Reform Challenges Parties on Publishing Senedd Election Costs
Reform has urged other parties to disclose the costs associated with their Senedd election pledges during Nigel Farage's visit to Merthyr Tydfil on Thursday.
However, party representatives clarified that Reform will publish its own costings only after Welsh leader Dan Thomas indicated they would wait until other parties agree to reveal their figures.
Farage had stated that Reform would publish its costings regardless. This marks the second occasion where the two party leaders have appeared to adopt differing stances on the matter since their manifesto launch in March.
No other party has published or committed to publishing full costings.
Voters will elect 96 Members of the Senedd on 7 May.
Costings refer to a party's detailed listing of the financial implications of each policy promised in their manifesto, which is a compilation of election commitments presented to voters.
While parties often assert that their policies are deliverable and financially accounted for, comprehensive cost listings are rarely made public.
Reform pledged to reduce income tax by 1p across all bands when it launched its manifesto last month.
At that time, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) think tank commented that such tax cuts "would likely necessitate cuts in at least some services used by households."
Political parties have been repeatedly cautioned that the forthcoming Welsh government will face a different financial landscape and may find it challenging to fund new initiatives without either cutting existing services or increasing revenue through taxation.
Internal Debate Over Publishing Costings
In March, Thomas stated that Reform would publish the figures following "a discussion internally."
He made this statement on the same day he also said they would not publish the costings, despite Farage having promised a "full list of costings" in separate interviews.
The respected IFS think tank was "looking at our homework and they'll mark it out of 10," Thomas said.
On Thursday, Farage said Reform was prepared to publish "everything" the IFS had sent them back "if other parties were prepared to do the same."
His position appeared to evolve during the interview, later asserting that the costings would be published regardless of other parties' actions.
Regarding the absence of a caveat in March, he added:
"We'd like first to challenge the other parties to match that."
He insisted he had not altered his stance:
"We will publish it but I'm going to challenge the others to do it as well."
Farage claimed they would "embarrass" the other parties.
"I don't see the change, am I missing something?"
In a subsequent interview at the same event, Thomas appeared to more definitively rule out publishing the document if other parties do not comply.
He said:
"They will be published, subject to the other parties' agreement of publishing theirs.
So we're challenging the other leaders to publish their costings.
The caveat is there now,"
He acknowledged that their position had shifted "slightly."
"Nothing wrong with that," he added, noting there was nothing in the IFS analysis that concerned them.
Following Thomas's interview, BBC Wales was informed by a Reform source that Dan Thomas had misspoken when he suggested that publishing costings was contingent on others doing the same and that the costings will be published.
Farage's Campaign Visit and Candidate Issues
Farage conducted a campaign walkabout in Merthyr Tydfil on Thursday morning, where several residents stopped him for selfies.
This was his first visit to Wales since the manifesto launch in Newport in March.
Farage dismissed recent controversies regarding candidate selections, which saw some party members resign or decline offers to be on candidate lists.
He stated the party had "one candidate vetting problem - one out of 96," apparently referring to the resignation of Corey Edwards, who had been photographed performing a Nazi salute.
"People throw themselves into politics, they're ambitious, they all assume they're going to get into winnable positions and some people who were lower on the list didn't like their positions.
That's life, [it's] not an issue. They weren't in winnable positions."
Farage also claimed that Plaid Cymru had "a list as long as your arm of candidates who've said very embarrassing or bad things."
