Nigel Farage has claimed Labour is “terrified of Reform” as he announced his party’s plans to back a full reversal of the two-child benefit cap, restore winter fuel payments, and grant tax breaks to married couples.
At a press conference on Tuesday, the Reform party leader accused Starmer of having “no connection with working people or communities”.
“Reform really are now the party of working people,” Farage said.
Reform also believes that people should not start paying tax until they earn £20,000 a year, a policy that Farage said is “wildly popular”.
If Reform gets into power, he also promised to cut “excessive” government costs, scrap net-zero goals, end asylum hotels, scrap Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programmes, and crack down on “mass migration”.
It’s Farage’s latest attempt to gain ground from other political parties.
He accused the Tories of being “irrelevant” in both Scotland and Wales, and said a Conservative vote in both countries – as well as in “many parts of England” – would be a “wasted vote” to help keep Labour in power.
Chairman of Reform UK, Zia Yusuf, claimed the party has had the “greatest political acceleration in British history”.
He said the party has gone from having zero MPs, a handful of councillors, and polling at 10% a year ago to having five MPs at Westminster, approximately 700 councillors across the country, and polling “north of 30%” today.
Yusuf said the party’s membership had grown by eightfold – from 28,000 member last June to over 235,000 today.
Farage accused Starmer’s Labour party of being “terrified” of Reform.
“It’s clear to me that Starmer doesn’t believe in anything,” Farage said.
Accusing the Prime Minister of “daily veering off”, Farage said Labour is “terrified of what Reform is doing to the Labour vote”.
Farage outlined Reform UK’s platform, values, and plans for the country on Tuesday just weeks after the party made major gains in local English elections in early May.
The party picked up a new Reform UK MP at an English by-election as well as gained control of ten English councils and won more than 600 council seats at the polls.
In the wake of Farage’s success in England, Scottish First Minister John Swinney said there is a “very real possibility” that Nigel Farage could by the UK’s next prime minister – adding he is “fearful of what lies ahead” if that comes to pass.
Swinney also accused both Labour and Tories of “cosying up to Farage” to avoid losing voters.
Polls have suggested Reform UK could win a dozen or more MSPs at Holyrood in next May’s Scottish Parliament elections, despite currently having no representatives there.
The first battle between Scottish Labour, SNP and Reform UK will come in just two weeks at the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election.
There are ten candidates standing for the MSP seat at Holyrood. SNP candidate Katy Loudon is attempting to hold the seat for her party.
Scottish Labour candidate Davy Russell was expected to be Loudon’s biggest competition, but Reform candidate Ross Lambie appears to be gaining ground with just weeks to go.
Farage is due in Scotland to campaign ahead of the by-election.
Candidates in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election
| Candidate name | Party |
| Collette Bradley | Scottish Socialist Party |
| Andy Brady | Scottish Family Party |
| Ross Alexander Lambie | Reform UK |
| Katy Loudon | Scottish National Party (SNP) |
| Janice Elizabeth Mackay | UK Independence Party (UKIP) |
| Ann McGuinness | Scottish Green Party |
| Aisha Jawaid Mir | Scottish Liberal Democrats |
| Richard Nelson | Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party |
| Davy Russell | Scottish Labour Party |
| Marc Wilkinson | Independent |
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