Nigel Farage claims Reform UK has 200,000 members and has warning for Labour
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has said the party now has more than 200,000 members and is aiming to overtake the Labour Party’s total of 309,000.
Speaking to delegates at a regional conference in Wiltshire, the Clacton MP called his party’s growth “truly extraordinary” since its founding in 2021 as the re-launch of the Brexit Party.
With the party’s live membership ticker displayed on a screen behind him, he said it was on course to become “the biggest political party in this country”.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage told delegates the party had more than 200,000 members. Pic: PA
“That’s our goal. That’s our aim. That’s our target,” he said.
Reform UK is already ahead of the Conservatives, who revealed in November that almost 132,000 members were eligible to vote during the party’s leadership election to replace Rishi Sunak.
Referring to last year’s row with new Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, when she doubted Reform’s total membership, he said the party “got people to come in and check and look at the back end, and it’s all absolutely legit”.
Reflecting on Reform UK’s rapid growth, he said: “In the modern world to have got here this quickly, isn’t it truly extraordinary?
“Doesn’t it show you something is happening in this country? People want real political leadership. They want real change. That’s what that tells you.”
The party polled more than four million votes in last year’s election, winning five seats, including Mr Farage’s Essex constituency.
Mr Farage, the former head of UKIP, had ruled himself out of standing but made a U-turn after saying he had a “terrible sense of guilt” for not offering to run.
In another sign of its growing threat to the main parties, last week, Reform UK came top in a poll of people who voted Conservative at the last election.
Conservative party leader Kemi Badenoch doubted Reform UK’s membership claims. File pic: PA
Switching his focus to their political opponents, he declared that “when we overtake [the Labour Party], we will be the biggest political party in this country”.
The Tories had “betrayed the country with open door immigration, increased taxes, with not delivering Brexit”, he said.
“A 10 million increase in the population of this country over the course of the last 20 years has devalued the living standards of everybody in this country,” Mr Farage added.
“It’s truly incredible. The wave of people that came under Boris Johnson from 2021, of the millions that came, only 20% are working or contributing. The rest are costing us, the taxpayer. It’s an outrage.”
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Spelling out Reform UK’s key platform, he said: “Anyone that comes here illegally will be deported. Simple as that.
“We’re the only party that says ‘no more population increase through immigration for many years to come’.”
Calling it “the one net zero I approve of”, he said the UK “hasn’t got enough houses, we can’t get GP appointments, our roads are completely overloaded, our infrastructure is crumbling”.
Liverpool have won the Premier League title after a 5-1 victory over Tottenham at Anfield.
Arne Slot’s men did it in impressive style, turning over Spurs in a convincing win.
It was a rocky start for the Reds after Dominic Solanke put the north London side ahead.
However, fortunes quickly changed in the first half as Liverpool scored three times without a response.
Captain Virgil van Dijk (centre) celebrates. Pic: Reuters
Salah on his knees in celebration after the final whistle. Pic: AP
Liverpool’s Harvey Elliott (below) and Jarell Quansah celebrate after full-time. Pic: PA
Slot cheers after the full-time whistle. Pic: AP
In the second half, it took until the 63rd minute for Mohamed Salah to make it 4-1 before a fifth followed.
The Reds have won the title in manager Arne Slot’s first season in charge, and move level with fierce rivals Manchester United on 20 league championships.
But it makes them arguably the most successful English club ever as they have won more European Cup or Champions League titles.
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk told Sky Sports after the final whistle: “It’s special and it’s something that we don’t take for granted. It’s amazing.
“A lot of emotions before the game, during the whole week, but we got the job done and we (are) truly deserved champions of England. (Liverpool is) the most beautiful club in the world and I think we deserve all of this. Let’s enjoy the next couple of weeks and let it sink in.”
Liverpool’s Kostas Tsimikas poses with a Premier League trophy cut out. Pic: Reuters
Manager Arne Slot and his team after the final whistle. Pic: AP
Slot took over last summer from Jurgen Klopp, who guided them to their previous and maiden Premier League title triumph in 2020, when the COVID-19 lockdown saw matches played behind closed doors.
He is the first Dutch manager to win the Premier League and the fifth man to do so in a debut campaign after Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti, Manuel Pellegrini, and Antonio Conte.
Speaking to Sky Sports he said: “They [the players] did an outstanding job today. The main job was to win. Everyone said we had got it already. But we had to make sure and we got over the line.”
Several players, including Alisson Becker, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk, and Mohamed Salah, played leading roles in both the 2025 and 2020 campaigns.
Van Dijk and Salah recently signed new contracts extending their careers at the club.
Mohamed Salah takes a selfie with fans after scouring the fourth Liverpool goal. Pic: AP
Fans at Anfield during the game. Pic: AP
Fans in the stands at Anfield before full-time. Pic: Reuters
Liverpool will have to wait until the final game of the season – at home to Crystal Palace on 25 May – to be presented with the Premier League trophy.
It will be the first time the club’s fans will have seen their side lift the top-flight title in person since 1990.
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Two pro-Palestinian demonstrators have thrown red powder on Tower Bridge – just moments before leading runners in the London Marathon went past.
The protesters were arrested on suspicion of causing a public nuisance and remain in custody, said the Metropolitan Police.
A video shared by Youth Demand, which is calling for a trade embargo on Israel, shows two people jumping over a barrier that separates spectators from the race course.
The pair, wearing t-shirts that say “Youth Demand: Stop Arming Israel”, are then seen standing in the middle of the road on the bridge.
Pic: LNP
They throw red powder in the air as an official marathon car goes past displaying the race time.
A motorbike with a cameraman on board continues along the route, while a second motorbike stops and one of the riders gets off and pushes the pair out of the way, just before the men’s elite runners pass.
Several police officers then jump over the barrier and detain the pair, the footage shows.
There appeared to be no impact on the marathon.
More than 56,000 participants were expected to take part in the 26.2-mile race through the capital.
Sabastian Sawe of Kenya won the men’s elite race in a time of two hours, two minutes and 27 seconds, while Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa shattered the women’s-only world record in two hours, 15 minutes and 50 seconds.
Assefa beat the previous best of two hours, 16 minutes and 16 seconds set last year in London by Kenyan Peres Jepchirchir.
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Pic: LNP
The Metropolitan Police said in a statement: “At around 10.38am, two protesters from Youth Demand jumped over barriers at Tower Bridge and threw red paint on to the road.
“Marathon event staff intervened to remove the protesters from the path of the men’s elite race which was able to pass unobstructed.”
The force added that they were “quickly supported by police officers who arrested the protesters on suspicion of causing a public nuisance”.
The Met said the paint “appeared to be chalk-based” and was not expected to “present a hazard to runners yet to pass this point”.
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