Reform's latest recruit insists party is ready to shake up UK political landscape

Former Conservative councillor Francesca O'Brien this week defected to Reform UK. She explains the reasons for her 'gamble' to Local democracy reporter Richard Youle

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SWANSEA'S first-ever Reform UK councillor said she reckoned others might follow and that she didn’t feel she'd broken the trust of those who'd voted for her as a Welsh Conservative three years ago.

Cllr Francesca O’Brien described her defection as “a gamble” but said she'd never seen a political party break through to voters in the way she said Reform UK has.

And although the mother-of-two said she lived and breathed being a councillor in Mumbles, she said she would be keen to stand at next year's Senedd elections if the opportunity arose.

Critics of Reform UK say the party’s policies - or set of reforms, as it calls them - don't stand up to scrutiny financially. Welsh Labour’s outgoing minister for delivery and Swansea West MS Julie James said she thought a Reform UK Government in Wales would be a “disaster” in an interview over the weekend.

Others question whether its proposed freeze on “nonessential immigration” would include or exclude social care workers, whose work underpins the NHS.

Asked by the Local Democracy Reporting Service if her decision to switch was more about disillusionment with the Welsh Conservatives or enthusiasm about Reform UK, Cllr O'Brien said it was more of the latter.

“For me it's very much a gamble,” she said. “Reform are very good at engaging with people across all ages, particularly the younger generation, and I think it’s really important to get younger people into politics.

“I've never seen a party that engages like this across generations and wherever you sit demographically. I want to be part of that, get involved and help fine-tune some of the policies.”

Cllr O'Brien was first elected to Swansea council in 2022 and is also a Mumbles community councillor.

Did she feel she'd let voters down who put their cross by her as a Welsh Conservative? “No, I don’t feel that I have,” she replied. “Irrespective of party politics, my heart is in the community and delivering for them.