Nigel Farage has issued an urgent warning to Sir Keir Starmer as MPs debated a petition demanding an immediate General Election yesterday.
Farage, who broke his electoral hoodoo to enter the House of Commons at his eighth bite of the cherry, claimed the 8,000 signatories in his Clacton constituency were sending a clear message to the Prime Minister.
Speaking in Westminster Hall, the Reform UK leader said: “I represent Clacton, which has the third highest number of people who signed the petition.
“I do not think that the 8,000 people in Clacton who signed it did so just to get a fresh General Election.
Nigel Farage in Westminster Hall
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“They knew that that would not happen; what they were actually expressing was a sense of utter disenchantment with the entire political system.”
Farage highlighted how axing Winter Fuel Payments, imposing an inheritance tax raid on farmers and hiking National Insurance contributions for employers had fuelled anger from the electorate.
Ex-Shadow Equalities Minister Dawn Butler interjected to quiz Farage on Labour’s need to balance the books amid claims the Tories left a £22billion blackhole.
She said: “If the Honourable Member came into a new job and discovered a £22billion black hole, I think he would look a bit miserable as well.”
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Labour MP Dawn Butler in Westminster Hall
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Farage replied: “The idea of a £22billion black hole is nonsense. It is £2.7trillion.
“The national debt is massive. It exploded over the course of the last 14 years—it increased two and a half times—and it is set to go higher still, so we are in much deeper difficulties economically.
“Even to talk about a £22billion black hole is not to understand the problems that we have. We have zero growth in this country.
“As for foreign investment into Britain, yes, there is money coming in, but it is not coming in at anywhere near the rate we need. We have major, major problems.
Nigel Farage in Westminster Hall
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“I actually believe that this Government have talked us into a recession, because confidence is falling to that degree.”
Concluding his speech on the petition, Farage added: “I think the whole system is in need of absolute, fundamental change, and I suspect that this petition is just a symptom of a much bigger cry for a different kind of politics in the United Kingdom.
“Members can con themselves as much as they like, but the old two-party system is breaking up before our eyes. The next general election is going to see a very, very different Parliament.”
The petition, created by publican Michael Westwood, received just over three million signatures ahead of the Westminster Hall debate.
Keir Starmer unveiling his NHS plans
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Responding to the petition after it reached its first 10,000 signature milestone, the Government said: “This Government was elected on a mandate of change at the July 2024 General Election.
“Our full focus is on fixing the foundations, rebuilding Britain, and restoring public confidence in Government.”
Opinion polls suggest public mood is quickly turning against Starmer’s Labour Party.
Despite romping to a landslide victory with just under 34 per cent of the vote, a recent More in Common MRP poll indicated Labour would now lose swathes of seats.
A screenshot of a petition the demanding General Election
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The survey reduced Labour’s Commons contingent from 411 to just 228, with the Tory rump of 121 surging to 222.
However, Reform UK would also likely make major inroads, increasing its MPs from just five to 72.
The Liberal Democrats would likely drop from 72 MPs to around 58.
An SNP revival in Scotland would also coincide with setbacks for the Green Party in England, with independent candidates benefitting from Starmer’s apparent missteps.
During yesterday’s Westminster Hall debate, Labour MP Yasmin Qureshi blamed ‘foreign interference’ for the petitions’ surge in support
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During yesterday’s Westminster Hall debate, Labour MP Yasmin Qureshi blamed “foreign interference” for the petitions’ surge in support.
She said: “It is not normally used as a mechanism to hijack and play party politics.
“In the last 14 years we saw crisis after crisis caused by the ill-formed policies and plans and the rank cronyism of the previous Government.
“Unlike them we engaged in the process, we had debate, we did not commandeer a public petition to demand a new election.
“This petition has grown, some of it to do with a lot of misinformation, some of it to do with foreign interference … you may laugh at it but that happens to be correct as well.”
