Over the recent weeks it has seemed as if the eyes of the whole country have been set firmly on Caerphilly, and it felt like almost the entire left in Wales let out a huge sigh of relief last Friday morning at the news that Plaid Cymru’s Lyndsay Whittle has beaten Reform by 3000 votes, winning  by 11% of the vote. But how did we end up with such a divisive and racist election campaign?

Following the tragic passing of Labour Senedd Member Hefin David, it became very clear very quickly that this would be no ordinary by-election. With both the Welsh Senedd & Scottish Parliamentary elections less than a year away, what happened in Caerphilly was always going to be a test for our movement.

Reform have been boldly telling any media outlet that would listen for months that they expect to sweep the board in Wales’s Senedd elections next May, Farage stating he plans to turn Wales into a ‘Little USA’. They were confident of a victory, throwing substantial amounts money at the campaign.

Every right-wing influencer in the UK seems to have made an appearance in recent weeks, anti-migrant rhetoric ramping up daily, and many residents of the constituency expressing shock and disgust at the levels of rabid racist narrative.

The focus of Reform in Caerphilly has been to attack the Senedd ‘Nation of Sanctuary’ policy, a progressive policy from the current Welsh Labour led Senedd to support those fleeing persecution and war to rebuild their lives here in Wales. The overwhelming majority of the funding made available for this policy by the Senedd has been used to help the resettlement of Ukrainian refugees, however Reform UK took to the airwaves to push a narrative that Wales has ‘wasted £55 million on ‘illegal immigrants’.

This narrative has had the effect of creating a genuinely terrifying atmosphere that has emboldened the far right into a frenzy of activity.

It is worth noting that Caerphilly has amongst the lowest levels of immigration amongst any of the 22 local authorities in Wales, with 97% of the population being born in the UK.

There have been weekly protests called by fascist, Tommy Robinson supporting group, Voice of Wales, held outside a hotel near Cardiff airport. The hotel is temporarily housing families from Afghanistan who, having helped the British military, were put at risk by the leaking of their info by the Tories to the Taliban last year. These protests have drawn in the most abhorrent collection of neo-Nazi organisations in Britain, including Patriotic Alternative & the openly antisemitic group White Vanguard.

Other far right demo’s have been called in Newtown, Wrexham, Barry and on the weekend before the election, a demo against ‘Nation of Sanctuary’ in Caerphilly.

Stand Up to Racism and the Trade Unions have turned out in force week after week to oppose these attempts to intimidate and spread hate and the far right have been heavily outnumbered at every turn.

Indeed, over the last few weeks SuTR have not only organised various counter demo’s but have also been holding street stalls and knocking on doors across Caerphilly, ensuring that the lies spread by Reform and others did not go unchecked.

Left Unity Members on the PCS Wales Executive Committee have not only been involved in activity on the streets with SuTR, but initiated a letter sent directly to all PCS members within the constituency which laid out our policy positions of a progressive and inclusive economic alternative, whilst also exposing the myths being peddled by Reform that they are friends of the working class.

But other forces have been at play in Caerphilly, and to prevent a repeat of these last few weeks next May at the Senedd elections, we must also look at how after holding Caerphilly as a safe seat since 1918, the Labour Party’s support has tanked in such a spectacular way that they left the door wide open for Reform to breeze in.

Theres a saying in the South Wales Valleys ‘Mrs Jones’ sheep could win an election round here if someone slapped a red rosette on it’, but this is very plainly no longer the case.

Talking to people on stalls and on doorsteps it became very obvious that those who would never have considered they would vote for anyone other than Labour in their lifetime, feel that Labour have abandoned them; from cuts to winter fuel and benefit payments, the state of the NHS and lack of access to essential health care right through to concern about Labour in Westminster failing to condemn Israel’s actions in Gaza, voters did not feel that Labour was a party they can continue to trust and vote for.

Many looking for a new political home and alternative policies have been hoodwinked into believing that Reform is a party of the working class.  In a society where political leaders are failing to provide leadership, it is our role as trade unions to tackle this with facts, countering the lies peddled by Reform.

The fact that Reform were beaten by many voters switching to Plaid Cymru gives us hope. Those that voted for Plaid will be aware of their stance on Palestine, their support for Nation of Sanctuary and safe passage, and their economic policies on issues such as the introduction of a wealth tax. That is not to say that Plaid are perfect as there are many policies of theirs that PCS would disagree with, but in a world where what was once considered centre ground has tracked so far to the right, Plaid have provided a palatable alternative to Labour for many in Wales.

This should send a resounding message to Starmer and Labour; trying to out fascist the far right and declaring that Britain has become a “nation of strangers” doesn’t win votes – it pushers voters to the far right, and copying the policies of the Tories who inflicted 14 years of bitter austerity on working people will run the risk of opening the door even wider for Reform.

We in Left Unity are very clear – It’s not refugees arriving on boats who have made everyone poorer, destroyed our NHS, cut benefits and stagnated the economy, it’s those who swan around legally in their million pound yachts and those who perpetuate neo-liberal capitalist policies.

What we should all take from the last few weeks is that we need to up our game as Left Unity and PCS. Wherever the far right raise their heads we need to be on the streets at counter protests in numbers and get involved in our local SuTR groups. We need to be pushing out our Left Unity created policies around alternatives to austerity, Tax Justice, Welfare Reform, Safe Passage and of course our ARAF strategy. If the experience of Caerphilly is anything to go by, we are in for a tough few years as Farage, Reform and others ramp up their toxic politics. We as trade unionists and socialists have the policies and answers that can neutralise them, even if the main stream parties don’t, and we need to provide leadership to steer our class away from the divisive politics of despair.

We of course congratulate Lindsay Whittle and wish him the best of luck. He is a hard working politician with whom we look forward to working with in Wales, but we must also ready ourselves for the coming battles and be unflinching in our response to the racist rhetoric being used to divide our communities.

Marianne Owens

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