Laure Anne Jones MS

Jones announced her defection from the Welsh Conservatives to Reform UK alongside Nigel Farage at the Royal Welsh Show — Wales' largest agricultural event and a key venue for political announcements. The move came after months of internal Conservative turmoil over devolution and while Jones was still under investigation by the Senedd Standards Commissioner over expenses allegations (she was later cleared). She had been reselected by the Conservatives as a candidate for 2026 but faced competition for the top list position.

Jones told reporters that the Conservative Party had become 'unrecognisable' to her and 'wasn't the party that I joined over three decades ago.' Her defection gave Reform its first Senedd member and was described by Bloomberg as Reform gaining 'a foothold in Wales's devolved administration.' Former Conservative colleague James Evans — who would himself later defect to Reform — described it as 'like a kick in the teeth,' saying the party had supported Jones 'through thick and thin.' Welsh Labour called the move a 'desperate attempt to keep her Senedd seat,' while Plaid's Rhun ap Iorwerth called it 'yet another desperate Tory defection.' The defection's significance extended beyond one seat: it demonstrated that the Conservative-to-Reform pipeline was now flowing at Senedd level, not just among councillors and Westminster MPs, accelerating the Welsh Conservatives' existential crisis ahead of 2026.

Jones used her first Reform conference speech to stake out the party's Welsh policy positions. As Reform's only sitting MS, her remarks carried particular weight. The speech came just weeks after Farage had said he would never call for the Senedd's abolition.

Jones told the conference that Reform would try to 'make the Senedd work for the people of Wales' but added the explosive qualifier: 'if it doesn't, we need to question whether the Senedd is really adding value to Wales.' When pressed, she confirmed she was questioning whether the Senedd should exist 'in the future' but denied calling for an immediate referendum. A party spokesperson later clarified that abolition would not appear in the manifesto but Reform 'would not rule anything out.' The remarks directly contradicted Farage's stated position and forced him to visit Wales days later for damage control. The episode exposed the fundamental tension within Reform between Farage's pragmatic acceptance of devolution (driven by the desire to contest the 2026 election) and the anti-devolution sentiment of much of the party's Welsh base (61% of Reform voters supported abolition in 2024 polling). Jones's willingness to voice what Farage wouldn't made her a more authentic representative of Reform's grassroots than the party leader himself.