\u201cLondon needs Reform. It is one of the world\u2019s great capitals. Yet these days Sadiq Khan\u2019s London often feels lawless and unrecognisable to Londoners who can no longer afford to live in their own city.\u201d This was Nigel Farage\u2019s pitch to voters in a full-page advert in the County Times, a local newspaper serving Powys, a sparsely populated county in Wales.<\/p>\n
The party took out two full-page ads in the paper\u2019s 1 May edition, both of which urged readers to vote for Reform \u201cin London\u201d on 7 May.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow we are standing candidates all over London\u2026 London will only get the change it needs if you vote Reform UK on 7th May\u201d one of the adverts \u2013 a letter signed by Nigel Farage \u2013 read.<\/p>\n
It is unclear whether voters in the rural county will be concerned about an \u201cunrecognisable\u201d London. However, a recent headline in the County Times read<\/a>, \u201cPowys public toilets closed after being stuffed with Muller Corner yoghurts\u201d, so voters may have concerns about crime.<\/p>\n Ian Parry, Welsh Labour\u2019s lead candidate for Gwynedd Maldwyn, said: \u201cWe placed our own ads \u2013 designed by local members, talking about local issues \u2013 in the very same edition. What\u2019s the excuse?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cReform are either utterly incompetent, or they simply do not care about Welsh issues.\u201d<\/p>\n The devolved parliamentary election in Wales is shaping up as a two horse race between Plaid Cymru \u2013 the Welsh national party \u2013 and Reform. Labour are likely to be squeezed into third place, while the Green party could enter the Senedd (the Welsh parliament) for the first time.<\/p>\n Powys is the largest and more sparsely populated county in Wales. It will be covered by two new super-constituencies for the election to the Senedd: Brycheiniog Tawe Nedd (mid and southwest Wales) and Gwynedd Maldwyn (northern and central Wales).<\/p>\n