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PA Media<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\nReform UK leader Nigel Farage has said that the Senedd 2026 election will be his party’s biggest priority that year.<\/p>\n
Speaking at the party’s Welsh conference in Newport on Friday, he said: “This campaign, the one leading up to 2026 will be in that calendar year, for me as national party leader, by far our biggest priority.”<\/p>\n
Farage returned to the UK just a day after flying home from the United States having supported Donald Trump’s successful presidential campaign<\/a>.<\/p>\n He is expected to take charge of Reform’s Welsh efforts in 18 months, and said there was a “distinct possibility” that Reform would go into those elections with a Welsh leader.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Farage also ruled out a deal with the Welsh Conservatives ahead of the 2026 election, saying “they can do what they want”.<\/p>\n “We are going to be in those elections. The main challenge to Labour, that’s the ambition,” he added. <\/p>\n Farage became an MP at the eight attempt at July’s general election<\/a> and represents Clacton, in Essex, at Westminster.<\/p>\n He added that he would be surprised if his party did not have a Welsh leader by 2026. <\/p>\n “This conference is the first time that, effectively, we’ve got Reform members all over Wales together in a room. <\/p>\n “It’s open to members only. We’re forming branches. We’re going to get activists. We’re applying for candidates. Give me time.” <\/p>\n He added: “I think it’s a distinct possibility that we will go into those set of elections with a Welsh leader. I’d be surprised if we don’t.”<\/p>\n Farage has called on his party members to put themselves forward as candidates for the 2026 election, as part of what he called a “people’s army”.<\/p>\n “I need all of you in whatever way you can to get involved with this people’s army, to join us, to join the local branches, to put yourself forward for treasurer or whatever it may be,” he said. <\/p>\n He asked people to sign up and leave their personal details with local Reform groups before leaving the conference.<\/p>\n Farage said the NHS needed reform and that the “entirety of the funding model” does not work. <\/p>\n “We cannot just keep on pouring more and more money into the same pot with the same management structures and expecting a different result. <\/p>\n “We have to look at a country like France, who spend less money on health but get much better outcomes. <\/p>\n “They do it through a mutual insurance system. If you haven’t got the money, you haven’t got to pay, if you do have the money you pay in effectively to an insurance scheme, it works far better,” he said. <\/p>\n He added that Welsh voters “need somebody to provide opposition to a completely failing devolved Labour administration.” <\/p>\n Reform are yet to publish a list of policies specific to Wales for the election.<\/p>\n Party insiders are targeting a return of at least 16 Members of the Senedd<\/a> (MSs) in 2026, with Farage having previously said that Reform would win “a lot of seats”.<\/p>\n