// BBC UK NEWS — CRONACA
Reform boycotts Senedd after member banned for saying white people are being replaced
Reform UK Wales member Joe Martin, party leader Helen Jenner and chief whip Llŷr Powell announced the boycott on the Senedd's steps
Reform UK will partially boycott the Senedd to protest the ban of one of their politicians for claiming white people are being "replaced".
The party's Welsh leader, Helen Jenner, said Joe Martin's ban was because of "undue pressure" from governing party Plaid Cymru and was an "infringement on freedom of speech".
Martin had been told he would not be allowed to speak in the Senedd's chamber until he apologised for the remarks, which the parliament's Presiding Officer Huw Irranca-Davies called "unnecessarily provocative and deliberately offensive".
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage called the ruling "ridiculous and outrageous".
Reform, which is by far the Senedd's largest opposition party, said its members would withdraw from most of Wednesday's proceedings before returning to vote in the parliament later in the evening.
Reform's Joe Martin given Senedd speaking ban after he said white people are being replaced
Jenner confirmed her party's boycott on the steps of the Senedd on Wednesday afternoon.
"It is now clear that the freedom of speech of one of our Senedd members is being curtailed, meaning his constituents are being silenced," she said.
"We stand behind Joe, and we will not attend today's plenary session in protest at his treatment.