Emily Price
Senedd Commission staff said they were left feeling “anxious and concerned” after two Reform UK MSs gatecrashed a meeting reserved strictly for staff.
Reform MSs Cai Parry-Jones and Iain McIntosh attended the staff briefing on Monday (October 20) despite not being invited.
The meeting was organised exclusively for Commission staff to discuss the Bay 32 project and the future of the Tŷ Hywel office building in Cardiff Bay.
The Bay 32 project is an initiative by the Senedd Commission to plan for office space ahead of the expiration of the 25-year lease on Tŷ Hywel in 2032.
The Senedd Commission chose to keep staff and members in Tŷ Hywel through a renewed long-term arrangement with the current landlord Equitix, but the building is set to undergo extensive renovations.
The hybrid briefing for Commission staff was led by a panel headed by the Chief Executive and Clerk of the Senedd Manon Bonner.
It was supposed to allow Commission staff the opportunity to ask questions about what their new place of work will look like, including what facilities will be available.
Nation.Cymru was told Parry-Jones and McIntosh entered the briefing room without authorisation and sat in the front row.
As the front row was visible only to the panel, Bonner warned Senedd Commission staff attending remotely that two Reform UK politicians were present.
One attendee said because Commission staff feel a strong duty to protect the Senedd’s reputation and defend Wales’ right to its own parliament, some workers were reluctant to ask questions in front of politicians they believed had their own agenda.
During the briefing, Senedd staff were shown proposed floor layouts for the refurbished Tŷ Hywel building.
Nation.Cymru was told that Parry-Jones took photos of all the slides shown to staff.
When Senedd staff were invited to ask questions of their employer, the Reform MS spoke up, quizzing the panel on a grab-and-go coffee bar planned for the refurbished building.
One attendee told us that at the end of the one hour briefing, Parry-Jones left the room quickly and did not engage in any other discussions.
When Nation.Cymru asked why Parry-Jones and his colleague were not asked to leave, we were told the incident was “unprecedented”, as it was the first time MSs had attended a meeting to which they had not been invited.
The Senedd is legally and constitutionally required to treat all politicians fairly and Commission staff must maintain strict political neutrality at all times.
Attendees therefore felt unable to ask the two MSs to leave.
However, some said they felt Reform’s Welsh group had “crossed a boundary”.
One member of staff at the Senedd Commission said they felt “anxious and intimidated” adding that the meeting “was supposed to be a safe space for staff to ask questions”.
They told Nation.Cymru that official complaints have since been lodged with the Senedd’s executive board.
Nation.Cymru asked Iain McIntosh and Cai Parry-Jones why they had attended a meeting reserved for Senedd staff. Neither responded.
McIntosh is a member of the Senedd’s Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee, while Parry-Jones currently sits as a member of the Finance Committee, having joined it in October 2026.
Reform UK does not officially support the abolition of the Senedd, but since Parry-Jones won his seat representing Caerdydd Ffynnon Taf in May, he has hit out at Wales’ Parliament several times.
Earlier this month, he accused Senedd Commission staff of trying to politically influence children through the books sold in its shop.
In a post to social media, Parry-Jones said the shop was “devoted to left-wing books”.
The post featured images of the books that had frustrated him, including an award-winning story about a child fleeing an unsafe home, a picture book about Black history, and Greta Thunberg’s ‘The Climate Book’.
Shortly after taking office, he criticised the Senedd Commission for issuing him with two laptops and an optional phone.
He claimed the reason Members needed two laptops was because they “aren’t trusted”.
It came after the Reform MS posted a photo to social media which he had taken in a Senedd toilet.
In the post, Parry-Jones mocked an autism friendly warning label on a hand dryer that noted the device was loud.
The National Autistic Society Cymru said the notice caused “absolutely no inconvenience to anyone else”, adding that autistic people “need and deserve understanding and support, not judgement”.
The Senedd Commission was invited to comment.
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