Corey Edwards, Derek Roberts and Owain Clatworthy (Image: X / Facebook)
Last Updated: 1 hour ago
Reform UK is scrambling to fill its candidate list in the Pen-y-Bont Bro Morgannwg Senedd constituency after three of its six nominees stepped down in quick succession, BBC Wales has reported.
The departures
The party’s top-placed candidate in the constituency, Corey Edwards, resigned last week after a photograph surfaced appearing to show him performing a Nazi salute. Nigel Farage had initially defended Edwards, claiming he had been impersonating Basil Fawlty, but Edwards quit the following day.
Derek Roberts, who held second position on the list, has since also stood down. A Reform source said Roberts, who is ex-military, had “stepped back for personal reasons but remains an active champion for veterans in his community”. The specific reasons have not been disclosed.
The sixth-placed candidate, Owain Clatworthy – a Bridgend councillor elected last year – announced his departure from the party entirely via social media. He wrote that “recent events, including poor internal decision making, a lack of discipline and serious concerns around candidate selection, have made it clear to me that Reform UK is no longer operating in a way that reflects the standards I believe the public deserve”.
He also accused Reform of selecting individuals “with little or no connection to the communities they seek to represent”.
Growing frustration
Speaking to BBC Wales, Clatworthy said: “The country is in a mess and it’s easy to complain and I thought Reform were the answer.
“From day one, up until now, the way I have been treated, and members and other councillors have been treated by the leadership team, is not good.”
He alleged the party had poorly vetted its candidates, adding that the photograph of Edwards “really did it for me. I can’t support a party that would be happy to back something like that”.
“It sends the wrong message and it became a distraction,” he said, adding that he had not cared about his sixth place selection and had been happy to support the party.
Wider losses across Wales
The turmoil extends beyond a single constituency. In total, Reform has lost four candidates across Wales within a single week, according to BBC Wales, with a further two having pulled out before the party’s official lists were even published.
Patrick Benham-Crosswell, the fourth-placed candidate in Gŵyr Abertawe, also resigned last week. He said on Facebook that Reform’s “professionalisation of the party has led it to take its members and candidates for granted”.
In the Pontypridd Cynon Merthyr constituency, two candidates withdrew the day before official lists were announced. One of them, Andrew Barry, said he would resign from the party altogether in a dispute over candidates being “parachuted in” to his area. A separate source described local Reform branches as being “in turmoil”.
Vetting under scrutiny
Torfaen Reform councillor Jason O’Connell – who has since been named as the party’s top candidate in Pontypridd Cynon Merthyr – described the vetting process as “brutal” and “intrusive” in a BBC Radio Wales interview in February.
He said: “Social media now has been around for 20-plus years, there’s a lot of history there.
“We’ve turned down some genuinely good people just on the off chance that they might have said something slightly off the wall 10, 20 years ago.
“We’ve lost that ability to bring them in because, as I said, digital is forever.”
What happens next
Under the new Senedd voting system, parties must submit lists of candidates for each of the 16 constituencies. Those ranked first and second have the strongest chance of election, meaning the loss of Edwards and Roberts is particularly significant for Reform in this seat. Parties also need at least six candidates per list to spend up to the full campaign limit.
Reform told BBC Wales it would present a full list for the 7 May election. Nominations close on 9 April, and replacement candidates have not yet been announced.
