"Atherton told the BBC she had joined Reform because of her concerns over a "loss of national identity and pressure on public services". She added that she had "had enough of 26 years of decline in Wales under a Labour and Plaid Cymru pact". Atherton added that she worried "like millions of others" about the direction the UK was heading."
"Atherton left the Conservative Party in August having said the previous year that the Conservatives should "embrace" Nigel Farage and Reform. At the time she said the Conservatives were "impotent" and "no longer align with her values or ideology". Having served as Wrexham MP from 2019 until she lost her seat in 2024, Atherton was parliamentary under-secretary of state for defence people, veterans and service families for a brief period in 2022. She was the first Conservative politician to represent the Wrexham constituency since its creation in 1918."
Sarah Atherton joined Reform UK and seeks to be a Reform candidate in the new Fflint Wrecsam constituency at next May's Senedd election. She cited concerns about loss of national identity, pressure on public services, and 26 years of decline under a Labour and Plaid Cymru pact. She said she worried, like millions, about the direction of the UK. Atherton left the Conservative Party in August after saying Conservatives should embrace Nigel Farage and Reform and that the party was impotent and no longer aligned with her values. She served as Wrexham MP from 2019 to 2024 and briefly as a junior defence minister in 2022. Reform is selecting candidates under a new 16-seat six-member list system, and Atherton is the third prominent former Conservative in Wales to join Reform.
Read at www.bbc.com
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