Nigel Farage made a “major” campaign speech as he continues his onslaught of events in the run-up to the local elections on May 1. The Reform UK leader took to the stage of a working men’s club in County Durham on Tuesday, with the party promising it will be one to watch.
His speech came after a bombshell poll put Reform UK ahead of both the Tories and Labour in Labour’s Red Wall heartlands. It suggests voters think he would be the best prime minister to tackle immigration and relate to their lives. Responding to the poll, Mr Farage said it was proof Labour is completely out of touch with its working-class base. He argued the Labour’s founder, Keir Hardie, would be “turning in his grave” if he could see what the party has become.
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Steph Spyro
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Steph Spyro
Labour getting 'one hell of a run for their money, Farage insists
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said the party is giving Labour “one hell of a run for their money” and is now “the opposition to the Labour Party, with the Conservatives trailing some way behind”.
Mr Farage said that Reform had made gains in council by-elections in recent weeks, including in the Longdendale ward in Tameside and the Blackbrook ward in St Helens.
He said: “We’re giving them a hell of a run for their money, and… I get it, they’ve got 10 times the number of staff we’ve got, they’ve got a lot more money than we’ve got, they’ve got a much bigger machine than we’ve got.
“But it is going to be, I think, incredibly close in Runcorn.
“So in the Midlands, in the North, in Wales and in Scotland, Reform is now the opposition to the Labour Party, with the Conservatives trailing some way behind.”
He added: “The sheer level of betrayal of what people who voted for Boris Johnson in 2019 got, they didn’t get the Brexit they voted for, and they got mass immigration on a scale never seen before in the history of these islands, those people are not ever going to trust the Conservative Party again.”
Steph Spyro
Reform's gender divide defenced during local election campaigning
Nigel Farage has defended his party’s gender divide, saying “women are a little bit more cautious”.
Asked for a policy that appeals to women, the Reform UK leader said: “If you look at our general election score of 4.2 million, you see male, female, 58% male, 42% female, right. Why is that?
“I think because men tend to instinctively say, ‘I like that, I’m going to go for it’ and women are a little bit more cautious ‘hang on, let’s just think about this’. It’s why men make more mistakes than women generally in life, I think.
“But what’s more interesting is if you look at what’s happened between then, and say, the 12% increase here in the red wall, or the increase across the country, then what you see, we can give you the stats on this after the event, there’s a quite deep research done on this.
“If you look at the new support that’s come to Reform since the general election. It’s now literally bang on 50-50.”
Steph Spyro
Farage: 'Conspiracy theory' that I respect Putin
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has said it is a “conspiracy theory” to say he respects Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Mr Farage said: “The Labour lie machine is in full groove. We see it in the House of Commons every week, we’re certainly seeing it in the by-election in Runcorn and we’ll see it, I’m sure, here in County Durham and elsewhere.
“They’re digging up the old Russia conspiracy theory, which somehow people seem to be so fond of, and the fact that I said once, 12 years ago, that I respected Putin as a leader, but didn’t like him, wouldn’t want to live in the country and have condemned him for the vicious attack on Ukraine. But somehow, the line that Starmer keeps coming out with is that we fawn over Putin.
“Outright lies on the NHS. They’re putting out literature saying vote Reform and they’ll charge you 15 grand for a hip replacement. We’ve never, ever, ever suggested anything other that the NHS should be free. What worries us is all the tax money that goes in, how badly it gets spent and allocated.”
He added: “Seven point two million foreign-born people have signed up with GPs in the last 10 years alone, can you believe that, 7.2 million people extra? So don’t be surprised if there’s a big queue to get an appointment with your local GP.”
Steph Spyro
Farage alleges 'cover up' over Southport stabbing
Nigel Farage has claimed there was a “cover-up” in the wake of the Southport stabbing attack in 2024.
The Reform UK leader said: “There’s anger out there on the streets in these red wall areas over two-tier Keir, two-tier policing, two-tier justice and two-tier recruitment. What happened after Southport was the most appalling cover-up.
