FM: Reform a threat to national security

ELUNED Morgan has raised concerns about national security after the former leader of Reform UK in Wales admitted to accepting Russian bribes.

- By ELEANOR STOREY and RUTH MOSALSKI

Nathan Gill

The First Minister's comments come after Nathan Gill pleaded guilty to accepting bribes in exchange for making pro-Russian statements while he was a member of the European Parliament.

Gill was a member of the National Assembly, as it was then known, between 2016 and 2017, and leader of Reform UK in Wales for a short period in 2021.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage had backed Gill to be leader of the Ukip group in the National Assembly for Wales and when he lost to former Conservative MP Neil Hamilton, Mr Farage said it was an “unjust act of deep ingratitude”

Gill subsequently left the Ukip group in the assembly to sit as an independent.

Speaking at First Minister's Questions yesterday, Ms Morgan said she agreed with the leader of the Welsh Conservatives, Darren Millar, that Reform UK is a “clear and present danger to our national security’.

She said: “We knew that Reform is a threat in Wales, that there is a real possibility of corruption and chaos and now we have evidence of that, through someone who was the former leader of Reform in Wales.

Inline Quotes:

“I think we've all been appalled by the act of the former leader of Reform in Wales, a person who was a member of this chamber.”