Farage kicks off Reform's local election campaign

The Reform leader Nigel Farage kicked off his party's local election campaign with the first in a nationwide series of rallies.

The live-streamed event under the banner "Reform will fix it" took place on the Isle of Wight at GG's restaurant, near Newport, on Monday night.

Organisers said they sold 1,500 tickets for the event, which cost £5 to attend.

The leader admitted to the crowd the party did not have a full list of candidates to stand in May's local elections on the island yet, but he felt they had a "great chance" of taking control of the council.

Among the speakers were young councillors from authorities in County Durham and Essex, but the emphasis of the speeches on stage was on national politics.

Topics included defence, the welfare state and "the failure of any party to stop the boats".

In an interview with the BBC before the event, Farage was asked how he would deal with the financial situation facing Isle of Wight Council, which, as well as other councils, has recently needed exceptional financial support from the government.

"I'm not going to promise we can wave a magic wand but we will come in with a fresh eye," he said. "We'll make cuts where needed and introduce efficiencies."

Pressed on whether that meant the closure of public services like libraries or removal of subsidies for bus services, Farage said: "It means choices, whether that's administrative staff, or options around buildings, assets that need to be sold.

"The Isle of Wight Council is a microcosm of the country. Economically we're going down the drain, with local and national government. We've got to get very tough."

He also confirmed one of the current Reform councillors on the island, Caroline Gladwin, had been readmitted to the party on Monday following a suspension.

The Conservative MP for the Isle of Wight, Joe Robertson, had criticised the letter inviting residents to the rally, saying it had included national messaging about "violent crime and overflowing bins, nothing to do with the Island".

Richard Quigley, the Labour MP, said criticising road maintenance was "plain wrong", given the council was in the top three authorities for roads in good order.

The independent leader of Isle of Wight Council, Phil Jordan, said Reform UK had been spreading misinformation about the finances of the council before the event and that the authority's long-term borrowing had fallen significantly.

He said: "It's a shame that our island appears to have been selected as a test bed for national politics using false and distorted facts to entice voters to place national issues ahead of local concerns."

The Green Party posted on their Facebook page: "Thanks, Nigel! We got three new councillor candidates motivated to step up for the Greens before your livestream even ended. Result for us!"

Reform currently has two councillors on Isle of Wight Council.

The authority is run by a minority coalition called the Alliance Group that has 11 councillors. There are 13 Conservatives, four Lib Dems, one Labour, three Empowering Islanders, two members of Very Broad Church, and three independents.

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