“If we’d known the identity and something about the murderer I don’t believe those riots would have happened on anything like the scale that they did, but in a vacuum, of course, some crazy conspiracy theories were allowed to flourish.
“But what was clear is that people that rioted or people that said intemperate things online, in their upset and their anger – in some cases mothers of young children who wrote intemperate things online – they shouldn’t have written them but perhaps given the context of what had occurred you can understand why emotions might have got a little bit out of control.
“They’re all hoofed off to prison, whilst the men that committed those violent, vile attacks at Manchester Airport, nothing happened to them.”
He added: “We see recruitment policies in police forces, recruitment policies in the NHS designed to put ethnic minorities to the top of the list against white people with more history in this country.”
Mr Farage said: “We believe we can and we will turn this around. Get that pendulum to come back in a different direction, get the attitudes of people towards work, towards success, towards life, towards their community. We believe all of that can be turned around, and that is our historic mission.”
Steph Spyro
Reform would 're-industrialise Britain, Farage pledges
Nigel Farage acknowledged the dangers to those working in heavy industries after he pledged Reform UK would “re-industrialise” Britain.
Asked if he would not hope for more lucrative and safer jobs for British people, the party leader said: “Of course, I take your point that some of the old heavy industries were dangerous but then construction, which is vital, is also quite dangerous. I fully understand that.
“We have not been living through an international situation as dangerous as this, as potentially dangerous as this, at any point in my lifetime.”
He said the UK would need to spend a lot more on defence and build a lot more homes in the coming years.
“We are going to need a lot of steel over the next few years, and steel isn’t just another commodity; It isn’t just something else that’s produced in a plant or a factory. Steel is a vital strategic interest,” he added.
Steph Spyro
Farage takes aim at Labour over bin strikes
Asked about bin strikes in Birmingham, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said “that’s what you get” with Labour-run councils.
He said: “In Birmingham, if you vote for a Labour council that’s what you get – 17,000 tonnes of rubbish and rats the likes of which have not been seen since the Western Front.
“I haven’t been to Birmingham, I have a couple of friends who have visited and said it really is awful and it represents a genuine health hazard.
“And I know that 24 hours ago, Army logistics have been called in to Birmingham but I suspect what we actually need are going to be some soldiers pretty damn quickly, and an army of rat catchers and lots of terrier men and things like that to sort this out, but there you go.
“If you vote Labour at local-government level, that’s what you get.”
Steph Spyro
Reform blames 'net zero lunacy' for foreign British Steel raw materials
Reform UK's leader appeared to blame what he called “net zero lunacy” for Britain having to ship supplies for British Steel from abroad.
Nigel Farage said: “I don’t believe there would have been a Saturday sitting in Parliament if Richard Tice and I had not been up to Scunthorpe and been greeted the way we were by those workers, especially in the local ‘Spoons afterwards, they actually felt there was someone speaking up for them.
“They actually felt there was somebody on their side, and that, I think, is why Labour did what they did.
“Where we go from here? I don’t know. Although what a bizarre situation we’ve got… where we’re not quite sure where the coal is.
“You know, the coal that we could have manufactured ourselves and mined in Whitehaven in Cumbria, but, oh no, no, we can’t do that. That’ll be no good for our carbon dioxide emissions.
“So we’ve actually imported some of it all the way from Japan, and now the coal hunt is on… We’re living through a period of net zero lunacy, something that the Conservatives signed us up to, wrote into law and believed in, as if somehow it was their new religion, and this, of course, now being followed up by ‘Red Ed’, who is the high priest of this.”
Steph Spyro
Nigel Farage insists no Chinese involvement in UK critical infrastructure
Nigel Farage has said he does not want Chinese involvement in any of the UK’s critical infrastructure, and that the country will “live with it” and find alternatives if that means a drop in investment for projects.
