Laura Anne Jones has been elected Reform's new deputy leader in Wales, the party has announced.

The post was vacated after the previous deputy Helen Jenner took the party's Senedd leadership on Tuesday.

In a statement, Jones said: "We've made a fantastic start here in the Senedd, giving a voice to the voiceless and standing up for Wales' left-behind communities."

Reform has not announced further details of the election, including other candidates.

Jones was suspended from the Senedd in November 2025 after she used a racial slur to describe Chinese people in a Whatsapp chat.

She apologised and denied she was racist.

Thomas is on police bail pending further enquiries, and denies doing anything wrong.

A spokesperson, asked if any other MSs had run against Jones, said there was an election that followed group rules and that she was not appointed.

Laura Anne Jones is a former Conservative who defected to Reform in the summer of 2025.

At the time she was the highest profile defection the party had achieved in Wales, unveiled in a shock press conference at the Royal Welsh Show that riled her Tory colleagues.

Jones won re-election on Reform's list in Sir Fynwy Torfaen last May - she is the party's rural affairs spokesperson.

The MS courted controversy when she said rival parties had "entertained" the idea of children self-identifying as cats.

Jones was accused of misinformation but said the matter had been raised with her by parents.

Jenner was elected by Reform MSs in a meeting on Monday, and was unveiled by UK party leader Nigel Farage on the Senedd steps.

Farage said Jenner, who had been a member of UKIP before joining Reform's predecessor the Brexit Party, was "a determined campaigner."

None of the other group leaders in Cardiff Bay had faced any competition prior to taking their posts.