Reform UK’s campaign in Wales has descended into infighting after an election candidate said a social media post by prominent party member Arron Banks was racist
Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party is at the centre of a racism infighting row after a local election candidate criticised a prominent party member over a social media post.
Brexit bankroller Arron Banks, a key Reform supporter, has faced fury after writing “Welsh lad?” in response to a clip posted on X featuring a Black activist campaigning for Plaid Cymru on Monday. The businessman – who stood for Reform in a mayoral race last year – has since faced a backlash from opposition parties, with Labour slamming the “abhorrent racism”.
James Evans, a candidate for Reform, has now become the first party figure to brand Mr Banks’s comment racist. He told BBC Politics Wales: “Of course it’s racist. He shouldn’t be saying these things.”
Mr Banks – who donated millions of pounds to the Leave campaign in the EU referendum – claimed his comment was a “joke” and accused Plaid Cymru of losing its “sense of humour”. He told BBC Wales last week: “It was a joke. Plaid have understandably lost their sense of humour. Plaid always say that Wales is only for the Welsh, and anti-English.”
READ MORE: Nigel Farage accused of ‘dodging scrutiny’ after cancelling TV show days before elections
Plaid Cymru’s Liz Saville Roberts slammed his defence at the time, warning: “Rolling out the banter defence once again. Racism is not a joke. Nigel Farage and (Reform’s leader in Wales) Dan Thomas must condemn Arron Banks’ comments.”
The row threatens Reform’s campaign in Wales, where the race is on a knife edge. Latest polling shows Reform and Plaid Cymru are neck-and-neck to be the largest party in the next Welsh parliament. The result is expected to be a major upset for Labour, predicted to come third in Wales after having held power there since the country’s devolution in 1999.
Mr Banks, who was one of UKIP’s biggest donors, stood to be mayor of the West of England last year for Reform UK. He was defeated by Labour’s Helen Godwin.
Mr Farage last week said Mr Banks should apologise for his comments which were in “poor taste”, but added that “people who keep on tweeting after a glass of wine make some blooming silly mistakes”.
Asked whether Banks should apologise for the comments, Mr Farage told BBC Wales: “Yeah, he won’t – he’s Arron Banks.” He added: “Number one he’s not a candidate, number two he’s not Welsh, number three he’s never given money to the party.”
Asked about Mr Banks’s post in a TV election debate last week, Mr Thomas, Reform’s leader in Wales, did not directly respond when asked if he distanced himself from the comment, saying: “I’ve had my Welshness questioned by supporters of Plaid Cymru. They’ve called me a plastic Taffy because I happened to live in England.
“I’ve been called an English nationalist, because I happen to be a member of Reform. I am Welsh through and through.”
A Welsh Labour spokesperson told the BBC: “Another flip-flop from Reform UK. There should be no qualms about calling out this abhorrent racism. Wales can’t risk the community division that Reform brings.”
A spokesman for the Welsh Conservatives added: “We welcome this acknowledgement from a Reform representative that the post was racist. Racism and hate have no place in our society and we all have a duty to call it out whenever we see it.”
The Wales Green Party said: “If Arron Banks thinks it was a joke, it is a joke only racists would find funny and it is a racist joke.”
Reform UK declined to comment.