Senedd election is referendum on Starmer's leadership, says Nigel Farage

Reform UK has launched its Senedd election manifesto in Wales, with party leader Nigel Farage saying the vote on 7 May is a "referendum" on Sir Keir Starmer's leadership as prime minister.

It promised to build an M4 relief road, which Nigel Farage told BBC Wales could be paid through tolls.

Reform's Welsh leader Dan Thomas told the launch event in Newport that the manifesto was a "blueprint for real change", claiming Reform was the new "people's army".

Think tank the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said the manifesto was "striking" in similarity to Tory plans launched this week.

Reform is the second party to publish a manifesto - a document which spells out the promises a party makes to voters.

Led by Farage, polling suggests Reform is vying with Plaid Cymru for first place in the 7 May vote for Wales' parliament.

Reform would not send money abroad to fund foreign aid and would shut Welsh government offices in China, he said.

"We will spend your money where it's needed most," he said, adding that included the health service.

Farage said Labour, which has won every major UK or Welsh parliamentary election in Wales for a century, had "owned Wales" in the past.

"This is a defining election - not just for Wales - not just for us - but the prime minister," said Farage.

"If the Labour result is anything like the current opinion polls, Wales will end the premiership of Sir Keir Starmer.

"If we get this right we will get rid of the worst prime minister any of us have seen in our lifetimes."

A heckler interrupted Farage's speech before being escorted out by security.

The party has promised to cut 1p off every pound on all bands of Welsh income tax.

Reform said the cut would "jumpstart the Welsh economy" and would be funded by "reductions in expenditure elsewhere".

It goes further than Tory promises earlier this week - the party promised to just cut the basic rate by a penny.

The IFS said the policy could cost £371m in 2026/27.

Reform's manifesto includes plans to prioritise "Welsh people for social housing".

Asked what that meant and who would be considered Welsh, a Reform spokesman said it would be "based on long-term residence".

The party is also promising to "implement key road upgrades" including an M4 relief road in south Wales and the A55 in north Wales - similar to pledges made by the Conservatives.

The M4 relief road was last seriously discussed by the Welsh government in the 2010s, before former first minister Mark Drakeford ditched the scheme in 2019.

Farage told BBC Wales the M4 was "a bit of a disaster", saying his Welsh party leader Thomas wanted to "get private capital in, make it a toll road and give the people the option of doing it".

Reform said it would "scrap" default 20mph limits. The Tories have also said they would reverse the limit and "adopt a targeted approach".

The party is also promising to scrap international aid and instead "spend taxpayers cash in Wales", and end the Welsh government's Nation of Sanctuary policy.

International aid is usually the responsibility of the UK government, although £1m was earmarked for "international sustainable development" in the Welsh government budget for 2026/27.

The party vowed to keep the NHS "free at the point of use" but said it would make changes "necessary to fix the current broken system".

No targets are given for how much the party would reduce waiting lists, but Reform says it would "implement a strategy" to do so.

On stage, Thomas suggested he would scrap some of Wales' NHS organisations, complaining of a "duplication of management".

"There are too many health boards in my opinion," he said. "There's a saving to be made there.

Asked by the BBC about the similarities of some policies with the Conservatives, Farage said to "forget" about the party, and that the Tories would be "obliterated".

He also addressed questions about Net Zero targets and climate change, saying that "he doesn't know the science", but that "closing down primary steel production in Port Talbot" was having a negative impact on the environment.

He said he was an "environmentalist" concerned about "many things".

"But if we obsess about carbon dioxide, we are de-industrialising the United Kingdom," he added.

In its manifesto, Reform also said it wants to ban more onshore wind farms, claiming Wales has reached "saturation point".

Instead, it pledged to be an "active enabler of nuclear development", and said there would be a "long future" for gas.

Funding for heat pumps "will be terminated" and the party said it would "oppose any ban on fireplaces, LPG boilers or other heating systems that rural households rely on".

David Phillips of the IFS said people reading REform's pledges would be "forgiven for feeling a sense of déjà vu".

"The similarities between Reform UK's manifesto and the Welsh Conservative manifesto published earlier this week are striking," he said.

Reform had "not fully faced up" to the realities of how much the Welsh government has to spend, he added.

Phillips said tax cuts "would likely necessitate cuts in at least some services used by households".

Speaking to BBC Wales, Farage said there would be a "published list of costings", adding that the IFS would also assess them.

"They are looking at our homework and will mark it out of 10," he said.

Reform launched the manifesto in the International Convention Centre on the outskirts of Newport.

It invited party members, who paid £5 each, to the event, as well as journalists.

Two Conservative Members of the Senedd (MSs) have joined Reform in the last year - Laura Anne Jones and James Evans, while former Welsh secretary David Jones has also joined them.

Additional reporting by Oliver Slow

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