𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Nigel Farage knows how to put on a show. The Reform UK leader commandeered his own petrol station, nestled in the picturesque Derbyshire countryside, to announce plans to keep fuel duty down.

And he put his money where his mouth is by offering passing motorists a 25p-per-litre cut in the price of petrol if they filled up their tanks. That’s right. Reform joined forces with the service station’s owner to offer cut-price fuel, with the party footing the bill.

It was certainly an attention-grabbing stunt, but it also carried a serious message. Chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced plans to increase fuel duty by 5p over time, reversing a cut introduced to help households cope with rising costs following the Ukraine war.

Reform is saying that the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, exacerbated by the conflict in the Gulf (though Mr Farage hopes this will be over soon), makes this the worst possible time to raise petrol prices.

So it is demanding that Ms Reeves reverse her plans. And if she refuses, a Reform government would bring fuel duty back down again if Mr Farage becomes prime minister after the next election.

But the party also has a strict rule about not making promises without also explaining how it will pay for them.

Robert Jenrick, the former Conservative MP who joined Reform and is now Mr Farage’s candidate to become chancellor, told a chilly open-air press conference by the petrol pumps that he would save £13billion by ending subsidies for heat pumps and electric cars, and scrap Labour Energy Secretary Ed Miliband’s carbon capture schemes. That’s how the fuel duty cut would be funded.

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So there we have it – a policy likely to appeal to voters, many of whom depend on their cars, and a series of measures to pay for it which may enrage green zealots but will sound perfectly reasonable to others, or so Reform hopes.

But then came something very striking. Once the journalists had asked their questions, members of the public lined up to have a word with Nigel, shake his hand and get a selfie. Mr Jenrick was almost as popular.

Customers buying petrol wanted the politicians to fill their tanks, and they were happy to oblige.

It doesn’t have to be like this. Plenty of politicians are famous, but that doesn’t make them popular. Mr Farage, however, has something so many of today’s politicians lack. He’s likeable.

If Keir Starmer turned up at a Midlands petrol station, would the average motorists want a cheerful chat and a selfie? I’m not sure they would.

And this is why Labour should be worried. Mr Farage has the X-factor. If he can combine that with a real, credible plan for running the country, which he’s clearly trying to do, then Sir Keir’s days in No 10 are surely numbered.