Nigel Farage is still “assessing” what role he will play in the upcoming general election, the leader of Reform UK has said.
Holding a news conference to kick off the long campaign for the general election expected this year, Reform UK leader Richard Tice revealed he had been talking to Mr Farage over the festive break about what role he would play.
“We’ve been talking over the Christmas period and he’s obviously giving a lot of thought as to the extent of the role he wants to play in helping Reform UK frankly save Britain,” Mr Tice said.
“Nigel is the master of political timing but I’m very clear the job at hand is so big to save Britain, the more help that Nigel is able to give in the election campaign, frankly, the better.”
Mr Farage, who is currently Reform UK’s honorary president, stood down as party leader in 2021, when he was replaced by Mr Tice.
There has been speculation Mr Farage, who founded Reform, could make a political comeback to challenge the Tories over issues including legal and illegal migration.
Mr Tice claimed the Conservatives were “terrified” of the threat his party poses at the ballot box and that they needed a wake-up call because a Labour win – which he branded “Starmergeddon” – would be a “disaster” for Britain economically.
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He insisted his party would not do any “deals” with the Tories and would instead stand in every seat, with the party claiming to have already approved 500 candidates who will be unveiled at a rally next month.
Asked by Sky News how he would feel if Labour won a majority because Reform had split the Conservative vote, Mr Tice said: “I would feel pleased that I’ve helped punish the utter failure of the Conservative Party who have broken Britain.
“They must be punished. They must be ousted. You cannot reward failure with more incumbency.”
Pressed on whether he would contemplate doing a deal with the Conservatives after the election if not before, the Reform leader replied: “Let’s see what happens. I’m focusing on before the election, not after.”
What will a good result look like for Reform UK at the general election?
“Winning it”, said the party’s leader Richard Tice. Of course, it’s not going to happen but others in the room said they would be happy with a handful of seats.
However, if current polling is anything to go by, its main contribution will be to split the Conservative vote. That could pave the way for a Labour majority.
For Reform UK, Labour and the Conservatives are “two sides of the same coin”.
It accuses Mr Sunak of “breaking Britain”, while Sir Keir Starmer will “bankrupt Britain”.
It’s presenting itself as the only meaningful alternative to the status quo and has been buoyed by a bounce in the polls.
Mr Tice said the party’s current polling of about 1 % means the Tories “aren’t laughing anymore” but Labour may well be.
It will not be lost on them that the Labour majorities in the Tamworth and mid-Bedfordshire by-elections were smaller than the number of votes cast for Reform UK. In neither seat was Reform able to sufficiently capitalise on Conservative disenchantment. The winner was Labour.
Mr Tice rubbished the suggestion that his party may be an enabler for Labour.
He said he was “optimistic politically”, but the party has struggled to forge an identity for itself beyond being a meeting ground for disaffected Conservative voters.
For all his bluster about winning the election, the party is thin on policy.
Mr Tice said he wanted to boost economic growth and he presented some vague ideas. Chief among them was a plan to raise the personal allowance to £20,000.
It was an entirely unfunded pledge that may remind some of the Liz Truss era.
If today was about presenting Reform UK as more than just an agitator, it didn’t quite do the job.
Mr Tice accused the Conservatives of failing to bring down immigration in what he called a “betrayal” of Brexit voters.
He said there should be a policy of “one in, one out” and that businesses should “stop relying on the sort of cocaine-like addictive drug of cheap, low skilled immigration”.
Mr Tice said in the news conference that the income tax threshold should to be raised to £20,000, allowing potentially millions to avoid paying tax at all.
The Reform leader told Sky News that he believed his income tax policy would cost around £40bn, depending on how many people were in work.
Image: Mr Tice says he discussed a potential comeback with Mr Farage
The poll average for Reform currently stands at 9%, behind Labour which is sitting on an average of 42.5%, with the Tories on 25.5%.
The Lib Dems, meanwhile, are polling on average 11% of the vote, according to the Sky News live poll tracker, followed by Reform and the Greens on 5.9% and the SNP on 3.1%.
Conservative Party chair Richard Holden said: “A vote for Reform will only strengthen Labour’s hand – that means a vote for Labour’s £28bn a year spending splurge, driving up taxes for hardworking families.
“The Conservative government is focused on long-term decisions for the country – stopping the boats, driving down inflation and cutting taxes. If voters want real action to deliver a brighter future, the Conservatives are the only choice.”
