𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Nigel Farage has urged Express readers to back Reform UK “whatever your previous allegiance may have been” as he declared that his outfit “are the challengers to this Government” not the Tories, “by a considerable margin.” Reform has topped multiple opinion polls for months, leading the most recent poll, by the group More In Common, by some 10% over Labour.

With campaigning already heating up, and Reform looking to unseat large numbers of Labour and Conservative councillors, Mr Farage added: “I would say to people who are on the centre to centre right, if you vote Conservative, you risk splitting the vote.” The Reform UK leader was speaking on a walkabout in Romford, North East London, attended by members of the press and the local party branch.

He paused for selfies with locals, but was heckled by one bystander who shouted the name of the former Reform MP Rupert Lowe, who has founded his own political party, Restore Britain. Mr Lowe, the MP for Great Yarmouth, got another mention later in the visit after a local butcher, named Steve, spoke to Mr Farage.

“It’s either you or Rupert Lowe,” he said, before hanging a “Vote Reform, Get Starmer Out” placard on a hook at the front of his stall. Romford, which is part of the London Borough of Havering, is one of several areas being targeted by the party ahead of May 7.

Another stall owner, who declined to give her name, told the Express she would not be voting as it “would not make any difference.” She added: “You can’t change the world anyway.”

The Romford constituency is held by Andrew Rosindell, a former Conservative MP who defected to Reform earlier this year. He became one of several Conservative MPs to have made the move, including Robert Jenrick, Danny Kruger and Suella Braverman. After his defection, he was locked out of his constituency office at Margaret Thatcher House, which he had occupied for more than 20 years, after the local Conservative Party, which ran the building, refused him access.

Mr Farage and Mr Rosindell were also joined on the campaign trail in Romford by local Reform London Assembly Member, Keith Prince. He became the party’s second assembly member after he defected last year, joining Alex Wilson to form a two-man group in City Hall.

The campaign outing, the second in the city this week, has now seen Mr Farage visit four London Boroughs: Bexley, Bromley, Havering and Redbridge.

Speaking to the Daily Express, Councillor David Leaf – the Conservative leader in the Borough of Bexley – warned that Reform “has no plans” for the local Government and no interest in representing local residents.

He hailed his authority as “one of the most efficient Councils in the country” saying he had a fully costed plan to “invest in the frontline services that matter to our residents over the next four years.”

The Labour Party did not respond to a request for comment.