Reform duck a debate for the most bizarre of reasons

Reform are keen to make a big noise about how well they’re going to do in this May’s huge Senedd election. So what did they do when the first broadcast debate took place at the weekend? Why, they boycotted it, of course!

The party declined to put forward a spokesperson for the debate, on BBC Radio Wales’s Sunday Supplement programme, for the most bizarre of reasons – that it was on the BBC and that, er, other political parties were taking part.

After deciding not to join the debate, moderated by BBC Wales political editor Gareth Lewis – which went ahead with representatives of Labour, the Conservatives, Plaid Cymru, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens – Reform published a post on Facebook explaining why they had chosen to boycott it.

It claimed it was “not a neutral public service debate” but “a BBC-hosted discussion between five parties that have collectively governed, enabled or failed Wales and communities like ours for more than 25 years” (the Greens have never had a member elected to the Senedd, never mind been in government).

“Reform UK will not be lectured about scrutiny by a political class that has delivered the longest NHS waiting lists in Britain, falling standards in education, rising bills and declining household incomes, broken local services,” it went on. “Nor will we accept lectures from a broadcaster that continues to frame Welsh politics through a Cardiff Bay bubble, while people in Afan Ogwr Rhondda are talked about – but rarely listened to.

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“Reform UK is polling strongly because people here want real change – not choreographed studio debates moderated by the BBC’s political class, including editors such as Gareth Lewis, who challenge outsiders far more aggressively than those who’ve already failed our communities.” On his most recent visit to Wales, Lewis challenged Nigel Farage strongly on allegations he made racial slurs against fellow pupils while at school, much to Reform’s anger.

“We will engage directly with residents of Afan Ogwr Rhondda – on the ground, online and through open, fair scrutiny – not through managed debates designed to protect the status quo.

“Let’s be honest. This backlash isn’t about democracy. It’s about fear. Fear that people in communities like ours are no longer buying what Cardiff Bay – or the BBC – is selling. Reform UK is here to break the cycle.”

Is this going to be Reform’s policy towards all debates heading up to the election on May 7? Previously, all controversy over the party’s participation has been around who would represent it in the leaders’ debates – Reform still has no leader in Wales, Nathan Gill is unavailable and rumours continue to swirl that Farage is determined to appear despite not standing.

ITV Wales has already said that nobody not standing in the Senedd can take part in its debates, amid fears that could spark legal action from Reform. If the party has now decided it’s not taking part at all, that should at least solve that problem…