Nigel Farage declared Reform UK as the "real opposition" after a surprise sweep in UK local elections, including a historic by-election win. The right-wing party also captured mayoral and council seats, sending shockwaves through Labour and Conservative strongholds. Farage hailed the results as a turning point in British politics, vowing to shake up the two-party system. This marks a significant political shift and raises questions about the future of Keir Starmer's Labour and Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives. Watch the full speech and analysis of Reform UK’s rise.
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00:00This has been a deeply personal journey for me. I remember actually, many years ago, I was standing, I'd just actually flown back from holiday and I got a phone call from Nigel Farage, who I'd never met.
00:13And I was unpacking my suitcase and this voice said, hello David, it's Nigel Farage. I nearly fell over the balcony. And I was like, oh hi Nigel.
00:21And this is when he persuaded me to stand in the European elections. And of course, we then stood, we won those, we became the largest party in the European Parliament, much to the horror of the main two traditional parties.
00:36And from there, of course, we have changed history. We continue to change history. And last night and this morning, we have done it again.
00:44Again. Throughout the evening, they kept wheeling in cabinet ministers, shadow cabinet ministers, and I started to hear the same messages being repeated by the Labour ministers.
00:57They kept talking about, obviously, what they've been told, the lines they had been given to repeat ad nauseum.
01:03So I started playing Starmer bingo. 22 billion pound whole working people, plan for change, making difficult decisions.
01:14Keir Starmer is not a leader. He is a technocrat, he is boring, he is dull, and he is deeply out of touch with the British people.
01:25They are out of touch, they're out of time, they're out of ideas, they didn't really have any in the first place.
01:30And as I said to Jackie Smith, she kept saying, well, we've done things that help working people.
01:38And I said, are you living in some parallel universe to me?
01:42Because what they've done is they've decimated the high street.
01:46They've completely hurt people.
01:49They've removed the winter fuel allowance from elderly people, which I think is downright disgraceful.
01:54They allowed elderly people to suffer in the cold.
01:57I had people phoning in to my show on talk to say, elderly people saying, I cannot afford to put the heating on.
02:04And I'm sitting here in front of a one bar fire.
02:07That is not a measure of a developed democracy.
02:11It is frankly unacceptable.
02:14And then when we look at the small businesses,
02:16no developed Western country has achieved success with the levels of energy that we have,
02:24the price of energy that we've had.
02:27No developed economy has flourished without cheap energy.
02:30And what we need to do is dramatically cut the cost of energy.
02:33And one other thing that the government has done is to increase employers' national insurance contributions.
02:38And I hear from loads of people, I had a small business.
02:41They're saying, I can't afford to employ anyone.
02:45These are working people.
02:47So Jackie Smith, you don't know what you are talking about.
02:51And Keir Starmer, you have cheese in your ears because you are not listening.
02:56One of the other things that keeps coming up, and it gave me great pleasure to do this,
03:03is they keep coming back to something that Nigel talked about,
03:07which I think is a welcome addition to the conversation about health care.
03:12It's something I feel really passionate about.
03:15I am a doctor by training, and we need to provide better health care.
03:19We spend 200 billion quid on the NHS.
03:22That's 11.7% of GDP.
03:25GDP. It's a lot of money.
03:28And when you look at our health outcomes, they are below the rest of Europe.
03:32Our cancel survivor rates are 15 years behind the rest of Europe.
03:37So it doesn't work.
03:40And they kept saying to me, well, Nigel Farage wants to privatise the NHS.
03:44And I said, he doesn't.
03:45And the trump card that I had was, I said, I've written the policy.
03:49I know we are not going to privatise the NHS.
03:51It remains free at the point of need, and whoever delivers it is irrelevant to the patient.
03:57I want you to be seen quickly.
03:59I want you to be seen effectively.
04:01And I want you to get great treatment.
04:03I spoke to a surgeon this week who is working for a private company contracted to the NHS.
