SENEDD: Reform Wales leader Dan Thomas quits four months in, saying he was reported to police and released without charge

Dan Thomas has resigned as leader of Reform Wales, four months after taking the party from no seats to 34 and becoming the first Reform leader of the opposition in the Senedd.

In a statement issued through Reform UK’s press office on Tuesday, he said he was standing down “due to personal reasons” and disclosed that he had been reported to the police over the weekend.

“I was reported to the police and was released without charge,” he said. “I stress that I have done nothing wrong, but I do not want the coming headlines to be a distraction from the fantastic work our Senedd team is doing in holding this government to account.”

Gwent Police, asked about the resignation, said in a statement: “On Sunday 13 September a 45-year-old man, from the Aberbargoed area, was arrested on suspicion of assault and engaging in controlling/coercive behaviour. He has been bailed pending further enquiries.” The force did not name the man.

Thomas did not take part in First Minister’s Questions on Tuesday afternoon, the weekly session at which the leader of the opposition normally puts the first questions to Rhun ap Iorwerth. The statement followed later in the day.

Thomas will stay on as the MS for Casnewydd Islwyn and said he would “fully back whoever the group selects as its next leader”.

“It has been the honour of my life to have been the leader of Reform Wales and see this party go from zero to 34 elected members and become the largest opposition group in Welsh history,” he said.

Four months at the top

Thomas was appointed by Nigel Farage on 5 February, three months before the election, having defected from the Conservatives the previous June while a councillor in the London borough of Barnet, where he had been council leader.

His arrival drew questions about where he lived. Nation.Cymru reported in February that he was living in Bath; Reform said he was on the electoral roll in Wales, and ITV Wales later reported it had seen proof of a Caerphilly address.

On 7 May he led Reform to 34 of the 96 seats, second to Plaid Cymru’s 41 and well clear of Welsh Labour’s nine, and became leader of the opposition when Rhun ap Iorwerth was confirmed as First Minister.

He named Reform’s first Senedd shadow cabinet on 19 May. Two of its 14 members represent this area: Francesca O’Brien, the Gŵyr Abertawe MS and former Mumbles councillor, on housing and planning, and James Evans, the Brycheiniog Tawe Nedd MS, on health.

Who takes over

The statement leaves the choice to the Senedd group. Its deputy leader is Helen Jenner, the Bangor Conwy Môn MS who was born in Neath and holds the education and Welsh language brief, appointed deputy by Thomas on 1 April.

Whether the group picks her, or Farage steps in as he did in February, is not yet known.

Minutes after his statement, Reform lost a member of that shadow cabinet. Sarah Cooper-Lesadd, the Pen-y-bont Bro Morgannwg MS, defected to Plaid Cymru, saying Reform was “not serious about governing Wales”. Reform’s group is now 33.

Thomas is the second leader of Reform in Wales to leave the post in under a year. His predecessor, Nathan Gill, was jailed for ten and a half years in November 2025 for taking bribes to make pro-Russian statements as an MEP. The post had been vacant from 2021 until Thomas’s appointment.

Reform holds seats across Swansea Bay, including two in Gŵyr Abertawe and three in Sir Gaerfyrddin, where Gareth Beer became the first Reform MS elected in west Wales.

Author

Kit Peters

Kit Peters is a journalist and the editor of Swansea Bay News, covering Swansea, Neath Port Talbot and Carmarthenshire since 2020.