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| Welsh Tory Laura Anne Jones defects to Reform | Welsh Tory Laura Anne Jones defects to Reform |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| Nigel Farage unveiled Laura Anne Jones' defection with former Welsh Secretary David Jones (centre) on Tuesday | |
| Senedd politician Laura Anne Jones has defected from the Conservatives to Reform, party leader Nigel Farage has announced. | |
| Jones becomes the party's first Member of the Senedd (MS) and is Reform's highest profile defection in Wales. | |
| She said she could no longer justify Conservative policies on the doorstep, and said her former party found out as the press conference was unfolding. | |
| Welsh Conservative leader Darren Millar said voters in her region of South Wales East will feel "very let down by her announcement". | |
| Recent polls have suggested Reform has a chance of being the largest party at next May's Senedd election. | |
| It follows the decision of former Conservative Welsh Secretary David Jones to join Reform - it is the highest profile defection in Wales so far and followed weeks of speculation that the party was trying to persuade an MS to join. | |
| Speaking at the Royal Welsh Show in Llanelwedd, Jones said: "I've just suddenly felt that the Conservative Party was unrecognisable to me. It wasn't the party that I joined over three decades ago." | |
| She said Reform "is listening to the people of Great Britain". | |
| Jones had been reselected by the Conservatives for the new Senedd seat of Sir Fynwy Torfaen, but she faced a contest with Peter Fox for the top spot on the party list there. | |
| She denied that she had joined Reform because she was worried about not getting re-elected. | |
| "I had a fair chance of getting in," she told a news conference. | |
| Farage said Jones brings "experience. She knows how the place works, and that's very important for us". | |
| Laura Anne Jones said the Conservatives found out on Tuesday she was defecting | |
| Jones was first elected to the then-National Assembly in 2003, serving one term until 2007, before returning in 2020 after the death of Mohammad Asghar. | |
| She was re-elected the following year, at the 2021 election, for South Wales East. | |
| Her defection means the Conservatives are down to 14 politicians in the Welsh Parliament. | Her defection means the Conservatives are down to 14 politicians in the Welsh Parliament. |
| Welsh Conservative leader in the Senedd Darren Millar said: "Naturally, I'm disappointed by Laura's decision and Conservative Party members and voters in South East Wales will feel very let down by her announcement. | |
| He added: "We wish Laura all the very best in her new high tax and high spend party." | |
| Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth said: "This is yet another desperate Tory defection who knows the writing is on the wall for their party's prospects next May." |