04:11And I said to him, why are you working for a private company?
04:15And he said, I can do four times more operations in the time.
04:20It is well organised, it's well orchestrated, and for the patient, crucially, you are seen quickly, and it remains free at the point of need.
04:30So that's the journey that we've been on.
04:33It's been an extraordinary 36 hours.
04:35I don't know which day it is at the moment.
04:37And I'm delighted with the result, as I know the rest of the Reform UK team is.
04:44We have come a great distance.
04:48We've come a long way since the foundation of the Brexit Party.
04:52I remember actually having a conversation with Richard and Nigel about trying to brand the Brexit Party into Reform UK.
04:59And we were struggling because people kept saying to us, we don't know who you are.
05:05They do now.
05:08We have also professionalised the party, setting up branches.
05:17I know so many of you worked so hard, and thank you very much for that.
05:22And one man who's been responsible for that, professionalising the party, I'd like to introduce to you now.
05:28Ladies and gentlemen, please will you welcome the chairman of Reform UK, Zee Youssef.
05:47Good evening, Reform UK!
05:53We gather on a historic day for the United Kingdom.
06:01You know, before these elections, before the campaign started, we had a view that if Reform, given all the momentum we had, could win a couple of hundred council seats,
06:13if we could perhaps take control of a council, that would be a great start, to be able to deliver for constituents.
06:21Maybe even we could be in for a shot in one of the mayoral campaigns, and we might be able to push Labour very, very close in one of the safest seats they have in our land.
06:33As it turns out, we're in the midst of something truly spectacular.
06:41As we speak, Reform UK has won 659 council seats.
06:46We've won, we've taken control of nine councils.
07:02There are two Reform UK mayors.
07:05And of course, there was, I think there was a parliamentary by-election, which we won by a few votes, in Runcorn and Hellsby.
07:16So make no mistake, this is a pivotal moment in this country's history.
07:27I really mean that.
07:28We could not have done it without all of you here this evening, the people watching this at home.
07:36What's really clear is that a turquoise tidal wave is sweeping across the United Kingdom, and it is engulfing the entire country.
07:46So what does this mean?
07:56You know, cast your minds back to when Nigel, do you remember in June last year when Nigel held that press conference with Richard and said he was coming back to be leader of the party?
08:05There was a bit of a will-he-won't-he period, if you remember.
08:08I remember being quite depressed when it seemed like he wasn't going to come back.
08:12You know, he was going to go and do other things.
08:14But he rose to the occasion in the way only Nigel can.
08:19He returned to be our leader.
08:22He ran to be the Member of Parliament for Clacton-on-Sea.
08:26And I remember that, I remember checking the betting odds on my phone at the time when he first announced, just after the press conference,
08:33and the betting markets priced, Nigel winning his seat in Clacton-on-Sea at 32%.
08:39Well, as we speak this evening, that same betting market prices him being the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom at 38%.
08:49And that's happened, that's happened in 10 and a half, 11 months.
09:02Feels like decades ago, doesn't it?
09:04But now we have an awesome responsibility.
09:08We carry on our shoulders the burden of the hopes and dreams of millions of people in this country.
09:16You know, I've had so many messages and so many of the, I've been speaking to other leaders in the Reform Party.
09:21We've had so many messages from people, quite emotional messages actually, about how overjoyed, how exhilarated they are, how relieved they are.
09:32That word came up a lot, relief, that there are so many people in this country who still believe that the United Kingdom can once again be a proud and prosperous and powerful country.
11:16that is offering a real alternative to those two old parties, not as a protest vote.
11:22The easiest way to protest is to just not even vote, an option many people these days are taking.
11:28We are offering a vision, a vision for the United Kingdom of a country that we can't wait to live in,
11:37a country which is wealthy, a country which is proud of its history, a country that looks forward to its future with great enthusiasm,
11:48a country which young people feel they belong to.
