Overview

• Brandon Dodd won Illtyd in Barry by 72 votes, delivering Reform UK its first Vale of Glamorgan councillor as Labour fell to fourth.
• The new Vale council make-up is 24 Labour, 13 Conservative, eight Plaid Cymru, four Llantwit First Independent, four independents and one Reform.
• Nigel Farage unveiled Llŷr Powell as Reform’s candidate for the Caerphilly Senedd by-election scheduled for October 23.
• The Caerphilly vote follows the death of MS Hefin David, with an inquest open and the cause of death recorded as unascertained pending toxicology results.
• Farage said a Welsh leadership decision will come before the May 2026 Senedd election; Reform has one MS after Laura Anne Jones defected from the Conservatives.