Multiple residents in mid Wales have reported Nigel Farage for electoral fraud.

The leader of Reform UK this week threatened to open detention centres in areas that vote Green this week, with Welsh Reform leader Dan Thomas echoing the same sentiments for areas which vote for Plaid Cymru.

Following these statements, a woman in Borth reported Farage and Reform UK to the South Wales Police for electoral fraud, whilst another in Machylleth wrote to the Electoral Commission, the independent body overseeing UK elections and political finance.

Helen Heron from Borth described it as a “clear breach of UK electoral law”: “Farage has broken electoral law, the Representation of the People’s Act 1983.

“He is using threats to win votes by threatening those who do not vote for his party with detention centres in their neighbourhoods.

“The Reform party is playing to their base and whipping up hatred and division.

“They are undermining democracy and interfering in the electoral process.”

It is an offence under the Representation of the People Act 1983 to intimidate, threaten or bribe voters.

The Electoral Commission states: “Your vote belongs to you.

“It doesn’t belong to anyone who intimidates you, or tries to bribe you, or anyone pretending to be you.

“When someone deliberately tries to cheat at an election in this way, it could be electoral fraud.”

Punishment for breaches of electoral law includes an unlimited fine and between three and five years in prison, depending on the offence.

Sarah Wilson from Machynlleth wrote her own complaint to the Electoral Commission about Reform UK’s “statements around placing immigrant detention centres in left-wing areas”.

She said in her complaint: “One - threatening to treat immigrants in this way is barbaric, and two - these tactics are bullying the electorate and aim to scare people away from the political choices they would naturally make.

“This is coercion, and it must be unacceptable in a functioning and fair democracy.”

Ahead of the 7 May elections, which will vote in a new Welsh government as well as new MPs via byelections across England, Reform home affairs spokesperson Zia Yusuf announced the new policy to build detention centres to hold up to 24,000 immigrants awaiting deportation.

He said: “A Reform government will not put any migrant detention facilities in any constituency with a Reform MP, nor will we put them where Reform controls the council.

“And of the remaining areas, we will prioritise Green-controlled parliamentary constituencies and Green-controlled councils.

“Put simply, if you vote in a Reform council or Reform MP, we guarantee you won’t have a detention centre near you. If you vote Green, there’s a good chance you will.”

Reform Wales leader Dan Thomas stated he “absolutely” agreed with this policy for Plaid-led areas in Wales: “If there is locations where people predominantly want so-called asylum seekers to live amongst them, or live near them, then they are welcome to have those centres.”