh Conservatives have taken aim at Reform UK for "betraying Welsh voters" ahead of the populist party's landmark conference in Newport today.
Just yesterday, Nigel Farage vowed that his party will be Labour's "main challenger" in the May 2026 Welsh Senedd election.
Meanwhile, Lee Anderson has said the workers of South Wales view Reform as a "proper alternative" to a Government which has only ever seen Labour or Labour coalition leadership since devolution in 1997.
READ THE FULL STORY HERE
Starmer rolls back the years as PM appoints Blair's chief of staff - and Chagos negotiator - Jonathan Powell as National Security Adviser
Sir Keir Starmer has appointed Tony Blair's chief of staff Jonathan Powell as the UK's new National Security Adviser to replace the outgoing Tim Barrow.
Powell, whom Starmer said "has devoted his career to protecting the interests of the country", was handed a job as the PM's Special Envoy for negotiations between the UK and Mauritius over the Chagos Islands less than a month before Britain agreed to surrender them.
"Together with his experience helping to negotiate the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement and work on some of the world's most complex conflicts, he is uniquely qualified to advise the Government on tackling the challenges ahead and engage with counterparts across the globe to protect and advance UK interests," Starmer added.
'It's like ANIMAL FARM!' Ex-Tory MP fumes at Labour 'giving in' to public sector over 'groundbreaking' Tube drivers' pay offer
Transport for London's "groundbreaking" offer to Tube drivers to ward off strikes has been compared to Animal Farm in a scathing attack by a former Tory MP.
TfL is set to hand the drivers a four-day work week, a 4.5 per cent pay rise, paid lunch breaks, fewer hours in the working week and more paternity leave, according to The Standard.
But an incredulous Alexander Stafford has labelled the offer "just like Animal Farm".
He wrote on social media: "Labour giving in once again. It's just like Animal Farm. Public sector good. Private sector bad. Who do they think pays for the public sector?"
'Pugnacious' Badenoch 'will make PMQs important again', George Osborne says in Ed Balls love-in
Kemi Badenoch will "make PMQs important again", former Chancellor George Osborne has said.
Osborne lauded Badenoch's Wednesday debut in the Commons against Sir Keir Starmer this week - and has claimed she will restore the session to its past prominence.
He told Ed Balls on their Political Currency podcast: "When you and I used to sit across from each other in the chamber, PMQs really mattered. It was like a core pivot of the political week and it really matters in opposition because it is your big opportunity for everyone to focus on what you are saying.
"Ever since the Miliband-Cameron clashes, I felt like PMQs had become much less important, even in the run-up to the last election with Keir Starmer as leader of the opposition and Rishi Sunak as Prime Minister. It just didn't feel like that was where all of the political energy of the week was focused.
"I thought on the basis of that one performance this week Kemi Badenoch is going to make PMQs important again.
"That is partly a reflection of her very pugnacious style, it is partly a reflection of the political reality which is the Government is not doing as well as the Government would hope and so there is a bit of a chink for the opposition to go at."
Yusuf: 'Reform has all the momentum in British politics'
Reform UK chairman Zia Yusuf has piled praise on his party's newly-elected councillor James Crawford, who ousted the Conservatives in Wyre overnight.
Crawford pipped the incumbent Conservative councillor to the post by more than 100 seats in another boost for the surging populist party.
Reacting to the news, Yusuf wrote on social media: "Another Reform WIN. Congratulations James Crawford, the latest Reform Councillor. Reform has all the momentum in British politics."
'It's not just supermarkets' warns Griffith as Reeves's Budget sends costs spiralling
Customers are set to foot the bill for a "barrage of costs" imposed on businesses by Rachel Reeves's Budget, the Shadow Business Secretary has warned.
Reacting to a warning from retail giants Sainsbury's that the Budget "is going to feed through to higher inflation" and "there will be difficult decisions to take as a result", Andrew Griffith said it wasn't just supermarkets staring down the barrel of soaring costs.
It's "not just supermarkets, every business I’ve spoken to has same story", he said.
David Lammy refuses to apologise for 'racist Nazi' Trump jabs - but insists he can find 'common ground' with President
David Lammy has refused to apologise for calling Donald Trump a "Nazi sympathiser" in the wake of the 45th President's electoral success this week.
The Foreign Secretary was pushed on whether he thought Trump had changed since he labelled him a "woman-hating, neo-Nazi sympathising sociopath" six years ago.
On social media, the Tottenham MP had written: "Trump is not only a woman-hating, neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath...he is also a profound threat to the international order that has been the foundation of Western progress for so long."
And the year prior, he said: "Yes, if Trump comes to the UK, I will be out protesting on the streets. He is a racist KKK and Nazi sympathiser."
But speaking on the BBC’s Newscast podcast, Lammy threw out his own statements as "old news".
***GB News will rise to the challenge of holding this Labour government to account: Help us stand up for YOU - please consider supporting GB News here***
He said he had made in-roads with Trump in September because he "felt it in my bones" that he would return to the White House.
He told the broadcaster: "My gut had been telling me, but also my head had been telling me, that they were in a strong position.
"I think that what you say as a backbencher and what you do wearing the real duty of public office are two different things.
"And I am Foreign Secretary. There are things I know now that I didn't know back then."
He added: "You don't get to be a senior politician in our country unless you can find common ground. I'm well known in Westminster. I get along with folk. I just do!"
Reform UK looks to Wales ahead of landmark party conference as Farage sets sights on Senedd
Reform UK's Welsh conference is set to kick off in Newport today, with Nigel Farage billing the party as the future "main challenger" to Labour at the Senedd election in 2026.
Farage is set to speak today - we'll bring you the latest updates from the conference as they come in.
Reform UK surge to ANOTHER council victory as Farage's party unseats Tories
Reform UK have won yet another council by-election, exactly one week after Nigel Farage's party sent a warning shot to Labour in Wolverhampton.
Last night, Reform won the Marsh Mill ward seat in Wyre, Lancashire - ousting the incumbent Conservative councillor by more than 100 seats.
James Crawford surged to victory with a 38.6 per cent vote share in the party's first attempt in Marsh Mill, which saw Labour and the Tories suffer a -15 per cent and -27.2 per cent slump respectively.
Last week, when Anita Stanley won in Wolverhampton, party chairman Zia Yusuf called the result as a "stunning victory" and said it proved no Labour seat was safe, while the Tories were falling "even further behind".
"Reform is rapidly opening local branches and assembling its ground campaigning capabilities... By the time of the English county council elections in May, Reform will be a formidable electoral force," he vowed.
Politics LIVE
Welcome back to GB News' Politics LIVE blog.
We'll be updating this page throughout the day with live political updates as they come in.
Find Out More...