Reform UK chief Nigel Farage has stated the get together now has greater than 200,000 members and is aiming to overhaul the Labour Celebration’s whole of 309,000.
Chatting with delegates at a regional convention in Wiltshire, the Clacton MP known as his get together’s development “truly extraordinary” since its founding in 2021 because the re-launch of the Brexit Celebration.
With the get together’s stay membership ticker displayed on a display screen behind him, he stated it was on track to turn into “the biggest political party in this country”.
“That’s our goal. That’s our aim. That’s our target,” he stated.
Reform UK is already forward of the Conservatives, who revealed in November that just about 132,000 members had been eligible to vote through the get together’s management election to switch Rishi Sunak.
Referring to final yr’s row with new Conservative chief Kemi Badenoch, when she doubted Reform’s whole membership, he stated the get together “got people to come in and check and look at the back end, and it’s all absolutely legit”.
Reflecting on Reform UK’s fast development, he stated: “Within the trendy world to have gotten right here this shortly, isn’t it really extraordinary?
“Doesn’t it show you something is happening in this country? People want real political leadership. They want real change. That’s what that tells you.”
The get together polled greater than 4 million votes in final yr’s election, successful 5 seats, together with Mr Farage’s Essex constituency.
Mr Farage, the previous head of UKIP, had dominated himself out of standing however made a U-turn after saying he had a “terrible sense of guilt” for not providing to run.
In one other signal of its rising risk to the primary events, final week, Reform UK got here prime in a ballot of people that voted Conservative on the final election.
Conservative get together chief Kemi Badenoch doubted Reform UK’s membership claims. File pic: PA
Switching his focus to their political opponents, he declared that “when we overtake [the Labour Party], we will be the biggest political party in this country”.
The Tories had “betrayed the country with open door immigration, increased taxes, with not delivering Brexit”, he stated.
“A 10 million increase in the population of this country over the course of the last 20 years has devalued the living standards of everybody in this country,” Mr Farage added.
“It’s truly incredible. The wave of people that came under Boris Johnson from 2021, of the millions that came, only 20% are working or contributing. The rest are costing us, the taxpayer. It’s an outrage.”
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Spelling out Reform UK’s key platform, he stated: “Anybody that comes right here illegally will likely be deported. Easy as that.
“We’re the only party that says ‘no more population increase through immigration for many years to come’.”
Calling it “the one net zero I approve of”, he stated the UK “hasn’t got enough houses, we can’t get GP appointments, our roads are completely overloaded, our infrastructure is crumbling”.
