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BBC under pressure to bar Farage from Senedd election debates

By Mark Mansfield
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, appearing during a BBC General Election interview Panorama special, hosted by Nick Robinson. Photo Jeff Overs/BBC/PA Wire

Martin Shipton

The BBC is coming under pressure to block Nigel Farage from appearing in leaders’ debates in the run-up to next May’s Senedd election.

The national broadcaster has yet to decide whether Reform UK would be allowed to nominate their UK leader to debate with the likes of First Minister and Welsh Labour leader Eluned Morgan and Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth.

So far Reform has not appointed or elected a Welsh leader to take charge of its campaign or to be put forward as a potential First Minister.

Opponents argue this is because the party is essentially a personality cult built around Mr Farage, and that Reform is unwilling to give the leadership role to someone perceived as less likely to win votes than him.

However, Mr Farage was previously happy to appoint Nathan Gill as Reform’s first leader in Wales - a post he held for only two months in 2021. He subsequently relinquished the position and in November 2025 was jailed for ten and a half years after pleading guilty to accepting bribes totalling an estimated £40,000 from a Russian agent to push Russia’s interests in the European Parliament, where he represented Wales.

Reform sources have suggested to Nation.Cymru that a number of people are vying for the party’s Welsh leadership including its sole MS Laura Anne Jones, who defected from the Welsh Conservatives after it became clear that she was unlikely to be re-elected to the Senedd.

Other potential Reform Wales leaders are Mark Reckless, the former UKIP MS who failed to get re-elected to the Senedd in 2021 as a representative of the Abolish the Welsh Assembly Party; Llyr Powell, who was runner-up to Plaid Cymru’s Lindsay Whittle in October’s Caerphilly Senedd by-election; and David Thomas, a Torfaen councillor and Reform’s campaign director for Wales. All have their opponents within the party,

It has been suggested that Reform will not elect a leader in Wales until after the Senedd election, but that might come to be seen as a disadvantage during the campaign itself.

Nevertheless, the party may try to insist that Mr Farage should be allowed to take part in the pre-election debates because he is the overall leader of the party in Wales.

Decision

We asked BBC Wales if it had made a decision about whether Mr Farage would be able to represent Reform in leadership debates.

A BBC Wales spokesperson said: “We’ll be announcing our plans for election programmes and coverage in due course.”

ITV Wales has, however, already made a decision. In May 2025, at an event to mark a year to go to the election, the broadcaster’s head of news Zoe Thomas restated its nearly decade-long position that participants in its debates must be candidates in the relevant election.

Speaking in a personal capacity, a UK Labour source told Nation.Cymru: “Farage is the leader of the party and I think it sends out the wrong message if he is blocked from appearing in debates.

“If his opponents are so convinced that their arguments will defeat him, they should be prepared to debate with him and demonstrate the strength of their beliefs in comparison to his.”

But Blaenau Gwent Welsh Labour MP Alun Davies responded: “An argument like that may go down well in London, but it doesn't wash in Wales.

“We’re not talking about what happens in a debating society - we’re talking about the governance of Wales.

“Farage has no place in such a debate. He will not be a candidate and is not a potential First Minister.

“The people of Wales have a right to hear from those who are in a position where they could become First Minister what their vision is for Wales. That must be the focus of any leadership debates that take place, and the broadcasters involved should adopt that position.”

Different formats

Mr Davies said that over the years there had been different formats for such debates - some of them better than others.

He said: “The best debates are those between people who have a realistic chance of becoming Prime Minister. When you have six, seven or eight people representing all the parties including the smaller ones, it becomes unwieldy, and not much is achieved, in my opinion.”

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34 comments

Alwyn

Unfortunately, as neither Labour nor Conservatives have a chance of winning the election, a debate between Plaid Cymru, the Green Party and an empty seat for Reform would look rather odd

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Undecided

Agreed. So awful was the televised debate in the run up to the Caerphilly by election, Reform might be glad to be excluded. It might even put a couple of percentage points on their vote. The only way to defeat Farage is to expose his arguments in debate.

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Amir

After he apologises and condemns his past despicable antisemitic racist bullying behaviour then maybe he can be heard here in Wales

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In reply to Amir

Padi Phillips

Snowballs and hell come to mind here Amir... But you never know.

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Readthesmallprint

Reform must fill any seat with their candidate for First Minister. End of.

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Valley Girl

It would look more odd if MP of Clacton was there. .

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Greg

Who proposed an empty chair?

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Valley Girl

Why would it look odd?

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theoriginalmark

no it wouldn't, they're just showing their contempt for Wales, they have no Welsh leader therefore they have no place in the debates.

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J Jones

The English Broadcasting Corporation has been even more anti Cymru recently, but this issue is a definite no. It's Senedd Cymru elections so a party from another country that hasn't even appointed their leader for this country for years, with the last one now in jail. But in these strange times..

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Rob

Well yes, whoever is representing Reform UK in TV election debates should not only be a candidate for the Senedd but a candidate for potential Welsh First Minister. This has nothing to do with Farage. Is Mark Reckless going to be standing for the Senedd, do you not have to live in Wales to do so? If Reform UK want an outside influence then why stop at Farage? Putin appears to be a good debator, you just need a Russian translator.

