Conservative Senedd member Laura Anne Jones has joined Reform UK, the party has announced.
The announcement was made on Tuesday at the Royal Welsh Show in Builth Wells, Powys.
The annual event is Europe’s largest agricultural show and attracts thousands of visitors every year.
Speaking at the news conference, Laura Anne Jones said she had been a member of the Conservative party for for 31 years but that the party was now “unrecognisable to [her]”.
The defection comes with less than a year to go until the Senedd election, when voters in Wales will elect 96 members to the Welsh parliament for the first time – an increase of more than 50%.
Recent opinion polls have shown Reform UK and Plaid Cymru vying for pole position, with Labour in third and the Conservatives in fourth.
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