Nigel Farage made a bold declaration tonight, pledging to vigorously oppose Labour’s proposed “Brexit reset.”
Farage, the leader of Reform UK, criticized Keir Starmer’s recent overtures toward the European Union, arguing that such moves would fail to address the nation’s economic challenges and instead relinquish sovereignty to “unelected EU bureaucrats.”
In addition, Farage disclosed that Reform UK is preparing to take legal action next week to contest Labour’s efforts to delay a series of local elections.
His statements coincide with remarks from a prominent supporter of Sir Keir, who suggested that the Prime Minister might steer the UK perilously close to re-entering the single market, despite Labour’s manifesto commitment to uphold Brexit.
The controversy was ignited over the weekend when Sir Keir, during a BBC interview, expressed an interest in enhancing access to the single market.
“I believe we should establish a closer relationship, and if it serves our national interest to further align with the single market, then we ought to contemplate that,” Sir Keir remarked.
‘If it’s in our interest to do so, we should take that step.’
Mr Farage hit back tonight – warning that Sir Keir’s attempts to reverse Brexit would damage Britain and backfire on Labour at the ballot box.
Speaking at a major rally at London’s Excel centre, Mr Farage pointed to the declining influence of the EU on a world stage now dominated by Donald Trump and Xi Jinping.
Nigel Farage pictured announcing Reform’s London campaign on Friday
Pictured L-R: Reform UK London Mayoral candidate Laila Cunningham, Mr Farage and Richard Tice, Deputy Leader of the party
Ms Cunningham pictured firing t-shirts into the crowd at the rally as Mr Farage watches on. He also revealed Reform is ready to go to court next week to challenge Labour’s attempts to postpone a string of local elections
Mr Farage warned that Labour risks damaging Britain by cosying up to Brussels
He accused Sir Keir of gearing up for a ‘Brexit betrayal’, adding: ‘Bit by bit, he is taking away the ability, not just of parliament to make decisions, but of your rights as voters to decide who should take those decisions.
‘And I promise you, we will fight this giveaway, this surrender of our sovereignty, of our money, of our fishing grounds and everything else. We’ll fight it tooth and nail. We’ll fight it all the way.’
Earlier, he told the Mail: ‘Everything that’s happening internationally proves the increasing irrelevance of the EU.
‘Economically much of it is doing even worse than we are and yet a failing Prime Minister is reverting to type and signing us up to closer union.
‘It will solve none of our economic problems and once again take away power from British voters and hand it to unelected EU bureaucrats.’
Mr Farage also revealed that Reform is poised to launch a judicial review against government plans to allow dozens of councils to delay local elections in May.
The deadline for councils to accept the offer is next Wednesday and Mr Farage was ‘primed and ready’ to go to court the following day.
We now learn that up to 10 million people may be deprived of their vote, in some cases for the second year in a row. These are the actions not just of the Labour government, but with the connivance in some counties of the Conservatives and the Lib Dems.
‘Denying elections is the behaviour of a Banana Republic.’
Tonight’s rally in London was designed to launch Reform’s local election campaign in the capital – and provide a springboard for outspoken councillor Laila Cunningham, who was unveiled this week as the party’s candidate to take on Sadiq Khan for the London mayoralty in 2028.
The Mail revealed last month that Mr Farage is bidding to end the capital’s historic status as a no-go zone for Reform by focusing on tackling crime. He is targeting potential wins in six of London’s councils in the local elections in May.
Ms Cunningham told the rally: ‘London, one of the greatest cities in the world, is no longer a safe city. And that doesn’t happen by chance – that happened on Sadiq Khan’s watch.’
Sir Keir Starmer is working with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen on a Brexit reset which allies say could take the UK ‘very close’ to the single market
Reform supporters fly the flag at tonight’s rally
Reform’s Laila Cunningham hopes to make a breakthrough in London by focusing on crime
She pledged to be a ‘new sheriff in town’, adding: ‘I will launch an all-out war on crime. And those rape gangs that have been ignored – they will have nowhere to hide.
‘It will be a reckoning. Every single person who let those girls down… there will be a reckoning for them. There will be nowhere to hide.’
But Reform sources said Mr Farage also wanted to take the opportunity to highlight the risks posed by Labour’s lurch to Brussels.
Ministers have already signed up to follow EU rules in areas like food and farming in return for easier access to the single market.
Legislation due in the coming weeks will introduce so-called ‘dynamic alignment’, meaning that UK laws will automatically be updated in line with new EU regulations. The process will apply initially to food, farming and the electricity market, where agreements on better access have already been reached. But the legislation is expected to give ministers powers to extend the practice to a range of other areas.
Sir Keir’s biographer Tom Baldwin, who acts as an unofficial adviser to the PM, yesterday said Labour’s Brexit reset could now go much further than originally planned.
He told the Politico website that the PM’s recent comments ”opened up a whole range of possibilities’.
‘At the upper end, it suggests Labour may seek a second term mandate at the next election by which the UK would get very close to rejoining the single market.
‘That would be worth a lot more in terms of economic growth and national prosperity than the customs union deal favoured by the Lib Dems.’
Brussels sources have been making clear the government will have to ‘pay to play’ if Labour wants to remove more barriers., with the UK potentially handing over billions of pounds a year as well as agreeing to follow EU laws in which it will have no say.