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Editors Assemble

Reckless lives in Cardiff unfortunately, so he'll be more than eligible should he choose to stand.

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Ernest The Smallholder

Putin would be a good choice for Reform UK. They represent the same fascist values. Perhaps he could explain why small countries such as Wales and the Ukraine should be occupied by, and have all its economic wealth plundered by the larger occupying power on its eastern frontiers ? Imperialism is bad for Wales. It is a Welsh Senedd election. The debates should consist only of candidates in this election.

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Valley Girl

An MP — including Nigel Farage, the MP for Clacton — has no standing, speaking rights, or voting rights in the Senedd. So how can he be allowed to participate?

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Fanny Hill

Could they possibly debate in Welsh?

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Valley Girl

That should be a requirement if any leadership potential

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Fanny Hill

Gareth Beer would be an excellent choice. His last tv interview showed a potential to bring to the Senedd what Reform has brought to Kent, Lancashire and other councils it controls. Basically not having a clue.

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Valley Girl

A Senedd election is about who will sit in the Welsh Parliament and make Welsh law. An MP elected in Clacton, England — even if they are a party leader — has no mandate, no role, and no accountability in the Senedd. TV debates are editorial choices, not democratic rights. If a party wants a voice in a Welsh election debate, it should be through its Welsh candidates, answerable to Welsh voters, not a Westminster MP who cannot sit in the Senedd. This isn’t about silencing anyone. It’s about respecting devolution and Welsh democracy.

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Fanny Hill

I’ll second that.

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Greg

Couldn't Gill livestream it from inside?

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Amir

Yes please and mention who else was complicit in Russian bribes.

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John Ellis

I'm sure that Farage reckons that there are advantages which arise from the fact that Reform UK isn't a political party in the normal sense of that term which we're all used to; rather it's a private company which Farage himself rules absolutely by virtue of being its majority shareholder. And I reckon that in some respects he might well be right in his estimation of that. But inevitably there will be downsides to it as well, and this issue is surely one of them. Farage is a Westminster MP elected by folk in a constituency in the far south-east of England. About it far away from Wales as it's possible to be without locating himself on the other side of the English Channel. He has no connection whatsoever with Wales and, given his position as Westminster MP for far-off Clacton way down in Essex, he's effectively unable to seek any real role here. If he wants his party to participate in debates in advance of next May's Senedd elections, he needs to nominate someone in Wales to speak for his party in Wales. If he does that, then fair enough. But Farage himself simply can't claim a right to do that, because he has no stake in this nation. He needs someone living in Wales - and preferably standing on Reform's ticket here in Wales - to do that. If he's serious, then let him do it. Otherwise he should rightly be ignored.

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Valley Girl

What about including the chair and labelling it VACANCY ?

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Blinedig

Stop the debates.

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Richard Lice

Mark Reckless has been a constant in Reform in Wales .Rarely wheeled out but hums just below the surface Certainly likely to be a candidate Has a certain amount of gravitas , not a populist figure Could be in running as a leader . Can't see Jodhpurs Jones anywhere near it. Too much of a loose cannon Cllr Thomas has already annouced he wont be standing It looks like he has beenn earmarked to run the campaign and marshall the troops

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tongue in cheeks

For the basis of politicial impartiality, perhaps the BBC could arrange for Nathan Gill to join in the debate via livestream from HM prison service 😎

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Adrian

Reform really do need to a Welsh representative if they want to fight a credible campaign. They need to shake off the ‘one man show’ image.

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Fanny Hill

Nadolig Llawen.

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John Ellis

This time - and for once - I agree with you entirely. Farage is simultaneously both Reform's greatest asset and their Achille's Heel. His brilliant political skills and abiliity to communicate with voters is 100% their greatest asset, but Reform seems to be weak when it comes to attracting the variety of skills and talents which any party needs from a whole variety of people. Maybe because St Nige, without possibly entirely realizing it, finds it difficult to nurture talent for fear of losing some control?

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Herb

Depends what sort of reform you're hoping for. History shows us that significant"change" can be delivered by "one man shows" such as last century in Spain, Italy, Germany and Russia.

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theoriginalmark

"Speaking in a personal capacity, a UK Labour source told Nation.Cymru:" If they don't want to be named then their opinion is irrelevant same as if Reform can't put forward a Welsh leader they need to STFU, Just a shame so many so called Welsh people are happy to vote for an english nationalist party that show's it's contempt for Wales by not having a Welsh leader, politically ignorant morons.

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Eurig Catchpole

Would Sir Keir, Sir ED and Kemi be banned as well?

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Theoriginalmark

They wouldn't be invited onto a Welsh political debate show to discuss the Welsh election, they all have leaders of their Welsh branches, which is the whole point of this argument, Farage is not the leader of Reforms Welsh department therefore has no place in any debate in Wales about the Welsh election, however all the above mentioned MPs are entitled to offer their opinions.

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dbcooper

effin racist sponger, stay in Clacton you @rsewipe

Reply

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Replying to Fanny Hill Cancel

Nadolig Llawen.

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