12:01And we're so fortunate to have leading us a man who, you know, I was an entrepreneur.
12:06I take great pride in my work ethic, pretty much work seven days a week, I love working.
12:12And I consider myself quite a high energy person.
12:16Since coming on board with reform full time, I'll tell you this,
12:20Nigel Farage makes me feel distinctly low energy.
12:26You know, I've covered quite a lot of ground during this campaign.
12:29There was this day when somebody said, oh, where have you been?
12:30I said, you know, I've been Doncaster, I've been in Buckinghamshire, I've been in Oxfordshire,
12:34I've been in Hull, all within two days.
12:37And that sounds like quite a lot, until you find out, until I found out Nigel had been in five different counties on a single day on Tuesday.
12:45He is an inspiration to us all and we're so, so glad that he's our leader.
12:50And we have amazing MPs, Lee Anderson, Richard Tice, James McMurdoch.
13:05And of course, we have a new reform MP, Sarah Pochin of Runcorn and Hellsby.
13:11And mark my words, mark my words.
13:19I've spent a lot of time with Sarah, helping her with the campaign.
13:23She is a formidable politician and will leave a real mark on British politics.
13:30We're so glad to have her.
13:32And then we have mayorships.
13:34You know, we've already won Lincolnshire.
13:36Dame Andrea Jenkins is going to be one hell of a mayor for Lincolnshire.
13:45I mean, her enemies, our enemies and opponents, threw every dirty trick they possibly could at her.
13:55She handled it with grace, good humour and dignity.
13:58And she responded to those attacks in the best way possible, by winning her election with one hell of a majority.
14:13And then up in Hull in East Yorkshire, we have Luke Campbell, MBE, a hero who won a gold medal for his country.
14:21And campaigning with him, I can tell you, he has such an incredible reputation locally.
14:33He's such an authentically humble, brilliant man who is going to be a brilliant mayor for Hull in East Yorkshire.
14:41And what I will say is, the talent now that reform is able to attract is something we can be really proud of.
14:49It's going to be really important in delivering for the British people.
14:54And now we look forward and people say, you know, I've done some media today.
14:57And I said, well, surely now you must be terrified of all of the scrutiny that reform is going to get.
15:03Because now you're in control of some things.
15:05You're going to have a track record to scrutinise.
15:08Well, our message is, no, no, no, we're not afraid.
15:11We're excited.
15:12Because while, from what I reckon, 80 to 90 percent of our council candidates who have been elected have no prior experience as elected officials, that is a good thing, not a bad thing.
15:24Not a single one of them could be possibly worse than the awful people who have driven this country towards the cliff edge.
15:31And we're going to do some really cool things.
15:39These are incredible people.
15:41I've spent good time with them across the country.
15:44I'm really excited about this class of candidates that we have.
15:49And we're going to do the things that we promised to do.
15:51We're going to throw open the books.
15:53We're going to look at the contracts.
15:55We're going to audit the waste.
15:56We're going to look for the corruption.
15:59And where we find it, we'll bring in the fraud squad.
16:09We'll leave no stone unturned to find woke BS that is being...
16:17Another thing that stood out to me for my media conversations today...
16:21And look, by the way, they were all well-meaning, just to be clear.
16:24But, you know, the BBC said, well, look, people in this country have had quite enough, surely, of politicians who promised the earth and promised the world.
16:35I said, promise the earth?
16:38People just want their bins collected once a week at least.
16:43They want the tens of millions of pounds that their council is supposedly spending on pothole repair to actually repair some potholes.
16:52And they don't want their taxes going up 10% to 30% every year because the chief executive earning £225,000 a year presses the bankruptcy button.
17:06Is that really so much to ask?
17:07So that's what we're going to do.
17:13We're going to be laser-focused on that.
17:15We're going to fix potholes.
17:17We're going to collect your bins.
17:19We're going to end the woke waste building cycle lanes nobody wants.
