Democracy Now! UK Elections: Reform & Greens Surge, Labour Vote Collapses

May 11, 2026

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„Nigel Farage galoppiert nun Richtung Downing Street“

FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE: Nach dem Debakel der Labour-Partei bei den Regionalwahlen in Großbritannien bekräftigt Regierungschef Swinney seine Forderung nach der Unabhängigkeit Schottlands. Sein Land müsse vor „der Wahl einer Farage-Regierung“ geschützt sein.

Nach dem Debakel der Labour-Partei bei den Regionalwahlen in Großbritannien hat der schottische Regierungschef John Swinney seine Forderung nach Unabhängigkeit für seinen Landesteil erneuert. „Nigel Farage galoppiert nun Richtung Downing Street“, sagte Swinney am Samstag mit Blick auf den Chef der rechtspopulistischen Partei Reform UK. Die Aussicht auf eine Regierung unter Führung der Reform UK sei sehr wahrscheinlich. „Wir müssen als unabhängiges Land davor geschützt sein, von der Wahl einer Farage-Regierung betroffen und beeinflusst zu werden.“ » | Quelle: AFP | Samstag, 9. Mai 2026

Hoffentlich irrt sich Herr Swinney! Großbritannien steckt wegen ihm und seinem unsinnigen Brexit schon genug in der Klemme! Ein paar Jahre unter seiner Führung würden die Zerstörung vollends besiegeln! Farage und seine Partei sind Großbritanniens Antwort auf MAGA. Das sagt doch alles! Farage und seine Anhänger würden dem Land immensen Schaden zufügen, wenn man ihnen die Chance dazu gäbe. Hoffentlich ist die britische Wählerschaft nicht so leichtsinnig, für eine Farage-Regierung zu stimmen! — © Mark Alexander

Rob Groves: Reform UK, Bringing the USA’s Project 2025 to Britain

May 9, 2026 | Nigel Farage's Reform UK had a big night at the local elections this week. But before anyone hands them the keys to Westminster, here's what a year of Reform UK in power actually looks like. Broken promises on council tax. Rising pothole complaints. Care home closures. Racist and homophobic candidates slipping through their supposedly world-class vetting process. Untraceable crypto donations. And deep, documented ties to Trump's Project 2025, Viktor Orbán's Hungary, and the American far right's CPAC network. Reform UK is a franchise operation, and the head office is in Washington DC.

Excellent synopsis. Reform UK is a motley bunch of frauds. It is to be hoped that they never get anywhere near the actual levers of power. — © Mark Alexander

Michael Lambert: Why Reform UK Won't Take Power Despite Farage's Rise

May 9, 2026 | As expected, Reform UK under Nigel Farage has triumphed in this week's local elections, but it will not win a general election, and Farage will never become Prime Minister.

In this video, I explain why. Many of the votes cast for Reform UK were protest votes from disaffected Labour and Conservative voters. Many are likely to vote differently in a general election.

In this video, I highlight some of the content of the party’s manifesto, or 'Contract with the People', much of which is clearly unachievable as confirmed by the Institute of Fiscal Studies.

Policies include massive tax reductions and reducing the NHS waiting list from 7.25 million to zero in two years.

I also quote details of some of the many Reform UK councillors who have appeared in the press for various offences such as racism and hate speech.

Finally, I comment on the most prominent members of Reform UK, such as Lee Anderson, Suella Braverman, Zia Yusuf, Richard Tice, Robert Jenrick, Nadhim Zahawi and Nigel Farage who acccepted a gift of £5 million from a crypto currency millionaire living in Thailand, and how Farage now promotes crypto currency.


Excellent synopsis. I laughed more listening to this video by Michael Lambert than usual. It’s his droll humour that does it! 😊 Reform UK are such a motley bunch anyway, yet they all have several things in common, namely dishonesty, racism, fantasy, a love of Trump, and a hatred of the European Union. (I’m sure there are other characteristics which haven’t immediately sprung to mind.)

I hope Michael is right about the Party never coming to power. It would be a disaster.

Bottom line: I understand people’s protest votes; but I do not understand how so many people could possibly vote for a man who is the ultimate source of all that ails the country and its economy. — © Mark Alexander

Brexit Failed. Farage Did It. Now You're Voting FOR Him?

It makes no sense. Michael Lambert explains.

Rob Groves: Who's Really Bankrolling Reform UK?

Mar 28, 2026 | The government has moved to ban cryptocurrency donations to UK political parties and cap overseas donations at £100,000 a year.

