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A former Conservative council leader has been named as Reform UK’s leader in Wales ahead of May’s Senedd election.

Dan Thomas, who led Barnet Council in London between 2019 and 2022, left the authority in December having joined Reform early last year.

He was announced by party leader Nigel Farage at a party conference in Newport on Thursday February 5.

Mr Thomas, who is originally from Blackwood, said he left aged 18 to move to London, where he pursued a career in financial services. Hestood for the Conservatives in the former Islwyn constituency during the 2017 UK general election.

He becomes the party’s first leader in Wales since Nathan Gill – the disgraced former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and then-Welsh Assembly Member (AM) who is currently serving a ten-and-a-half year jail sentence for taking pro-Russian bribes.

The party has long been criticised by opponents for its lack of a leader in Wales, but speculation has been rife in recent weeks as to who that figure would be as the Senedd elections edge ever closer.

Torfaen councillor Jason O’Connell had been seen as the frontrunner in recent days, while South Wales East Senedd Member Laura Anne Jones was also in the conversation following her defection from the Conservatives last summer.

Meanwhile, Senedd Member James Evans – who left the Conservatives last month – was unveiled as the party’s second MS at their conference in Newport.

Speaking after his unveiling as leader, Mr Thomas said: “It’s a huge honour to lead Reform here in Wales. We’ve built a strong team and we’ll get stronger still between now and May and beyond. 

“Every day we will be fighting for our forgotten communities and everyone the establishment has ignored for so long. 

“This May, vote Reform to deliver the change Wales desperately needs.”