Less than 6,000 people live in Trevethin and Penygarn, a granular and deindustrialized district among the hills and valleys of the southern Wales, and little drama expected when a vote was called to elect a member of the municipality local, one of the lowest in British government.
But as a candidate, Stuart Keyte, a member of the anti-immigration populist Reform UK, campaigned outside the small Trevethin supermarket on Wednesday, a volley of eggs that pleased him behind a van parked nearby.
Quickly avoiding, Mr. Keyte, who happens to be a former member of the British elite parachute regiment, avoided the worst of the unknown aggressor’s dam, then relied on his military experience. “The closer you get to the target, the more you get Flak,” he said, inspecting the egg yolk splashed on his shoes.
He reached his goal on Thursday, when he became the first member of Reform UK, the final party led by Nigel Farage, the Brexit activist and ally of President Trump, to win an election in Wales.
The participation rate was low because it is usually in the municipal elections: only 973 people (less than a quarter of eligible people) voted in the assistance for a seat of the Council to the municipality of Torfaen (Tor-Vai-Unh ), which remains under labor control and includes Trevethin and Penygarn. Mr. Keyte won 457 votes.
But the reform is high In national opinion pollsAnd Thursday’s victory, and others in the municipal elections elsewhere, underline the threat that the party represents the Labor Party with Prime Minister Keir Starmer. In the reform of the general elections of last year, formerly known as Brexit partyobtained 14% of the national vote and won five parliamentary seats. He also finished second in 89 work seats.
The new reform strategy is to target the regions that struggle on the economic level, to campaign on local issues and to exploit the frustration of voters who have failed by the main political parties.
Mr. Keyte, 64, said that he had struck the doors every day in the past two weeks, but barely mentioned Mr. Farage – the leader of the division but effective of his party – or immigration.
“I am sure that these problems are very important for the inhabitants, it is not something that I discussed with them,” he said, adding that he had spoken instead of car windows , litter, dog disorder and defective street lighting.
The members of the Council are the backbone of British politics and are often people who campaign at the street level. Nationally, the reform just holds 72 such seats Friday. (Although the party already had three members of the council in Torfaen, all had been elected for other parties or were independent before defection the party of Mr. Farage.)
But the reform believes that it is in magnitude, and Wales, which voted in favor of the renowned policy of Mr. Farage on Brexit in 2016, is a crucial battlefield for the party.
The reform strategists are considering the elections of next year for the Welsh Parliament, or Senedd, as part of a proportional voting system which is much more favorable to small parties than that used for the British general elections.
With the work leading the British government to Westminster, Seedd at Cardiff and Torfaen Council, some residents have a lot to complain.
Apart from his home, Christopher Jennings, 70, retired bus driver and former work voter, said that he would support the reform, criticizing Mr. Starmer’s decision to limit payments to retirees for the costs of heating.
“I have always had it since I was 65, I had it every year and all of a sudden, I can no longer have it,” he said about the free document of Tax, which will now be available only for the poorest retirees. He added that the government still found money to house asylum seekers in hotels.
The community spirit is strong here, but the region has been beaten by the loss of jobs in traditional industries, a process that is still underway in Port Talbot, a large manufacture of steel Plant 80 kilometers.
“After closing the stands and steel works, there is nothing here for us now or for children,” said Jennings.
Paul Jones, 42, who runs a company offering pet services, including dogs, said he favored reform because he wanted weaker immigration. “People are starting to change their perspectives, especially with regard to work. It’s time to change, “said Jones, complaining about the difficulty of obtaining appointments at the doctor.
The center of the neighboring town of Pontypool was “dead, finished,” he added.
Certain parts of pontypool certainly resemble this way. Several pubs, cafes and companies have been closed and the foliage germinated from the roof of an elegant but abandoned building awaiting redevelopment.
At the corner of the town hall, Anthony Hunt, the work manager of the municipal council of Torfaen, said that the municipality had invested in schools and was the last line of defense for years of budget cuts under the previous conservative government.
“We have to listen,” he said. “My fear is that the reform characterizes a type of policy that does not seek to solve problems – it seeks to get angry, and I would ask what their policies are both locally and nationally to improve things.”
The campaign had raised tensions in the region, he argued. The people of Trevethin “believe that the circus came a little in the city, that people came from outside”, and that the militants of the reform “increased the temperature,” he said. Admittedly, the competition was full of incident.
David Thomas, a former member of the Labor Council who now represents the reform, has been the subject of press articles earlier this week after LBC, a radio station, identified it as “DJ Dowster”, “ Reporting that he had published online songs with misogynist and offensive words. The reform party said they were not his creations and that the words were samples taken from other songs.
At the Collective Tattoo Evermore in Trevethin, Robby Taylor, 44, said before the vote that he was undecided on the opportunity to vote. “I do not know what is good for the region,” he said, adding that he liked to live there, despite a lack of equipment.
It was the resignation of a member of the Labor Council, Sue Malson, who precipitated Thursday’s elections.
In the animated charity shop, she heads in Trevethin, she described the community as “like a family”. But she resigned because her work as a member of the council led to attacks on her house and the horses she keeps, she said.
Ms. Malson described herself as the frank member of the local Labor Party and said that she had clashed with Mr. Thomas during the council meetings.
Speaking outside the Trevethin supermarket, David Nutt, 78, farmer and former minor, said that he was not impressed by the reform. “They say that many things that people want to hear,” he said, adding that “Farage, himself, is a very dangerous guy.”
However, Mr. Nutt, a long -standing supporter, said that the party did not listen to the voters enough “and planned to vote for an independent candidate.
He appointed three pubs that had closed over the years. Then, when he moved the changes he had seen over six decades, a bustle broke out behind him.
A young man in a gray track suit rushed to the supermarket, chased by a store worker, which was just too late to prevent it with the display flight. As Mr. Nutt looked around to see what was going on, Gray’s figure had disappeared around the corner.