On the face of it, that's a victory for democracy. But dig a little deeper and this story is really about one man: Nigel Farage, and the £12 million pumped into his Reform UK by a Thailand-based cryptocurrency billionaire.

This week we follow the money, and ask why Farage has gone so uncharacteristically quiet.

Reform Would Create ICE-style Agency and End Leave to Remain, Zia Yusuf to Say

THE GUARDIAN: Nigel Farage’s party plans to deport up to 288,000 people a year on five flights a day and expand stop and search

Reform UK would create an ICE-style agency dedicated to deporting hundreds of thousands of people, as well as terminating the status of those with indefinite leave to remain (ILR), the party will say.

It would also ban the conversion of churches into mosques and fund a radical expansion of stop and search, the party’s new home affairs spokesperson, Zia Yusuf, will also say in a speech on Monday. The deradicalisation programme Prevent would also have its mandate redrawn to focus on Islamist extremism.

Labour said the plans were divisive and showed that Reform was planning “to deport people who have followed the rules, worked hard and built their lives here – our friends, neighbours and colleagues”.

The Labour party’s chair, Anna Turley, said the policies were “a direct attack on settled families and fundamentally un-British”. She added: “Britain is a proud, tolerant and diverse nation, which stands in opposition to the kind of divisive politics stoked by Reform.” » | Jessica Elgot | Sunday, February 22, 2026

Andrew Neil: I Don’t Want American ‘Ethno-Christian Nationalism’ In the UK

Feb 23, 2026 | “There is a kind of ethno-Christian nationalism abroad in America that I wouldn't like to see coming to the United Kingdom.”

Andrew Neil says he is “deeply suspicious” of attempts to align church and state, as Reform UK announce that they want to restore Britain’s Christian heritage.

Reform UK Plan to Rip Up Equality Act Shocking and Un-British, Says Starmer

THE GUARDIAN: PM argues party wants to send women back to ‘old days’, as he also urges Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor to speak to authorities

Reform UK’s plans to repeal the Equalities Act is “shocking” and unBritish, Keir Starmer has said, warning legislation that has provided decades of protection for women would be ripped up.

In a pre-recorded interview with BBC Breakfast, the prime minister said the legislation was British at its core and represented “basic values”, before arguing Reform wanted to send women back to the “old days” when they were not treated equally.

In a wide-ranging discussion, Starmer also said Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor should speak to the authorities in the UK and US about the Jeffrey Epstein scandal and defended the government’s recent U-turn on postponing local elections.

Asked by the presenter, Naga Munchetty, about Reform’s plans to repeal the Equalities Act, Starmer said: “Can I just say how shocking it is that Reform are suggesting we tear up the Equalities Act. » | Jamie Grierson | Thursday, February 19, 2026

Related video here.

Reform UK Says It Will Repeal the Equality Act - That Should Tell You All You Need to Know

February 18, 2026

The western world is going bonkers! But we shouldn’t be surprised. The manifestation of increasing craziness is a direct result of the metastasis of the primary growth of cancer across the Pond. Trump being the primary tumour. But as we all know, primary cancerous growths and tumours rarely remain dormant; they eventually spread and take hold elsewhere in the body. In this case, in the body politic. — © Mark Alexander

"Nigel Farage Was MAGA Before Trump"

Feb 13, 2026 | TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak chats to investigative journalist Sam Bright from DeSmog, to discuss how money has influenced our politics, and who is funding Nigel Farage and why.

WIKIPEDIA: Christopher Harborne »

Michael Lambert: Why No Leader Can Fix Britain’s Current Course

Feb 7, 2026 | In this video I reflect on recent events in British politics from a very different perspective — speaking from Bangkok and watching the UK from afar.

I discuss the latest defections to Reform UK, why Nigel Farage still represents a political cul-de-sac rather than a governing future, and what these shifts say about the Conservative Party’s decline.

I also look at Keir Starmer’s trip to China, the reality behind the so-called “sophisticated relationship”, and the uncomfortable truth about Britain trying to negotiate alone in a world dominated by large trade blocs.

Along the way I touch on Peter Mandelson, Labour’s leadership dilemma, Andy Burnham, Davos and the wider question of whether Brexit has left Britain trying to play a role in the world that no longer exists.

Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman Defects to Reform UK

THE GUARDIAN: Braverman becomes third sitting Conservative MP to join Nigel Farage’s party in little more than a week

Suella Braverman has defected to Reform, the third sitting Conservative MP to join Nigel Farage’s party in little more than a week.

