Farage claims membership milestone for Reform UK and has warning for Labour
The party’s growth since its founding in 2021 has been “truly extraordinary”, Mr
Farage said, promising that Reform UK is on course to become “the biggest
political party in this country”.
Sunday 9 February 2025 18:56, UK
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Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has said the party now has more than 200,000
members and is aiming to overtake the Labour Party’s total of 309,000.
Speaking to delegates at a regional conference in Wiltshire, the Clacton MP
called his party’s growth “truly extraordinary” since its founding in 2021 as
the re-launch of the Brexit Party.
With the party’s live membership ticker displayed on a screen behind him, he
said it was on course to become “the biggest political party in this country”.
“That’s our goal. That’s our aim. That’s our target,” he said.
Reform UK is already ahead of the Conservatives, who revealed in November that
almost 132,000 members were eligible to vote during the party’s leadership
election to replace Rishi Sunak.
Referring to last year’s row with new Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch
[https://news.sky.com/topic/kemi-badenoch-10252], when she doubted Reform’s
total membership
[https://news.sky.com/story/kemi-badenoch-unlikely-to-apologise-over-fake-reform-membership-claim-says-tory-frontbencher-13283995],
he said the party “got people to come in and check and look at the back end, and
it’s all absolutely legit”.
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Reflecting on Reform UK’s [https://news.sky.com/topic/reform-uk-10994] rapid
growth, he said: “In the modern world to have got here this quickly, isn’t it
truly 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 party polled more than four million votes in last year’s election, winning
five seats, including Mr Farage’s Essex constituency.
Mr Farage [https://news.sky.com/topic/nigel-farage-5829], the former head of
UKIP, had ruled himself out of standing
[https://news.sky.com/story/nigel-farage-will-not-be-standing-in-the-general-election-13141672]
but made a U-turn
[https://news.sky.com/story/nigel-farage-says-he-will-stand-in-general-election-13147196]
after saying he had a “terrible sense of guilt” for not offering to run.
In another sign of its growing threat to the main parties, last week, Reform UK
came top in a poll
[https://news.sky.com/story/reform-uk-tops-landmark-poll-for-first-time-13302531]of
people who voted Conservative at the last election.
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 said.
“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.”
Read more:
More ministers ‘could be caught up’ in scandal
[https://news.sky.com/story/minister-says-labour-mps-and-other-members-of-whatsapp-group-could-be-suspended-after-andrew-gwynne-scandal-13305918]
Warning to MPs behind Reform threat chat group
[https://news.sky.com/story/baroness-harman-issues-warning-to-labour-mps-who-set-up-group-over-reform-uk-threat-13304236]
Green or growth? Only one winner for PM
[https://news.sky.com/story/starmer-has-a-battle-on-his-hands-but-when-its-green-v-growth-theres-only-one-winner-13304301]
Spelling out Reform UK’s key platform, he said: “Anyone that comes here
illegally will be deported. Simple 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 said the UK “hasn’t got enough
houses, we can’t get GP appointments, our roads are completely overloaded, our
infrastructure is crumbling”.
