Nigel Farage visits Lancashire - this is how the Reform UK leader was greeted and what he had to say

The Reform UK leader was in the county as part of a nationwide campaign tour ahead of next month’s local elections.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), he accepted that – save for a handful of defectors from the Conservatives – the majority of the candidates being fielded by Reform in the 84 seats up for grabs on Lancashire County Council have no experience of even sitting on a local authority, let alone running one.

However, he said they were “enthusiastic” and had been drawn into politics by disillusionment with the country at a national and local level – with the latter encapsulated by what he claimed was wasteful spending at County Hall.

>» Click here to see all the candidates standing in the Lancashire County Council elections.

Coming as an unexpected sight to locals as he strode through Ormskirk town centre on Wednesday morning, Mr. Farage received numerous warm greetings from surprised passers by and readily accepted the selfie requests that came with most of them – including what appeared to be a particularly starstruck group of teenage girls.

The LDRS witnessed only one shopper who initially expressed an interest in why a crowd had gathered – only to quickly change her mind once she learned who was at the centre of it. There was no such disdain during pre-arranged visits to local businesses, which saw the Reform leader presented with sweets in the party colours and an election T-shirt – while an on-the-spot invite to community hub and support service Hope Street was also taken up.

After a later trip to the ‘Parbold Bottle’ monument – originally known as the ‘Reform Pillar’ – Nigel Farage said he recognised there were “huge pressures” on Lancashire County Council – but accused the current Tory administration of playing its hand badly.

“I fully understand that county councils have had less money from central government since 2010, I understand [about] the ageing population [and] the social care bill, but…why did Lancashire County Council spend half a million quid on ergonomic chairs for their staff? I don’t consider that to be a good use of money.

“Why are they spending money on combating climate change? That’s not the job of a county council.

“You’ve got more potholes in Lancashire than any other county in the whole of England. I want to see who the contracts are signed up with – are they five-year contracts, are [they] 10-year contracts? Are there better things that could have been done?

“There is new technology out there [for repairing] potholes…have they looked at these ideas or have they stuck with old ideas? Let’s find out the truth, because what’s for certain is right at the minute, local government – Lancashire included – is broken and Reform intend to fix it,” Mr. Farage said.

Asked why Lancashire voters would put their trust in a party that largely lacks any local political experience, he added: “A lot of our candidates have never been in politics in their life – and they’re getting involved…because they think the country as a whole is going down the drain.

“However, we have former county councillors from other parties that have defected to us [and] we have…the leader of Ribble Valley [Borough Council, Stephen Atkinson, who] has joined us – if he wins a seat on the county council, you’ve already got at least a handful of people with experience of running things.”

Two former Conservative members of Lancashire County Council – Matthew Salter and Ged Mirfin – switched allegiance to Reform last month.

‘LEAVE WELL ALONE’

Nigel Farage said he was unconvinced about the wisdom of the Labour government’s forthcoming shake-up of local authorities in places like Lancashire – which will see the county council and 14 other local area councils abolished and replaced with a handful of new ones.

“Nobody has persuaded me that…abolishing district councils – which in many cases people do feel quite identified with -…[is] a good idea,” he said.

He added that the creation of new, so-called ‘unitary authorities’ amounted to “devolving power up, not down – this is taking power away from local councils”.

“And in the case of some counties [where similar changes have taken place previously], they’ve broken [them] up into three or four independent unitaries – therefore actually destroying any sense of county identity.”

Mr. Farage said he would stick to the status quo, but wanted to “see it run better”.

Asked about government plans for Lancashire to have an elected mayor by May next year, he said the people should have their say on the matter.

“There’s a desperate push from [Deputy Prime Minister] Angela Rayner to change everything, but change for the sake of change isn’t necessarily good,” the Reform leader said.