Yuliia Bond manages dual employment, raises two children, and pursues studies at university. Last autumn, she also found time to take on Reform UK when it attempted to win the Caerphilly constituency byelection.
Bond, a refugee from Ukraine who has made a home in southern Wales, stated she was unable to stay quiet as Reform tried to win the seat in the Senedd, the Welsh parliament.
“Members of our Ukrainian community raised their voices,” Bond commented. “We challenged the disinformation because we didn’t want our neighbours from being misled into feeling anger towards us. I hoped to avoid people turning against us because of lies. So I voiced my concerns and others followed suit.
“Reform UK attempted to create panic and hate with strategies used not only in the UK, but by right-wing political parties all over Europe and across the world. The messages they used in Caerphilly didn’t feel local. They felt borrowed – like someone copied a script from another country and dropped it through our doors.”
An Overconfident Campaign Meets Community Resistance
The party, associated with Nigel Farage, was certain it could claim victory in the byelection, especially as Labour, the historically strong party in Wales for a century, appears to be in freefall. An energetic campaign by the Welsh nationalists, Plaid Cymru – and individuals such as Bond – successfully blocked the rightwing party.
“Their greatest mistake was presuming that people here have little critical thinking,” Bond argued. “They thought nobody would check the facts. They believed that refugees are not just vulnerable, but somehow uninformed. That is not true. We may have escaped a war, but we are not naive. We comprehend policies.”
One of Reform’s key claims was that the Welsh government’s sanctuary nation scheme showed both it and Plaid supported a “mass immigration agenda” and that “those seeking asylum” were receiving “special privileges”. This assertion did not hold water – over 80% of the sanctuary funds had been spent on supporting Ukrainian refugees.
Bond commented: “When I read the campaign literature, all I could see was a blatant attempt to divide people, to blame a small group, and increase hate in a place that had been welcoming to us.
“It failed in Caerphilly because the Ukrainian community and refugees from different backgrounds are not strangers. We are part of the community. People are familiar with us.
“They see us at schools, in shops, at work, volunteering. They know what we add. The picture in the leaflet simply didn’t match reality. Most residents could feel that something was off. It felt like manipulation, not truth.”
The Result and Lasting Lessons
Bond spoke in the “orchard of thanks” in Caerphilly, established by members of the Ukrainian community as a token of appreciation for the kind reception they have received.
She said the presence of Reform had placed a burden on Ukrainian people in the area. “Those in a difficult position should not have to carry this weight. Yet, during the election, we had to speak out first. Only later did support come – from local residents, politicians from different parties, and local media.”
There are full Senedd elections in May when Reform has hopes of the leading party in Wales.
Bond said people opposing Reform in Wales in May and in other elections across the UK had to challenge the party’s messages swiftly and with certainty.
“As a Ukrainian, I know how harmful disinformation can be. The war in Ukraine did not start with weapons. It started with false narratives, propaganda and lies that prepared the ground for violence.
“Disinformation must be challenged early, forcefully and clearly, because hate travels faster than facts. The two months of that byelection were genuinely exhausting. We just had to survive it. But we endured together, and that is why the campaign of division failed in Caerphilly.”
The Successful Strategy’s Viewpoint
For Lindsay Whittle, the victorious Plaid candidate, the aftermath the byelection was a blur. Public recognition was widespread.
Whittle said both Reform campaigners and their opponents had thought the party might sweep all before them. He said: “The thought was that they’d spend vast amounts of money and defeat us.”
So how did they halt the juggernaut? One reason, Whittle believes, is that Plaid ran an upbeat, positive campaign. “Avoid attacking anyone personally because people don’t like that. Keep the message positive. Try and unite people.
“People in Caerphilly have friends of various nationalities and they don’t like people threatening their friends. Voters recognise that without certain people coming to this country, you’re not going to have an NHS or social care. I think Reform misjudged the people of Caerphilly.”
While Whittle featured on the headlines, an fierce local campaign was under way in the background. Dedicated party members knocked on thousands of doors.
“We think it was the crucial byelection we’ve ever fought,” one campaigner said. The victory was attributed to strong policies – and people who believe in them passionately.
Local Observations and Expert Analysis
A local editor was taken aback at how divisive the campaign was. “We had communities turning on each other, campaign posters removed, heated debates online. I was raised in this area and I know everyone’s lovely so to see that side come out was a shock.”
The turning point is believed to have been a televised debate when an audience member confronted the Reform candidate, stating that people with family members not born in the UK did not feel welcome since Reform had arrived.
“That was someone from our community who had a mixed race family explicitly stating the impact all this rhetoric had,” the editor said. “Caerphilly isn’t the most multicultural of places but we’ve always been open to people from overseas. That was the line in the sand.”
A politics lecturer and native of the area provided a unique perspective on the byelection.
He said Plaid was extremely successful in presenting the election as a direct two-horse race – but this will be more difficult at the Senedd elections in May when a new proportional system comes in.
“It tended to be somewhat ill-informed or, at times, patronising. But Caerphilly is not a post-industrial wasteland passively absorbing whatever political winds blow from across the border – it has its own political traditions and, like Wales more broadly, it has its own dynamics and can’t simply be interpreted through the perspective of what is happening in England. It was satisfying to see my home town defy those simplistic assumptions.”