17:22But we're also going to do something else that I don't know many people were quite expecting from Reform UK.
17:37But we feel, at Reform, that the people who elected us have given us a mandate.
17:44They want secure borders.
17:55They want an end to the uncontrolled population explosion and the importation of enormous numbers of people who do not share our values.
18:04And they've had quite enough of setting their alarm in the morning to go and bust a gut at work to have most of that money taken away from them in order to fund people whose first act upon coming to this country was to break our laws.
18:23Thank you very much.
18:53Thank you very much.
19:23Thank you very much.
20:23Say, look, come in and fix these potholes for us, even if you're a young company, if you have the latest equipment, and you're willing to commit to constituents that you will fix the potholes, you should have every right to win those contracts.
21:07And so now we look forward, not just to the next 12 months, but to the next four years and beyond.
21:22I cannot overstate the historic achievement that has come in the last 48 hours.
21:29Frankly, as someone who was at the count at Runcorn and Hellsby, I think it was this morning, losing track of time, but it hasn't quite sunk in myself, the scale and the gravity of this achievement.
21:42But we could not have done it without you.
21:45We could not have done it without the millions upon millions of reform supporters across the country, without our brilliant branches and grassroots, without our thousands of volunteers who turned out to help us deliver leaflets, evangelize our message at the doorsteps.
22:06We couldn't have done it without our MPs, nor our amazing leader, Nigel.
22:16It is my honour to serve this party as chairman.
22:19I couldn't be more excited about the journey we are embarking upon together, nor could I be any more excited about the future of the United Kingdom.
22:31Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen.
22:52Ladies and gentlemen, the news gets better and better.
22:55Sky News is now reporting the Conservative Party has now lost all 18 councils.
23:01They were defending.
23:05Wow!
23:06Isn't revenge sweet?
23:10Honestly, this day can't get any better.
23:13Ladies and gentlemen, it gives me great pleasure to introduce someone I'm so thrilled for today.
23:19I messaged her when the result came through.
23:22Please will you welcome the Mayor of Greater Lincolnshire, Dame Andrea Jenkins!
23:31Now, if you're wondering what this stick is, my eight-year-old has given it to me.
23:42Because I didn't know I was going to be making a speech tonight, and he said, I've got you a good-look stick mummy.
23:46Clifford, didn't you?
23:49Are you going to wave?
23:52I thought he wants to come back.
23:53There we go.
23:55He hasn't seen me much, and I see him, I'm blessed.
23:58Now, he is actually probably one of the youngest members of Reform.
24:07When I came over in November, he was pestering me and saying, mummy, I want to be a Reform member.
24:14So he's got his own card, and he arrived before my card did.
24:17Now, in this historic moment, the last few weeks and months that I've been campaigning, I said to Richard Tice over the last few months that it felt a real magic in the air.
24:33Now, I'm sure you council candidates and newly elected councillors felt it too.
24:38It was just truly amazing.
24:39It reminded me of those Brexit years when we were fighting for Brexit, and we felt on the doorstep that people wanted their voice heard.
24:50And I think with Reform, well, no doubt with Reform, we are standing up for the final sign-up majority, and they've finally got our voice heard.
25:02I'm good at breaking things.
25:04This is two days without sleep.
25:10Now, as I said on my speech earlier, it was one of the dirtiest campaigns I've ever seen.
25:17Now, the Conservatives called the police on me, tried to get me arrested.
25:23Thankfully, we've got a great barrister in the party, and they tried to get me off the ballot.
25:29They tried to get me off the electoral so I wouldn't be eligible to stand.
25:33There was a hearing last week, and it's been quite a, really a soul-destroying few weeks, actually.
25:42And I thought today, when I was getting ready for the count, I don't know if anyone saw it, I wore a bit of an ABBA sparkly outfit.
25:51And excuse my French, I thought, you buggers are not going to beat me.
25:57I'm going to get dressed up, and I'm going to own this.
