The British reform of the British reform of the British wins on some labor voters

Fewer than 6,000 people live in Trevethin and Penygarn, a grim, deayy -spied district in the midst of the hills and valleys of Zuid -Wales, and not much expected drama when a vote was called to choose a member of the local municipality, one of the lowest levels of British government.

But if a candidate, Stuart Keyte, a member of the populist anti-immigration party reform UK, campaigned outside Trevethin’s small supermarket on Wednesday, a volley of eggs rained on him from behind a van nearby.

Quickly bypassing, Mr. Keyte, who happens to be a former member of the British Elite Parachute Regiment, the worst of the barrage of the unknown attacker and then put out of his military experience. “The closer you get to the goal, the more anti -aircraft weather you get,” he said, inspected the egg yolk on his shoes.

He hit his target on Thursday, when he became the first member of Reform UK, the Upstart party led by Nigel FarageThe Brexit campaigner and ally of President Trump, to win an election in Wales.

The turnout was low, because it is usually in municipal elections: only 973 people (less than a quarter of the eligible) voted in the competition for a council seat in Torfaen (pronounced Tor-Vai-Uhn) municipality, which remains under employment control And including Trevethin and Penygarn. Mr. Keyte won 457 votes.

But the reform is high driving In national opinion pollsAnd the victory of Thursday, and others in municipal elections elsewhere, underline the threat that the party is for the ruling Labor Party of Prime Minister Keir Starmer. In last year’s general election reform, previously known as the Brexit partySecure 14 percent of the national vote and won five parliamentary seats. It also finished second in 89 Labor -chairs.

The new strategy of reform is to focus on regions that struggle economically, campaigning on local issues and using the frustration of voters who do not feel because of the most important political parties.

Mr Keyte, 64, said that he had put on doors every day for the past two weeks, but hardly called Mr Farage – the division of his party – but effective leader – or immigration.

“I am sure those issues are very important for the local population, it is not something that I have discussed with them,” he said, adding that he spoke instead of beaten car windows, litter, dog rolls and defective street lighting.

Council members are the backbone of British politics and are often the people who campaign at street level. Nationally, reform applies 72 Such seats From Friday. (Although the party already had three councilors in Torfaen, they were all chosen for other parties or were independent before they have crossed the party of Mr. Farage.)

But reform believes that the momentum has, and Wales, which voted for Mr Farage in 2016, is a crucial battlefield for the party.

Reform strategists look at next year’s elections for the Welsh Parliament, or SENEDD, under a proportional voting system that is much more favorable for small parties than the person used for British general elections.

With Labor that runs the British government in Westminster, the SENEDD in Cardiff and Torfaen Council, some residents have enough to complain about.

Outside his house, Christopher Jennings, 70, said a retired bus driver and former Labor voter, that he would support the reform and criticize Mr Starmer’s decision To limit payments to pensioners for heating costs.

“I have always had it since I was 65, it had it every year and suddenly I can’t have it anymore,” he said about the tax-free handout, which will now only be available for the very first pensioners. He added that the government still found money in one way or another to accommodate asylum seekers in hotels.

Community Spirit is strong here, but the region was damaged by the loss of jobs in traditional industries, a process that is still ongoing At Port Talbot, make a large samples Plant 50 miles away.

“After they have closed the pits and the steel works, there is now nothing for us or for the children,” said Mr. Jennings.

Paul Jones, 42, who runs a company that offers PET services, including dog walk, said he prefers reform because he wants lower immigration. “People start to change their prospects, especially when it comes to work. It’s time for change, “Mr. Jones said, complaining about the difficulty of getting doctor appointments.

The center of the nearby city of Pontypool was ‘dead, ready’, he added.

Some parts of pontypool definitely look like this. Various pubs, cafés and companies were closed and foliage were created from the roof of an elegant but dilapidated department store building in anticipation of redevelopment.

Around the corner in the town hall, Anthony Hunt, the job leader of the Torfaen city council, said that the municipality had invested in schools and the last line of defense was during years of spending cuts under the previous conservative government.

“We have to listen,” he said. “My fear is that reform typifies a kind of politics that does not try to solve problems – it tries to make people angry, and I would ask what their policy is both locally and national to make things better.”

The campaign had raised tensions in the area, he argued. Folk in Trevethin “The feeling that the circus came to the city a bit, that people have arrived from outside,” and that the campaigners of the reform “have the temperature,” he said. The competition is certainly full of incident.

David Thomas, a former Labor Council member who now represents reform, was the subject of news articles earlier this week LBC, a radio station, identified it as “DJ Downster”, Report that he had posted online songs with misogynistic and offensive lyrics. The reform party said they were not his creations and that the lyrics were examples taken from other songs.

At Evermore Tattoo Collective in Trevethin, Robby Taylor, 44, said before the mood that he was undecided or should not vote at all. “I don’t know what is good for the area,” he said, and added that he liked to live there, despite a lack of facilities.

It was the resignation of a member of the Labor Council, Sue Malson, who resigned the Thursday election.

In the busy charity store that she runs into Trevethin, she described the community as ‘as a family’. But she resigned because her work as a councilor led to attacks on her house and on the horses she holds, she said.

Mrs. Malson described himself as the most pronounced member of the local Labor party and said she was colliding with Mr Thomas in the city council.

David Nuke, a farmer and former miner, said outside Trevethin’s supermarket, said he was not impressed by the reform. “They say many things that people want to hear,” he said, adding that “Farage itself is a very dangerous guy.”

Nevertheless, Mr. Nuke, a long -standing labor supporter, said that the party does not ‘listen to the voters’ and was planning to vote for an independent candidate.

He mentioned three pubs that had been closed over the years. Then, while he regretted the changes he had seen for six decades, a commotion behind him broke out.

A young man in a gray rail suit flowed from the supermarket, chased by a shopping worker, Who was just too late to stop him with shoplifting. By the time Mr. Nated looked around to see what happened, the figure in Gray had disappeared around the corner.