FAR-RIGHT Reform UK has dropped its Welsh leader after he said immigration in Wales has had a positive effect on the country.

Oliver Lewis has confirmed to BBC Wales that Nigel Farage’s party has axed him, and he will not be a candidate in next year’s Senedd election.

Mr Lewis represented Reform UK in Wales during last year’s general election campaign but has been dropped after a spat with party Chairman Zia Yusuf over his immigration comments.

Polling has shown that next year’s Senedd election is too close to call, with Reform neck-and-neck with Welsh Labour and Plaid Cymru.

The Senedd is being expanded to 96 members in next year’s May election from the current 60.

There are 40 Senedd constituencies, and these will be replaced by 16 super constituencies created by pairing Wales’ 32 UK parliamentary constituencies.

Six Members of the Senedd (MS) will be elected in each of the new constituencies under a party list system where constituents will vote for a party, not an individual MS.

To accommodate the extra 36 members, the Senedd Siambr (chamber) is shut for building work, and proceedings will move back to the Siambr that housed the then National Assembly for Wales.

The first session in the temporary Siambr will be First Minister’s Questions on April 29.