Emily Price
Reform Members of the Senedd cheered a Conservative rival before realising her apparent “congratulations” were a dig at their own party.
Cheers erupted from Reform’s benches in the Senedd before quickly turning to heckles during a debate on local referendums for council tax increases on Wednesday (October 14).
Welsh Conservative Janet Finch-Saunders appeared to toy with Reform Members as she began her contribution saying: “Now, this may shock some, but I have to begin by congratulating Reform…”
Her remarks sparked cheers of support from Reform with one MS heard shouting out: “Well done, Janet!”
However, Finch-Saunders then launched an attack on Reform UK accusing the party of copying Welsh Conservative policies.
Speaking directly to the Reform Senedd group, the Tory MS said: “Once again you’ve demonstrated an impressive talent for taking good Conservative ideas and applying the Reform logo to them.
“Now, as they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
“I’ll just remind you that you did that, of course, with your pre-election manifesto launch, which was a direct copy-and-paste job of good Conservative policies.
“Now then, it was a Welsh Conservative manifesto pledge to fix council tax, and has always been a solid manifesto pledge not only to fix council tax, but to reduce council tax.”
Finch-Saunders sparked laughter in the Chamber as she reminded Reform that the Conservatives had been making the same arguments on council tax for years.
“Long before you were ever a twinkle in Nigel Farage’s eye,” the Bangor Conwy Môn MS added.
Finch-Saunders then took an intervention from Plaid Cymru MS Sarah Cooper-Lesadd, who pointed out that some of the “worst examples” of council tax rises without referendums were in Reform-led councils, including Worcestershire, where bills had risen by 9 per cent.
Heckling broke out again as Finch-Saunders responded saying: “Sarah, you are right to point out that Reform say one thing and do another.”
Members voted to remove the proposed 4.99 per cent threshold from Reform UK’s council tax motion and instead backed an alternative recognising councils’ accountability for local budgets.
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