Nathan Lee Gill (born 6 July 1973) is a British politician, who was the Leader of Reform UK Wales from March to May 2021, when he resigned from the party. He previously served as

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

(MEP) for

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

from

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wa ...

to January 2020. Gill served as a

UK Independence Party The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest par ...

(UKIP) MEP until his defection on 6 December 2018, and from 2016 to 2017 also an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

Member of the National Assembly for Wales.

Early life and career

Gill was born in England, but his family moved to Wales in the early 1980s. He was educated at Ysgol David Hughes and then Coleg Menai: on leaving the latter he joined a family-owned private company based in the

East Riding of Yorkshire The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a ceremonial county and unitary authority area in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, South Yorkshire t ...

. He founded and managed Burgill Ltd in March 2004, with his mother Elaine. Registered in Llangefni,

Anglesey Anglesey (; cy, (Ynys) Môn ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms a principal area known as the Isle of Anglesey, that includes Holy Island across the narrow Cymyran Strait and some islets and skerries. Anglesey island ...

, but operating solely in

Kingston upon Hull Kingston upon Hull, usually abbreviated to Hull, is a port city and unitary authority in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Estuary, inland from the North Sea and south- ...

, the company provided domiciliary and

home care Homecare (also spelled as home care) is health care or supportive care provided by a professional caregiver in the individual home where the patient or client is living, as opposed to care provided in group accommodations like clinics or nursing h ...

services mainly to

Hull City Council (Kingston upon) Hull City Council is the governing body for the unitary authority and city of Kingston upon Hull. It was created in 1972 as the successor to the Corporation of (Kingston upon) Hull, which was also known as Hull Corporation and fou ...

. The company employed 180 staff, chiefly from central Europe (mainly

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

) and the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, to which they optionally provided chargeable "

bunkhouse A bunkhouse is a barracks-like building that historically was used to house working cowboys on ranches, or loggers in a logging camp in North America. As most cowboys were young single men, the standard bunkhouse was a large open room with narr ...

"-style accommodation. In a later interview with the '' Western Mail'' after his election, Gill commented: The company collapsed into administration with debts of £116,000, after its main bankers

HSBC HSBC Holdings plc is a British multinational universal bank and financial services holding company. It is the largest bank in Europe by total assets ahead of BNP Paribas, with US$2.953 trillion as of December 2021. In 2021, HSBC had $10.8 tr ...

withdrew its borrowing facility, owing to the

financial crisis of 2007–2008 Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of ...

. Gill then moved back to Wales, where he now lives in Llangefni, Isle of Anglesey, with his American wife Jana, and five children. The family are practising members of the

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ...

Political career

In July 2012, he came last in the election of councillor for the Llanbedrgoch electoral division. In May 2013, he led the UKIP group of candidates in the Anglesey local elections, which included his wife, Jana Gill (standing for Canolbarth Môn), and his sister, Jayne Gill (for Aethwy). Gill himself stood to be elected as councillor for the new electoral division of Seiriol, but he came in eighth place with 7% of the vote. The party did not win any seats on the island's council. In August 2013, he came third behind

Plaid Cymru Plaid Cymru ( ; ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left to left-wing, Welsh nationalist political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from the United Kingdom. Plaid wa ...

Rhun ap Iorwerth Rhun ap Iorwerth (born 27 August 1972) is a Welsh journalist and politician serving as the Deputy Leader of Plaid Cymru since 2018. He has been the Member of the Senedd (MS) for Ynys Môn since 2013. Early and personal life Born in Tonteg, h ...

in the National Assembly for Wales by-election for Ynys Môn. With John Bufton stepping down as MEP in 2014, Gill was selected as UKIP candidate number one for Wales in the European Parliament Election and held on to the seat for the party. During the UKIP Wales Conference on 6 December 2014,

Nigel Farage Nigel Paul Farage (; born 3 April 1964) is a British broadcaster and former politician who was Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2006 to 2009 and 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Brexit Party (renamed Reform UK in 2021) from 2 ...

, then-Leader of UK Independence Party, announced that Gill would be the Leader of the Party in Wales. During the 2015 general election campaign, Gill represented UKIP in the ITV Welsh TV Leaders debate. During the election campaign, Gill denied human involvement in climate change, comments which were strongly criticised by other leaders. In the 2016 Assembly election Gill won a seat representing the

North Wales North Wales ( cy, Gogledd Cymru) is a regions of Wales, region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders Mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, ...

region. He was beaten to the post of leader of the UKIP group in the National Assembly for Wales by former Conservative MP Neil Hamilton. Farage described the move as an "unjust act of deep ingratitude" resulting in Hamilton dismissing Farage as simply an "MEP for South East England whose opinions were irrelevant". Gill subsequently left the UKIP group in the assembly to sit as an independent, citing much infighting and distractions. He remained a member of the party and its leader in Wales, until Neil Hamilton was made Wales leader in September 2016. Also in September 2016 Gill's media advisor Alexandra Phillips spoke to ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'', stating that she had left UKIP and joined the Conservatives, making comments critical of Hamilton. Staying on as an advisor to Gill, she told

BBC Wales BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcasting, public broadcaster in Wales. It is one of the four BBC national regions, alongside the BBC English Regions, BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Scotland. Established in 1964, ...

that UKIP's foothold in Wales had become "a war zone". Gill resigned as an AM in December 2017. On 6 December 2018, Gill resigned from UKIP, in opposition to the party leader

Gerard Batten Gerard Joseph Batten (born 27 March 1954) is a British politician who served as the Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2018 to 2019. He was a founding member of the party in 1993, and served as a Member of the European Parliament ( ...

's links to far-right activist Tommy Robinson. He joined the new Brexit Party in February 2019. He was re-elected as an MEP in

in the

2019 European Parliament election The 2019 European Parliament election was held between 23 and 26 May 2019, the ninth parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979. A total of 751 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) represent more than 512 million peop ...

. He was elected alongside fellow Brexit Party candidate, James Wells. Gill ran in

Caerphilly Caerphilly (, ; cy, Caerffili, ) is a town and community in Wales. It is situated at the southern end of the Rhymney Valley. It is north of Cardiff and northwest of Newport. It is the largest town in Caerphilly County Borough, and lies wi ...

in the 2019 general election, and came 4th with 11.2% of the vote. On 26 March 2021, Gill was announced as Leader of Reform UK Wales. Gill was a regional list candidate in the

2021 Senedd election 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length&nb ...

for the

electoral region but failed to be elected. In March 2022, '' Nation.Cymru'' revealed that Gill had quit Reform UK shortly after the Senedd election the previous year.

References

External links

Official Website

European Parliament
- Profile
Nathan Gill
on

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Nathan Gill
on

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Nathan Gill
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gill, Nathan 1973 births Living people English businesspeople English Latter Day Saints English libertarians People from Anglesey People educated at Ysgol David Hughes 20th-century Welsh businesspeople 21st-century Welsh businesspeople Welsh Latter Day Saints Welsh people of English descent UK Independence Party MEPs Brexit Party MEPs Brexit Party parliamentary candidates MEPs for Wales 2014–2019 MEPs for Wales 2019–2020 UK Independence Party members of the Senedd Wales MSs 2016–2021 Welsh libertarians