It is “shameful” that black boys growing up in London are “far more likely” to die than white boys, Metropolitan Police chief Sir Mark Rowley has told Sky News.
Sir Mark, who came out of retirement to become head of the UK’s largest police force in 2022, said: “We can’t pretend otherwise that we’ve got a history between policing and black communities where policing has got a lot wrong.
“And we get a lot more right today, but we do still make mistakes. That’s not in doubt. I’m being as relentless in that as it can be.”
He said the “vast majority” of the force are “good people”.
However, he added: “But that legacy, combined with the tragedy that some of this crime falls most heavily in black communities, that creates a real problem because the legacy creates concern.”
Sir Mark, who also leads the UK’s counter-terrorism policing, said it is “not right” that black boys growing up in London “are far more likely to be dead by the time they’re 18” than white boys.
“That’s, I think, shameful for the city,” he admitted.
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Police chase suspected phone thief
Baroness Casey was commissioned in 2021 to look into the Met Police after serving police officer Wayne Couzens abducted, raped and murdered Sarah Everard.
She pinned the primary blame for the Met’s culture on its past leadership and found that stop and search and the use of force against black people was excessive.
At the time, Sir Mark, who had been commissioner for six months when the report was published, said he would not use the labels of institutionally racist, institutionally misogynistic and institutionally homophobic, which Casey insisted the Met deserved.
However, London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who helped hire Sir Mark – and could fire him – made it clear the commissioner agreed with Baroness Casey’s verdict.
After the report was released, Sir Mark said “institutional” was political language so he was not going to use it, but he accepted “we have racists, misogynists…systematic failings, management failings, cultural failings”.
A few months after the report, Sir Mark launched a two-year £366m plan to overhaul the Met, including increased emphasis on neighbourhood policing to rebuild public trust and plans to recruit 500 more community support officers and an extra 565 people to work with teams investigating domestic violence, sexual offences and child sexual abuse and exploitation.
Watch the full interview on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips from 8.30am on Sunday.
Labour’s largest union donor, Unite, has voted to suspend Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner over her role in the Birmingham bin strike row.
Members of the trade union, one of the UK’s largest, also “overwhelmingly” voted to “re-examine its relationship” with Labour over the issue.
They said Ms Rayner, who is also housing, communities and local government secretary, Birmingham Council’s leader, John Cotton, and other Labour councillors had been suspended for “bringing the union into disrepute”.
There was confusion over Ms Rayner’s membership of Unite, with her office having said she was no longer a member and resigned months ago and therefore could not be suspended.
But Unite said she was registered as a member. Parliament’s latest register of interests had her down as a member in May.
The union said an emergency motion was put to members at its policy conference in Brighton on Friday.
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Unite is one of the Labour Party’s largest union donors, donating £414,610 in the first quarter of 2025 – the highest amount in that period by a union, company or individual.
The union condemned Birmingham’s Labour council and the government for “attacking the bin workers”.
Mountains of rubbish have been piling up in the city since January after workers first went on strike over changes to their pay, with all-out strike action starting in March. An agreement has still not been made.
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Rat catcher tackling Birmingham’s bins problem
Ms Rayner and the councillors had their membership suspended for “effectively firing and rehiring the workers, who are striking over pay cuts of up to £8,000”, the union added.
‘Missing in action’
General secretary Sharon Graham told Sky News on Saturday morning: “Angela Rayner, who has the power to solve this dispute, has been missing in action, has not been involved, is refusing to come to the table.”
She had earlier said: “Unite is crystal clear, it will call out bad employers regardless of the colour of their rosette.
“Angela Rayner has had every opportunity to intervene and resolve this dispute but has instead backed a rogue council that has peddled lies and smeared its workers fighting huge pay cuts.
“The disgraceful actions of the government and a so-called Labour council, is essentially fire and rehire and makes a joke of the Employment Relations Act promises.
“People up and down the country are asking whose side is the Labour government on and coming up with the answer not workers.”
Image: Piles of rubbish built up around Birmingham because of the strike over pay
Sir Keir Starmer’s spokesman said the government’s “priority is and always has been the residents of Birmingham”.
He said the decision by Unite workers to go on strike had “caused disruption” to the city.
“We’ve worked to clean up streets and remain in close contact with the council […] as we support its recovery,” he added.
A total of 800 Unite delegates voted on the motion.
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