LABOUR looks to be heading for a historic defeat in the by-election in Caerphilly for the Welsh Assembly as Reform leads in the polls.

Labour has fought back by accusing the far-right party of spreading division in the community ahead of the vote next week.

The poll put Nigel Farage’s party on 42 per cent, followed by Plaid Cymru on 38 per cent. Labour trails on just 12 per cent in a seat it has held in all parliamentary and assembly elections for a century.

Labour candidate Richard Tunnicliffe said Reform was “weaponising” immigration and added: “Reform don’t want to fix it, they just want to sow division and fear.”

If the vote goes as predicted it will increase fears of Labour losing control of the Welsh government next year for the first time since devolution was introduced and be a landmark in the party’s decline in the industrial communities of south Wales.