'Wales is a complete mess': Welsh Conservative Laura Anne Jones defects to Reform UK

Speaking at the Royal Welsh Show alongside Reform UK Leader Nigel Farage, Ms Jones announced that after 31 years in the Conservative party she felt the party was "unrecognisable".

She said: "I could no longer justify on the door steps conservative policies that were happening, and I could no longer deal with the membership and face the membership, and justify what the party were doing."

Ms Jones said it was a "tough" decision to leave the party she has been part of for more than three decades, as "like any break up there are some good bits and some really good people".

She was initially a member of the Senedd for the South Wales East region between 2003 and 2007, before returning in 2020.

She said she will miss colleagues in Wales and Westminster who she will always hold in high regard, but added: "This isn't about them. This is bigger than that. This is what's right for the people of Wales, the people of Britain."

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Ms Jones said she believes Reform UK is listening to the people of Great Britain in terms of the vaues it offers, and said "Wales is a complete mess".

She listed poor education outcomes and health statistics, along with farmers, pensioners and vulnerable people being "battered", as examples of where she thinks Wales is failing.

She stated: "Wales needs Reform."

Mr Farage said the defection was a "big step forward for Reform UK in Wales".

The defection comes with less than a year to go until the Senedd election, when voters in Wales will elect 96 members to the Welsh parliament for the first time.