26:03So that's why at 8 o'clock this morning, due to media, I was wearing sequins.
26:07Now, look, I'm so proud to be in the Reformed family, and the support that I've had from Nigel, from Richard, from Zia, has been immense.
26:21The emotional support, because at times, I must admit, emotionally, it nearly broke me.
26:26You know, can you imagine you're innocent and the police being called to you?
26:29And so, can we put our hands together for our amazing leader, for our amazing party chairman, and also for Richard Tyson as well.
26:50Now, these threats, I think that it's going to get worse for everybody.
26:54So I hope that you're all armed up, ready, because we're going to beat them, aren't we?
26:59This is just a starting point.
27:02Now, the work starts now.
27:03Now, Zia and I have been having conversations for months.
27:07We're going to have a Lincolnshire Doge, and we are going to ensure that we get rid of diversity officers.
27:17Because amazingly, Lincolnshire County Council is now reform-controlled.
27:23I mean, that's a historic moment.
27:25So we've got the mandate, and it's going to actually be a blueprint for common sense, so that we can build from here.
27:34And then the important elections, council elections next year, we've got the elections in Wales, we've got the elections in Scotland.
27:42And then, I truly believe in my heart that our fantastic Nigel will become Prime Minister.
27:47Now, I'm not going to talk for much longer, because I know...
27:53Oh, you really want me to? Yeah.
27:56I could sing, that would be a lot easier, actually.
28:01But look, I want to...
28:03No, it's telling me not to sing, my little one, yeah.
28:06Do you want your stick back, darling?
28:09No, I can keep it, thank you.
28:10Look, I want to take my hat off to every one of you.
28:16I mean, look at our membership now.
28:18What is it at the moment, Zia?
28:19200 and what, thousand?
28:22228,000!
28:25And I've no doubt, in the next 12 months, we'll overtake the Labour Party as well.
28:31Now, what I'm actually proud to see is, I think that the two-party system is finally broken.
28:38Now, look, I was a Conservative Party for decades, and the historic defeat that they had last year,
28:47I think they had this goddamn arrogance, they had the bond-to-rule mentality.
28:53And I think this is where the tactics have come from in these campaigns.
28:59But we've shown them now.
29:01And do you know something?
29:02I've never felt happier, and I'm so proud to be part of the Reformed family.
29:08Now, I've been speaking to Luke earlier.
29:15Unfortunately, because he was at 5 o'clock, he's not able to come.
29:19He hasn't got a helicopter, unfortunately, that we could whip him here.
29:23But he asked me to send his best wishes to you, and I'm meeting him on Wednesday.
29:28And, you know, we are going to work strongly together, because we are going to ensure that we build these foundations
29:36to make sure that you, who want to get elected next year, and the further years, who want to stand as MPs,
29:42will make it happen for you.
29:44We take this responsibility seriously.
29:46We're going to deliver for the British public, and we're going to deliver for you.
29:51Because, you know something, we will form a majority government in 29.
29:56Now, that's it with me.
29:58So, thank you.
30:01And I might get my little one back to bed now.
30:03So, all the best to you.
30:04Well, ladies and gentlemen, I have the great pleasure of going up on the campaign trail up to Runcorn.
30:26We did a live broadcast from Runcorn.
30:29I've never met such a group of genuine, passionate people, hard-working people.
30:35These are tribally Labour voters who have the great British decline.
30:42The fact is, they feel that the Islington bubble from the Labour Party has ignored them for far too long.
30:50People were saying to me that they're hurting, they can't afford to put food on the table,
30:54they can't afford to pay their bills.
30:56But, do you know what, they found in this lady someone that they really resonated with.
31:02She worked so hard in the campaign.
31:04Runcorn is a very proud industrial town.
31:08It's an extraordinary place, actually.
31:10And it gives me just enormous pleasure.
31:13I texted her earlier today when the result came out.
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