Nigel Farage has torn into Andy Burnham’s new Cabinet and warned that the Prime Minister will fail to tackle Britain’s biggest problems at a Norfolk rally for newly elected Police and Crime Commissioner Colin Sutton.
Farage questioned whether Burnham’s ministers would face the same scrutiny that he and other senior Reform UK figures had received from the press.
“Given the abuse that I’ve had in the press lately, and some of my friends and colleagues have had in the press lately, I wonder whether the effective Deputy Prime Minister, Louise Haigh, will be addressed in every single BBC broadcast and newspaper article as ‘convicted fraudster Louise Haigh’”, he said.
He then turned to newly reappointed Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds, saying: “We’ve got Jonathan Reynolds. He’s still there. He openly lied about being a qualified solicitor - but what does that matter between friends? He’s still in high office.”
Farage also mocked Angela Rayner, who has returned as Housing Secretary after resigning last year over a stamp-duty row involving a property in Hove. “You couldn’t make this bit up, could you?” he said. “The Housing Minister! Clearly, vastly underpaid on stamp duty. The list goes on.”
However, Farage said the controversies surrounding Burnham’s ministers were less important than the direction of the new government.
“All of that, really, is gossip”, he said. “What really matters is that I don’t believe Andy Burnham can actually tackle the real issues facing us.”
Farage accused Burnham of engineering his route into Parliament - and to Labour leadership - through the Makerfield by-election, after a Labour ally stood down to create the vacancy. Farage said: “We have a new Prime Minister who got a mate of his to stand down, who, purely coincidentally, you understand, is now going to get a well-paid job in Downing Street. Funny that.”
Burnham then became Labour leader “unopposed”, Farage noted, despite promising the biggest political transformation in four decades. It would therefore be “only decent, right and proper” for Burnham to call a general election. “Otherwise”, Farage asked, “what is the point of general elections?”
Farage also warned that Burnham would move Britain further to the left while failing to resolve the issues that most concern voters. “This Prime Minister, and those he has chosen to put around him”, he said, “will take this country down a route further to the left, with more tax.”
He criticised Burnham’s announcement that the existing 5% VAT charge on electricity would be removed, warning that the measure ignored the way the overwhelming majority of British homes are heated.
“Does that address the real issue of the cost of living, of running your home? No”, he said, pointing out that most British homes are heated by oil or gas rather than electricity.
Farage highlighted that 86% of homes in Britain were heated by gas or oil, rather than electricity, meaning the VAT cut would offer only limited relief to households facing high energy costs.
By contrast, he said a Reform government would scrap green levies and Renewables Obligation Certificates, reducing household bills by £200 rather than the £45 that Burnham’s measure would save.
Farage warned that Burnham remained committed to Net Zero, despite also promising to reindustrialise Britain.
“You cannot reindustrialise if you carry on with insane Net Zero policies written into law by the Conservatives and now carried on with even greater glee by Labour”, he said.
He said the Conservatives had embedded the Net Zero agenda in law before Labour doubled down on the same policies, driving industry overseas to countries with lower environmental standards and leaving Britain dependent on imported goods.
Farage accused Labour of seeking to “fill the North Sea up with wind turbines” and cover East Anglia in pylons, while leaving households and businesses with expensive electricity.
He also predicted that Burnham would fail to stop migrants crossing the English Channel.
“Will Andy Burnham stop the boats? No. Not a hope in hell. Not a hope in hell”, he said.
Instead, Britain would remain unable to remove people who entered the country illegally for as long as it remained subject to the European Convention on Human Rights.
Farage was equally dismissive of the prospect of a new approach to crime. “Will there be a coherent Burnham plan for law and order? Not a hope of it,” he said.
Farage also warned that Labour’s tax and spending plans would place further pressure on households and the public finances, claiming that the government’s borrowing projections were already badly off course.
“I don’t believe this government will tackle any of these things. Indeed, I believe it will not just be more of the same; it will be worse than before.”
He described Burnham’s promised 10-year programme as a return to the failed politics of the past: “Yes, it is back to the future. We’re going back to the 1970s. God help us.”
Farage said the old parties were running away scared by refusing to call for a general election, as Reform UK has done. “The Conservatives don’t want an election. Funny that,” he said. “The Liberal Democrats don’t want an election. Funny that.”
By contrast, Reform UK was “the party that trusts the people.”
“We want and demand a general election - not just on our behalf, but on behalf of voters who will not vote for us anyway”, Farage said.
The Reform leader also used the rally to contrast Colin Sutton’s victory with Conservative claims of a so-called “Kemi bounce” under Tory leader Kemi Badenoch.
“Here in true-blue Tory Norfolk, the Conservatives succeeded in getting 15% of the vote,” he said. “There’s the Kemi bounce for you, folks.”
Sutton, a former senior Metropolitan Police detective, secured more votes in the PCC by-election than the Conservatives and Labour combined. His victory represented a major breakthrough for Reform UK in a county that had long been regarded as a Conservative stronghold.
Opening the rally, Sutton admitted that the scale of his victory had taken him by surprise.
“It was a bit mind-blowing,” he said. “I had always hoped we would win; I never thought the scale of the victory would be what it was.”
The former detective said Reform’s performance showed that almost the whole region was now open to the party.
“If we ignore Norwich, the rest of the county is there for the taking for Reform,” he said. “As is Suffolk. As is Essex. East Anglia is turquoise, isn’t it?”
Sutton said he would use his two years as PCC to show what Reform UK could deliver on law and order in particular. “What we can achieve here is to show that Reform is good for policing,” he said. “I’ve got two years to show how good we can be when we win that general election, whenever it comes.”
