Politics

Nigel Farage may make political comeback, Reform UK leader suggests

Published

2 years ago

November 24, 2023

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Reform UK leader Richard Tice has refused to rule out Nigel Farage becoming the next leader of his party.

Mr Tice, who succeeded Mr Farage in March 2021, admitted the “more help Nigel can give, the better”.

He was asked about the fate of the former UKIP leader by Sophy Ridge on the Politics Hub as Mr Farage appears on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! in Australia.

Politics latest: PM under pressure over latest net migration figures

According to Mr Tice, people are enjoying seeing “Nigel the individual” because he is “revealing his personality”.

“I hope he goes all the way in the programme,” he added.

Asked whether Mr Farage could make a comeback to lead Reform – formerly the Brexit Party – he replied: “I’m the leader, he’s made it very clear he doesn’t want to stand in a first-past-the-post election.

“We’re very pro-proportional representation. That’s the fairest way to conduct elections. But the more help Nigel can give, the better.”

Pressed again on whether that could mean Mr Farage taking over, Mr Tice said: “Let’s wait and see.”

He added: “The Tories are terrified of the progress of Reform UK.”

In 2020, the Brexit Party applied to change its name to Reform UK – admitting it was “time to redirect our energies”, which were later focused on opposing COVID lockdowns.

Mr Farage stood down as the leader of Reform a year later – saying his “life’s work” of securing the UK’s exit from the European Union had taken “the best part of three decades” but the time had come for him to step down.

A YouGov poll earlier this month put Reform on 10% of the vote – tied with the Liberal Democrats – while the Tories stood at 21% and Labour 44%.

Mr Tice claimed that the Tories had “abandoned” Brexit as he criticised the latest net migration figure – a record-breaking 745,000 in 2022 – as “appalling”.

A Number 10 spokesperson admitted net migration “remains far too high” and said the government was “taking action to bring it down”.

He said the numbers were a “complete betrayal of what everybody who voted Conservative, voted for Brexit”.

“What we wanted, we were told and promised by the Conservative government, was that Brexit would take back control of our borders, that it would reduce immigration numbers below 200,000 a year.

“And instead, actually what’s happened is that they’ve at least trebled since then. We’ve now got people coming into the UK about the size of Birmingham every single year.”

Dismissing suggestions that Reform could do a deal with the Conservatives by standing aside in some seats as it did in the 2019 election, Mr Tice said: “I’ve made it very clear, very clear – zero deals with the Tories.

“We stand in every single seat. Democracy is better when people have got more options, more discussion, more debates.”

Politics

MP Zarah Sultana who was ousted from Labour announces she is starting new political party with Jeremy Corbyn

Published

3 hours ago

July 3, 2025

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MP Zarah Sultana who was ousted from Labour announces she is starting new political party with Jeremy Corbyn

An MP who was ousted from the Labour Party has announced she is setting up a new political party with Jeremy Corbyn.

Independent MP Zarah Sultana said she and the former Labour leader will co-lead the new party, which she did not provide a name for.

She said other independent MPs, campaigners and activists from across the country will join them, but did not name anyone.

Politics latest: Zarah Sultana’s stinging resignation letter

Ms Sultana also said she was “resigning” from the Labour Party after 14 years.

She was suspended as a Labour MP shortly after they came to power last summer for voting against the government maintaining the two-child benefit cap.

Several others from the left of the party, including Mr Corbyn, were also suspended for voting against the government, and also remained as independent MPs.

However, Ms Sultana was still a member of the Labour Party – until now.

Mr Corbyn has previously said the independent MPs who were suspended from Labour would “come together” to provide an “alternative.

The other four are: Iqbal Mohamed, Shockat Adam, Ayoub Khan and Adnan Hussain.

Mr Corbyn and the other four independents have not said if they are part of the new party Ms Sultana announced.

In her announcement, Ms Sultana said she would vote to abolish the two-child benefit cap again and also voted against scrapping the winter fuel payment for most pensioners.

Ms Sultana also voted against the government’s welfare bill this week, which was heavily watered down as Sir Keir Starmer tried to prevent a major rebellion from his own MPs.

On Wednesday, Ms Sultana spoke passionately against Palestine Action being proscribed as a terror organisation – but MPs eventually voted for it to be.

She said to proscribe it is “a deliberate distortion of the law to chill dissent, criminalise solidarity and suppress the truth”.

Ms Sultana said they were founding the new party because “Westminster is broken but the real crisis is deeper – just 50 families now own more wealth than half the UK population”.

She called Reform leader Nigel Farage “a billionaire-backed grifter” leading the polls “because Labour has completely failed to improve people’s lives.

The MP, who has spoken passionately about Gaza, added: “Across the political establishment, from Farage to Starmer, they smear people of conscience trying to stop a genocide in Gaza as terrorists.

“But the truth is clear: this government is an active participant in genocide. And the British people oppose it.

“We are not going to take this anymore.”

A Labour Party spokesperson said: “In just 12 months, this Labour government has boosted wages, delivered an extra four million NHS appointments, opened 750 free breakfast clubs, secured three trade deals and four interest rate cuts lowering mortgage payments for millions.

“Only Labour can deliver the change needed to renew Britain.”