“I genuinely believe that Jingye bought British Steel to close British Steel down such that… we’d be the only major nation on earth, actually, that would not be a producer of primary steel.”
Mr Farage said the UK has a “sort of halfway house” at the moment.
“We have allowed China to get so deep inside our critical infrastructure, so deep inside our universities and elsewhere – and it is the Tories what done it but it’s Labour that are continuing with it – and we need a completely different rethink.
“And you know what? If that means less investment from China then, frankly, so be it.
“I don’t want China in our nuclear industry. I don’t want China in our telecoms. I don’t want China in any of our critical infrastructure.
“They have increasingly, over the last decade, become a nation that is not a friend of ours in any way.
“So the answer your question is, we’ll live with it and we’ll find alternatives.”
Steph Spyro
Last government 'sold out to China' in every way, Farage says
Nigel Farage called for a "completley different" re-think on the UK' Government's apporach to China.
He said they are a nation that"are not a friend of ours in any way".
Steph Spyro
Farage: We will look at sums spent on DEI
Nigel Farage said Reform UK would look at how much money is being spent on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and “ergonomic chairs”, when asked what a council led by the party would look like.
The party leader was asked how he could guarantee that voters would not end up with the same frustrations they had under Labour and the Conservatives.
He said: “No political party can ever guarantee anything but you can say what you’re going to do and then be judged on whether you’ve done it or not.
“I think point number one is frankly we’ve got to get the auditors in, we’ve got to see the long-term contracts that many of these county or unitary authorities have signed up to.
“We will look at the sums spent on DEI, we will look at the half-a-million quid being spent on ergonomic chairs for staff of Lancashire County Council. We will look at the £18,000 spent on driving lessons for cross-Channel migrants, and I could go on with a list as long as your arm.”
Christian Calgie
Farage says Britain must be self-sufficient in gas, oil and energy
Nigel Farage says Reform will reindustrialise Britain, will bring back steel manufacturing, oil drilling and gas production.
He argues Labour and the Tories have just offshored pollution to China and India, and then imported steel and coal back to Britain - costing even more.
Christian Calgie
Farage says emergency steel debate in parliament was thanks to Reform
Nigel Farage argues the Commons wouldn't have met on Saturday had Labour not been spooked by the reception he received when visiting Scunthorpe steel works.
He says Labour is spooked by Reform's popularity in industrial areas and communities
Christian Calgie
Farage slams 'Labour lie machine'
Nigel Farage says Labour is aware of Reform's popularity and that's why they've cranked up the 'lie machine'.
He tackles some of the claims made by Labour over Russia and the NHS.
He insists he opposes Putin, and the NHS is broken and needs "radical reform" - but patients will never pay for healthcare.
"7.2 million extra foreign born people have signed up for GPs."
Christian Calgie
Farage proud of efforts to get Reform to 30% support
Nigel Farage says he's very proud of the efforts to professionalise Reform UK, which has now succeeded in getting Reform up to 30% in the polls.
The poll overnight says Reform is well ahead of both Labour and the Tories.
Christian Calgie
Nigel Farage: Britain is broken
Nigel Farage highlights the Sun's poll published overnight.
"We're a country in economic decline, societal decline, cultural decline."
He praises the paper's headline writers for "Keir's worst Nigemare".
Nigel Farage brandishes the Sun (Image: Reform UK)
Christian Calgie
Nigel Farage says Labour's founder wouldn't recongise his party today
Nigel Farage says Reform is now official "parking our tanks on Labour's lawn in the red wall".
He says local voters really believe in Reform and its platform. "Those voters are here and they are going to stay".
Christian Calgie
Farage: Tories winning back the Red Wall is 'for the birds'
Nigel Farage says the Tories completely betrayed their red wall converts in 2019 and those voters are never going to trust the Tories again.
He warns: "If you're considering voting Conservative in these areas, you are wasing your vote".
Farage says only Reform can now beat Labour.