Farage questioned whether Burnham’s ministers would face the same scrutiny that he and other senior Reform UK figures had received from the press.
“Given the abuse that I’ve had in the press lately, and some of my friends and colleagues have had in the press lately, I wonder whether the effective Deputy Prime Minister, Louise Haigh, will be addressed in every single BBC broadcast and newspaper article as ‘convicted fraudster Louise Haigh’”, he said.
He then turned to newly reappointed Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds, saying: “We’ve got Jonathan Reynolds. He’s still there. He openly lied about being a qualified solicitor - but what does that matter between friends? He’s still in high office.”
Farage also mocked Angela Rayner, who has returned as Housing Secretary after resigning last year over a stamp-duty row involving a property in Hove. “You couldn’t make this bit up, could you?” he said. “The Housing Minister! Clearly, vastly underpaid on stamp duty. The list goes on.”
However, Farage said the controversies surrounding Burnham’s ministers were less important than the direction of the new government.
“All of that, really, is gossip”, he said. “What really matters is that I don’t believe Andy Burnham can actually tackle the real issues facing us.”
Farage accused Burnham of engineering his route into Parliament - and to Labour leadership - through the Makerfield by-election, after a Labour ally stood down to create the vacancy. Farage said: “We have a new Prime Minister who got a mate of his to stand down, who, purely coincidentally, you understand, is now going to get a well-paid job in Downing Street. Funny that.”
Burnham then became Labour leader “unopposed”, Farage noted, despite promising the biggest political transformation in four decades. It would therefore be “only decent, right and proper” for Burnham to call a general election. “Otherwise”, Farage asked, “what is the point of general elections?”
Farage also warned that Burnham would move Britain further to the left while failing to resolve the issues that most concern voters. “This Prime Minister, and those he has chosen to put around him”, he said, “will take this country down a route further to the left, with more tax.”
He criticised Burnham’s announcement that the existing 5% VAT charge on electricity would be removed, warning that the measure ignored the way the overwhelming majority of British homes are heated.
“Does that address the real issue of the cost of living, of running your home? No”, he said, pointing out that most British homes are heated by oil or gas rather than electricity.
Farage highlighted that 86% of homes in Britain were heated by gas or oil, rather than electricity, meaning the VAT cut would offer only limited relief to households facing high energy costs.
By contrast, he said a Reform government would scrap green levies and Renewables Obligation Certificates, reducing household bills by £200 rather than the £45 that Burnham’s measure would save.
Farage warned that Burnham remained committed to Net Zero, despite also promising to reindustrialise Britain.
“You cannot reindustrialise if you carry on with insane Net Zero policies written into law by the Conservatives and now carried on with even greater glee by Labour”, he said.
He said the Conservatives had embedded the Net Zero agenda in law before Labour doubled down on the same policies, driving industry overseas to countries with lower environmental standards and leaving Britain dependent on imported goods.
Farage accused Labour of seeking to “fill the North Sea up with wind turbines” and cover East Anglia in pylons, while leaving households and businesses with expensive electricity.
He also predicted that Burnham would fail to stop migrants crossing the English Channel.
“Will Andy Burnham stop the boats? No. Not a hope in hell. Not a hope in hell”, he said.
Instead, Britain would remain unable to remove people who entered the country illegally for as long as it remained subject to the European Convention on Human Rights.
Farage was equally dismissive of the prospect of a new approach to crime. “Will there be a coherent Burnham plan for law and order? Not a hope of it,” he said.
Farage also warned that Labour’s tax and spending plans would place further pressure on households and the public finances, claiming that the government’s borrowing projections were already badly off course.
“I don’t believe this government will tackle any of these things. Indeed, I believe it will not just be more of the same; it will be worse than before.”
He described Burnham’s promised 10-year programme as a return to the failed politics of the past: “Yes, it is back to the future. We’re going back to the 1970s. God help us.”
Farage said the old parties were running away scared by refusing to call for a general election, as Reform UK has done. “The Conservatives don’t want an election. Funny that,” he said. “The Liberal Democrats don’t want an election. Funny that.”
By contrast, Reform UK was “the party that trusts the people.”
“We want and demand a general election - not just on our behalf, but on behalf of voters who will not vote for us anyway”, Farage said.
The Reform leader also used the rally to contrast Colin Sutton’s victory with Conservative claims of a so-called “Kemi bounce” under Tory leader Kemi Badenoch.
“Here in true-blue Tory Norfolk, the Conservatives succeeded in getting 15% of the vote,” he said. “There’s the Kemi bounce for you, folks.”
Sutton, a former senior Metropolitan Police detective, secured more votes in the PCC by-election than the Conservatives and Labour combined. His victory represented a major breakthrough for Reform UK in a county that had long been regarded as a Conservative stronghold.
Opening the rally, Sutton admitted that the scale of his victory had taken him by surprise.
“It was a bit mind-blowing,” he said. “I had always hoped we would win; I never thought the scale of the victory would be what it was.”
The former detective said Reform’s performance showed that almost the whole region was now open to the party.
“If we ignore Norwich, the rest of the county is there for the taking for Reform,” he said. “As is Suffolk. As is Essex. East Anglia is turquoise, isn’t it?”
Sutton said he would use his two years as PCC to show what Reform UK could deliver on law and order in particular. “What we can achieve here is to show that Reform is good for policing,” he said. “I’ve got two years to show how good we can be when we win that general election, whenever it comes.”
Watch the full rally here.
