Reform UK Wins First Carmarthenshire Seat from Labour

Reform UK has secured its first seat on Carmarthenshire County Council after comfortably winning the Lliedi ward in Llanelli from Labour 🏛️

Michelle Beer, wife of Gareth Beer who came within 1,505 votes of unseating Labour MP Dame Nia Griffith at last year’s general election, claimed victory with 568 votes – well ahead of Labour’s Andrew Bargoli on 312. The couple live in Kidwelly, around eight miles from the ward she now represents.

The result saw Independent Sharon Burdess take 116 votes, Plaid Cymru’s Taylor Reynolds 107, Conservative Richard Williams 93, Independent Alison Leyshon 86, Liberal Democrat Jonathan Burree 41, and Gwlad’s Wayne Erasmus 9.

Mrs Beer becomes Reform’s second elected councillor in Wales, following Stuart Keyte’s February victory in Torfaen. She’s a practising Christian with Ministry training from the Bible College of Wales in Swansea, and previously ran PR company Ferry Cake Consultancy until 2020.

A Welsh Labour source admitted: “This is an awful result for us. We have campaigned solidly on local issues like the threat to Ysgol Heol Goffa, the local school for children with additional learning needs. Reform has been nowhere. There has been a lot of misinformation about the Stradey Park Hotel [which was originally intended to house asylum seekers] and also concern over the planned benefit cuts by the UK Government.”

The by-election followed the death of Anthony Leyshon, who was elected as Labour in 2022 but left the party in September 2024 to become an Independent 📊