Nigel Farage launched into attacks on both Labour and the Tories as he kicked off Reform UK’s local election campaign in Birmingham.
The Clacton MP, who was joined by around 10,000 Reform UK members at the Utilita Arena, set out his stall ahead of a major test for his party on May 1.
Farage entered the stage leaning out of a JCB Pothole Pro, courtesy of Tory mega-donor Lord Bamford – as he warned of a spate of potholes blighting Britain’s roads.
However, it did not take Farage long before he swiped at Kemi Badenoch’s Conservatives.
Farage entered the stage leaning out of a JCB Pothole Pro, courtesy of Tory mega-donor Lord Bamford
PA
The Brexit stalwart said: “In life, it’s quite important to be lucky with your opponents. Napoleon once said: ‘Don’t give me good generals, give me lucky generals.’
“Well, right at the minute, I feel like a lucky general because we have a Conservative Party – or we used to have a Conservative Party – who for 14 years gave us the highest tax burden that had been seen since the war, who told us they’d use those Brexit freedoms to reduce numbers coming in, and to stop unskilled migration happening on the level that it was.
“We got the greatest betrayal of a massive democratic majority that we’ve ever seen in our lifetimes.
“I believe the Conservative Party should never, ever be forgiven for that level of betrayal.”
LATEST ON REFORM UK:
The Clacton MP, who was joined by around 10,000 Reform UK members at the Utilita Arena, set out his stall ahead of a major test for his party on May 1
PA
Then, turning his attention to Labour, Farage added: “It could be that we’re even luckier with our Labour opponents.
“Do you remember the big promises? Vote for us, energy bills will be reduced by £300 a year, and yet from next week energy bills will have increased by £300 since Labour came to power.
“They told us they were on the side of business, yet – and this is truly incredible – not one of the 25 men and women that serve in this Labour Cabinet has ever founded a private company. Not one of them has ever worked in business.
“And the Business Secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, lied openly by saying he was a solicitor when he never qualified.”
Farage accused Reynolds of ‘lying openly by saying he was a solicitor when he never qualified’
PA
His shots to the left and right followed a day of hard campaign messaging from Labour and the Tories.
Ahead of the Reform campaign launch, Sir Keir Starmer’s party had stepped up its attacks on Farage’s NHS stance online and across Birmingham.
The ads read: “Can’t pay? He’ll take it away!” – while others quote Farage’s vow to introduce an insurance-based set-up.
Meanwhile, the Tories have been skewering Labour MPs throughout the day for voting against an amendment to Rachel Reeves’s National Insurance Contributions Bill which would have exempted children’s hospices from tax.
In a series of attack videos, the Conservative message reads: “Even if you look after dying children, your MP and the Labour Party will raise your taxes.”
