New Reform councillor accused of trying to rejoin Labour Party before switch

Twm Owen, local democracy reporter

A former independent councillor who formed Wales’ first Reform Party council group has been accused of having attempted to rejoin the Labour Party.

Cllr David Thomas was branded “Pinocchio” at the first full meeting of Torfaen Borough council since he and two other independent councillors announced, in August, they had formed a Reform UK group and were welcomed into the party by MP Lee Anderson.

Labour councillor Sue Malson accused Cllr Thomas of “lying” as she blasted him over the change in affiliation while speaking in the council chamber at the Civic Centre in Pontypool.

She, and fellow Labour member Nathan Yeowell, said Cllr Thomas had earlier this summer attempted to rejoin the Labour Party having left the group in 2019 in a dispute over a council tax rise.

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'Pinocchio'

Cllr Malson said to Cllr Thomas, who was attending the Tuesday, September 17 meeting via video link: “The question I’d like to ask Dave Thomas is has Walt Disney been in touch with you? The live version of Pinocchio. For months you’ve tried to get into the Labour Party. The lies that you’ve spun Labour members is totally unbelievable.”

The Trevethin and Penygarn member said “policies and procedures need to be looked at” in light of Cllr Thomas, fellow former Labour member Cllr Alan Slade, who were both elected as independents at the 2022 local government elections, and Jason O’Connell, the the third independent member for Llantarnam who was elected at a 2023 by-election, having joined Reform.

She said: “It’s not fair on our residents. It’s not fair at all. They vote us in for whichever political party we stand for and how many times do they have to jump ship? It is not fair on our residents. This is a matter of urgency and needs to be looked at.”

She said: “Dave, I will still come to your ward in my champion role and I’ll will work with you but I’ll never, ever trust you or believe anything that comes out of your mouth because for months and months you have tried, to your best, to get back into the Labour Party, and you and I had plenty of conversations about it. Then all of a sudden, you’re Reform. Lies. That nose is going to get too big, you won’t get through Welsh Assembly doors. End of.”

Brexit Party

Panteg member Nathan Yeowell said between being elected as a Labour member in 2017, standing for the Brexit Party at the 2019 general election, “wearing a blue (Conservative) rosette” at the 2021 Senedd elections, and joining an independent group, Cllr Thomas had switched allegience seven times.

He said: “You spent much of the summer asking members of the Labour group would we appreciate it, or would we let him back in? The answer ultimately to that was no. I have to believe those discussions took place in good faith, I would hate to believe Cllr Thomas at the same time was talking to the Reform Party just to work out what might be in the best personal, and political interests, of him and his colleagues.”

Cllr Yeowell said the council “worked best” when it worked across divides such as a motion on Pride, that led to him and another councillor discussing their sexuality openly, and criticised the decision of the three to join Reform.

He said: “The fact three members in Llantarnam have chosen, post the riots and fevered political period we’ve had, to chuck their lot in with a political party whose leaders are under severe questioning about the parts they have played in either stocking, or trying to capitalise, on the rioting and the racist behaviour and the anti-immigration sentiment I think that says an awful lot. I just hope all members, be they independent or Labour, will continue to ensure we come together to promote a more inclusive Torfaen.

“Quite frankly some of the politics and the rhetoric coming out of the mouths of the millionnaire MPs that that the Reform councillors here have now shacked up with, quite frankly, is disgraceful and there is no place in a civilised, political environment for that sentiment or that rhetoric.”

Thanks

Cllr Thomas, who has posted a number of critical comments of both Labour and the Conservative parties on social media in recent weeks, said in response: “I’d like to thank everybody for kind remarks this morning and wish everyone all the very best in the future.”

He also responded to criticism that he wasn’t present in the chamber, where Llantarnam Primary was presented with a healthy schools award, which he said is because he is on holiday and had he not been “I would have loved to be in the chamber”.