Nigel Farage plots more carnage as he targets 'town hall revolution' in council elections

Nigel Farage has set Reform UK’s sights on a town hall revolution by storming local government in next year’s council elections.

He said the aim is to win “hundreds of seats” in election battles “all over England”.

The veteran Brexiteer made history this month when he led a group of five Reform MPs into Westminster, as the party won over four million votes – more than the Liberal Democrats, the Greens and the SNP.

Winning council seats would help the fledgling party put down roots in local communities ahead of the next general election. Mr Farage said the opportunity in next year’s council vote is “far bigger” than anything that lay before Ukip in its heyday.

He told the Sunday Express: “In 2013, Ukip fought a huge number of seats in the English county council elections.

“Most of our candidates were purely paper ones but we managed to win 147. It catapulted Ukip to major party status and changed my life forever.

“I have been unable since that to ever use public transport. The opportunity at these elections in 2025 is far bigger than anything Ukip had before them over a decade ago.”

Confident that Reform can deliver further blows to the Tories, he said: “The Conservative Party itself is wasted in the countryside in terms of enthusiasm and energy. My primary focus as party leader, despite my responsibilities in Clacton and in Parliament, is to get us fit and ready with active campaigns all over England.

“We aim to fight and win hundreds of seats. If we can succeed with this, we will genuinely overtake the Conservative Party as the voice of opposition out in the country.”

He said Reform chairman Zia Yusuf has been “tasked with the restructuring, professionalising and democratising at branch level with one eye on the first week of May next year”.

Conservative Party chairman Richard Fuller said the local elections were “not about Nigel Farage getting another notch in his political belt”.

“The general election showed us that a vote for Reform is a vote for a Labour government.

“Likewise a vote for a Reform local government candidate risks further embedding radical socialism at a local level and removing excellent local leaders who look after residents rather than pursuing ideological whims,” he said.

Greg Smith, the Conservative MP for Mid Buckinghamshire, doubted Reform would succeed in becoming a major force in local government.

He believes many people voted Reform in the general election because they wanted to give the Tory government “a good kicking” but did not want to vote Labour.

Mr Smith said in future elections people are less likely to be in “protest voting mode”, but added: “I certainly am not complacent about Reform.

“I am certainly of a mind that we’ve got to keep a very firm eye on what it is they are up to and what they are doing.”