Christian Calgie
Nigel Farage warns Labour 'we are coming for you'
Nigel Farage says that while focus has been on the battle between Reform and the Tories, the party has been secretly working away at taking the fight to Labour.
Farage reads out a number of recent council by-election wins, including in the frontlawns of Labour cabinet ministers.
He says it "is going to be incredibly close" in the Runcorn by-election and will give Labour a close run.
Michael Knowles
Reform will win Red Wall seats
Lee Anderson declares Reform will win Red Wall seats and make "massive gains" in the local election.
Christian Calgie
Anderson says Reform will win big in the Red Wall
Lee Anderson says Reform UK will win big in the Red Wall at both the local elections and the general election.
He says the Red Wall communities have a lot in common, with loss of industry, loss of pubs and loss of the high street.
Mr Anderson jokes: "But have no fear, Reform is here."
Michael Knowles
Lee Anderson slams Labour’s steel deal
Lee Anderson says Labour is running the country into the ground.
The Reform UK leader said there are 55,000 tonnes of coking coal from Japan in Immingham, despite Labour's opposition to a new coal mine in Whitehaven, Cumbria.
Christian Calgie
Lee Anderson says working class voters are seen as 'useful idiots' by Labour
Lee Anderson is opening for Nigel Farage, talking about his history as an example of Reform's growing working class support.
He claims Labour have seen the working class as 'useful idiots' historically.
The Ashfield MP says Labour MPs don't have any working class experience anymore.
Michael Knowles
Lee Anderson takes to the stage
Lee Anderson opens up by comparing County Durham to his own constituency, Ashfield.
He says Labour used to command majorities of 25,000 in these areas.
(Image: )
Michael Knowles
It looks like some props will be used in the speech
Reform aides have been spotted carrying huge print outs of a national newspaper front page declaring "Britain is broken".
It will be interesting to see when either Nigel Farage or Lee Anderson unveil them.
Few in the room are likely to disagree.
Michael Knowles
The stage is set
Nigel Farage has vowed to take the battle to Labour in their own heartlands.
Mr Farage is expected to highlight how Labour has "abandoned" its working class supporters.
It is worth noting that security here is tight. Numerous close protection officers are positioned around and throughout the venue. Everybody also faced a bag search as they came through.
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Michael Knowles
Crowd beginning to arrive for Nigel Farage speech
There's a buzz building ahead of Nigel Farage and Lee Anderson addressing supporters in the North East today. We are still some 30 minutes from the start.
Supporters gather for Reform rally (Image: Michael Knowles)
Steph Spyro
Farage set to make 'major speech' ahead of looming local elections
Reform UK leader Nige Farage is set to make a "major" speech at around midday today.
His party will be “planting our tanks” firmly on Labour’s lawns, Mr Farage said.
A Reform source added that they will be hammering home the point that “Labour have abandoned working people to become a party of middle class, North London lawyers who have completely lost touch of working people and their own heartlands”.
Steph Spyro
Nigel Farage aims to 'surprise' rivals with Reform's local election surge
Nigel Farage has suggested Westminster is set to be “surprised” at how well Reform performs in the West Country’s local elections this May.
He revealed a new strategy that he believes will help Reform UK ‘sneak through the middle’ and hoover up lots of seats in the area traditionally seen as a Tory-LibDem battle ground.
Read the full story here
Christian Calgie
Reform leads in the red wall
A new poll carried out in Labour's so-called Red Wall shows soaring support forNigel FarageandReform.
The data, which comes ahead of next month's local elections in May, also shows a fall in popularity for Labour among voters in the North-West, North-East, Yorkshire and Midlands.
Polling agency Survation spoke to voters in the regions, with the results published by The Sun.
The data shows that Reform's support since the election has increased from 18% to 30%, while Labour's vote share has dropped from 39% to 27%.
The Sun reports 44% of people surveyed believe Reform is the biggest threat to the Government, with the Tories picking up 26%.
