Within the hills and valleys of South Wales, fewer than 6,000 people live in Trevetin and Penigarung, a rough industrialized district, and elected a member of the local government, one of the UK's lowest ranks. When votes are called to do so, there isn't much drama expected.
But one candidate, Stuart Kite, a member of populist anti-immigrant reform UK, exercised outside a small supermarket in Trevetin on Wednesday, when an egg volley from behind a nearby parked van was hit by a nearby volley of eggs. It was pouring down on.
Kite, who happened to be a former member of the British Elite Parachute Regiment, quickly side-tips to avoid the worst barrage of unknown assailants and draws out his military experience. “The closer you get to your target, the more fracks you get,” he said as he inspected egg yolks splattered through his shoes.
He attacked the target on Thursday. He became the first member of Reform Britain, an emerging party led by Nigel Farage, Brexit activist and President Trump's ally Nigel Farage to win the election in Wales.
Vote turnout was low as it is usually a city election: only 973 people (less than a quarter of eligible people) remained under labor control, pronounced Tor-Vai-Uhn () voted for a seat on the council. Includes trevetin and penis. Kite won 457 votes.
However, reforms have appeared high in national opinion polls and Thursday's victory, with others in other local elections underscoring the threat the party poses to Prime Minister Kiel Starmer's governing Labour Party. Previously known as the Brexit Party, last year's general election reforms secured 14% of national votes and won five seats. He also finished second in the 89 worker seat.
A new strategy for reform is to target areas that are struggling economically, campaign for local issues, and capitalize on the frustration of voters who feel that major political parties have failed.
Kite, 64, said he had knocked on the door every day for the past two weeks but made little mention of Farage or immigration, the divisive yet effective leader of his party. .
“I'm sure these issues are very important to the locals. That's not something I discussed with them,” he says, and he has had car windows, trash, dog mess and breakdowns. He added that he spoke in place of street lighting.
Council members are the backbone of British politics, often those campaigning at the street level. Nationally, the reforms hold 72 seats, like Friday. (The party already had three councillors in Trufaan, but all were independent before being elected to another political party or exiled to Mr. Farage's party.)
But reforms believe it has momentum, and Wales voted in favor of Farage's Brexit marquee policy in 2016, an important battlefield for the party.
Reform strategists are looking at next year's elections for Welsh Parliament or Senators under a proportional voting system that is far more favorable than smaller parties than those used in the UK's general elections. .
Some residents have a lot to complain about at the workers, Senators of Cardiff and Torfaen Council, who run the British government in Westminster.
Outside his home, Christopher Jennings, 70, a retired bus driver and former worker voter, supports reforms, saying Zermer will limit payments to retirees due to retirement costs. He said he would criticize the decision.
“I've always had it since I was 65, and I've had it every year. All of a sudden, I can't have it anymore,” he said of the tax-free handouts. . He added that the government is still finding money to house asylum seekers in some way in the hotel.
There is a strong community spirit here, but the area was hit by job losses in traditional industries. This is still underway at Port Talbot, a large steel manufacturing plant 50 miles away.
“After they closed the pit and steel movements, there's nothing here, for us and for the kids now,” Jennings said.
Paul Jones, 42, runs a business offering pet services, including dog walking, and said he supports reforms because he wants to decline immigration. “People are beginning to change their outlook, especially when it comes to labor. Jones complained about the difficulty of appointing a doctor, which Jones said.
He added that the centre of nearby Pontypur town was “dead, finished.”
Some of the Pontypool certainly look like that. Several pubs, cafes and businesses have been closed from the roofs of elegant but abandoned department store buildings awaiting redevelopment, and leaves have germinated.
Around the corner of the city hall, Tohfan City Council's Labour leader Anthony Hunt said that local governments have invested in schools and that the last line of defense during years of budget cuts under past conservative governments. He said that was.
“We need to hear,” he said. “My fear is that reforms represent the kind of politics that doesn't try to solve problems. It's trying to anger people and what their policies are both local and national to make things better. I ask.”
He argued that the campaign had raised tensions in the area. The Trevetin people “feel like the circus has come to town a bit and people have come from outside,” he said. Certainly the contest is full of incidents.
David Thomas, a former Labor Council member who was now representing reform, said he identified him as “DJ Dowster” earlier this week after radio station LBC identified him as “DJ Dowster.” I reported that I posted the song online with lyrics from Miseogynistic and Offersive. The Reform Party said they were not his work, but the lyrics were samples taken from other songs.
At Trevetin's Evermore Tattoo Collective, Robbie Taylor, 44, said before the vote he had not yet decided whether or not he would vote. “I don't know what's right for the area,” he added that despite the lack of amenities, he loved living there.
It was the resignation of Labor Council member Sue Marson that sparked Thursday's election.
At the busy charity shop she runs in Trevetin, she described the community as “family-like.” However, she resigned after her job as a councillor led to an attack on her home and the horse she holds, she said.
Marson described himself as the most outspoken member of the local Labour party, and said he had clashed with Thomas at a council meeting.
Speaking outside the Trevetin supermarket, David Natt, 78, a farmer and former miner, said he was not impressed with the reforms. “They say a lot of things people want to hear,” he said. “Farage, he himself is a very dangerous companion,” he added.
Still, longtime labor advocate Natt said the party “has not been listening enough to vote for the voters” and said it plans to vote for an independent candidate.
He named three pubs that had been closed for many years. Then, a fuss broke out behind him as he lamented the changes he had seen over 60 years.
A young man in a grey tracksuit jumps out of the supermarket and is chased by a store clerk. Someone was too late for him to stop shoplifting. By the time Natt looked around to see what was going on, Gray's figure had disappeared around the corner.
