Farage says Reform member should apologise for 'poor taste' social media post
Getty ImagesNigel Farage says a prominent Reform member whose online comments sparked accusations of racism should apologise.
Arron Banks posted "Welsh Lad?" on X in response to a Plaid Cymru video fronted by a black community organiser from Cardiff.
Banks, who is not standing in the Senedd election, said his comment was "a joke" and Plaid had "lost their sense of humour".
But Reform's UK leader Farage told BBC Wales on Wednesday the remarks were in "poor taste", adding "people who keep on tweeting after a glass of wine make some blooming silly mistakes".
Plaid Cymru's leader in the House of Commons, Liz Saville Roberts, claimed that Banks thought "black people can't be Welsh".
Banks told BBC Wales on Tuesday that Plaid had lost its sense of humour.
He stood for Reform in the West of England mayoral election in 2025, narrowly losing out to Labour.
He was previously a major donor to UKIP and helped Farage's campaign for the UK to leave the EU.
Asked whether Banks should apologise for the comments, Farage said: "Yeah, he won't - he's Arron Banks."
He also said that Banks was not involved with Welsh politics.
"Number one he's not a candidate, number two he's not Welsh, number three he's never given money to the party," he added.
Farage also said that it would be "highly undesirable" for Reform to work with the Conservatives in Wales, with it likely parties will have toco-operate in order to form Wales' next government or help pass laws in the Senedd.
But he said the decision would be that of Reform's Welsh leader, Dan Thomas.
"It would be Dan Thomas's decision, I've devolved power to Dan Thomas," Farage said.
"He's our leader in Wales, he will make those decisions, albeit it in consultation with me."
He added that he did not think the matter of a Reform-Conservative pact would come up because the Tories would not perform well in the Welsh election on 7 May.
"I think you're going to find there are hardly any Conservatives that get elected," Farage said.
During a BBC Welsh leaders debate on Tuesday night, Thomas said Reform would work with any party "that will help deliver our manifesto".
Conservative Darren Millar did not rule out working with Reform or any other party if it could help implement Tory policies such as cutting income tax.
Farage spoke to BBC Wales on Wednesday as part of a series of interviews with UK Party leaders ahead of the Senedd election.