Arriving as a surprise speaker at a Reform event in London, Braverman, who has been an MP since 2015 and served as home secretary under Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, said: “Today am announcing that I resign the Conservative whip. I have resigned the Conservative whip and my party membership of 30 years because I believe with my heart and soul that a better future is possible for us.”

She added: “I feel like I have come home.” » | Ben Quinn, Peter Walker and Priya Bharadia | Monday, January 26, 2026

I see that the Conservative Party, or what’s left of it, is being purified! Reform UK is like the drain in your kitchen sink: all the crud and dregs are drawn down in the vortex first! 😊 — © Mark Alexander

What Would a Reform Government Mean for Britain?

Nov 29, 2025 | If polls are to be believed, Nigel Farage will be the next Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Britain will have a Reform UK government. In this video, I argue that this government will pursue a Thatcherite agenda that doubles down on the economic and political status-quo that has ruled Britain for a generation. Hence, Nigel Farage is not an anti-establishment figure, he is a fugue of establishment that will defend their interests and not ours.

Reform 'the Most Terrible Political Development of Modern Times' | Lord Heseltine

Nov 21, 2025 | "[Farage] is a phony. If you can’t see that then you really have no idea of the political realities."

Farage is an expert at "raising the temperature" and aiming that anger towards immigrants, says Conservative peer, Lord Heseltine.

Wales Reform UK Ex-leader Jailed for Taking Russian Bribes

Nov 21, 2025 | Nathan Gill was once described as Nigel Farage's right-hand-man when both men sat in the European parliament.

Now the former leader of Reform UK in Wales has been jailed for 10-and-a-half years after admitting taking £40,000 in bribes to make pro-Russian statements in 2018 and 2019.

A Reform UK spokesman said: “Mr Gill’s actions were reprehensible, treasonous and unforgivable. We are glad that justice has been served.

Nigel Farage’s Local Government Clown Show

In just six months, Reform UK has managed to lose dozens of its victorious councillors.

Lord Heseltine Pressed on Reform "Equivalents to the Fascists in the 30s" Comments

Oct 9, 2025 | Victoria Derbyshire speaks to Tory grandee Lord Heseltine about comments he made at Conservative Party Conference where he described Reform UK "and other parties across Europe today as among the right wing equivalents of the fascists in the 1930s."

A Reform UK spokesperson said: “92-year-old Lord Heseltine is out of touch and deeply offensive to millions of voters.”


A Tory grandee who speaks oodles of common sense. But then he would, wouldn’t he? He’s a Welshman! 😊 This gentleman should have become prime minister. Had it not been for Thatcher, he most probably would have become prime minster. Unfortunately, Thatcher loathed him. And I presume that the feeling was mutual. — © Mark Alexander

Keir Starmer promet d’«affronter» le parti de Nigel Farage au Royaume-Uni, avant un congrès travailliste à haut risque

LE FIGARO : Le parti anti-immigration de Nigel Farage, Reform UK, poursuit son ascension dans les sondages, alors que le premier ministre accumule les déboires politiques.

Les travaillistes britanniques commencent à se réunir dimanche à Liverpool pour un congrès annuel à haut risque pour le premier ministre Keir Starmer, de plus en plus contesté dans son camp, qui tentera de convaincre qu’il est capable de mener le «combat» contre le parti anti-immigration de Nigel Farage. Quinze mois seulement après son arrivée au pouvoir, le chef du gouvernement accumule les déboires. L’économie est au ralenti, le chômage à son plus haut en quatre ans, l’immigration illégale bat des records, l’inflation reste plus élevée qu’ailleurs en Europe.

En parallèle, le parti de Nigel Farage, Reform UK, poursuit son ascension dans les sondages, capitalisant sur le rejet de l’immigration d’une partie des Britanniques. «Nous avons devant nous le combat de notre vie, nous devons affronter Reform, nous devons les battre», a martelé Keir Starmer dimanche dans une interview à la BBC. «Ils veulent déchirer ce pays», a-t-il ajouté, jugeant «raciste» et «immoral» leur projet d’obliger les migrants non-européens régularisés à refaire une demande à des conditions plus strictes. » | Par Le Figaro avec AFP | dimanche 28 septembre 2025

Reform UK Backed by “Disgraceful Nazi” Views: Andrew Marr | Election 2024

”Some of these people have some really, really dark views.”