Angela Rayner has slammed Nigel Farage as a “dictator,” pointing out he has never faced an election to be the leader of Reform UK.
The deputy prime minister yesterday reminded MPs that Nigel Farage owns his political party and hasn’t been democratically elected to his role as leader while responding to a question from Reform’s deputy, Richard Tice, about the government’s decision to postpone a handful of upcoming local elections.
The government has confirmed only nine council elections will be delayed until March 2026 as part of the first wave of major devolution reforms.
Tice told Rayner “Dictators cancel elections, not democracies” and he asked her if local authorities had the resources to reorganise their elections within 12 months.
“5.5 million voters in southern England are being denied the right to pass judgment on the performance of their councillors over the last four years,” he added.
But, Angela Rayner brutally hit back, saying: “When [Richard Tice] talks about dictators, it is the Reform leader that hasn’t faced an election to get to his leadership position.
“I’d also say we are not cancelling the elections. I’ve been really clear on the rationale. It’s not unique, and it’s not something which hasn’t been done before. It’s for reorganisation and it is for further devolution… which is what we promised through our manifesto.”
“The government’s starting point is for all elections to go ahead unless there is a strong justification for postponement. The bar is high and rightly so, I’m only agreeing to half the requests that were made,” she added.
“We’re not in the business of holding elections to bodies that won’t exist and where we don’t know what will replace them. This would be an expensive and irresponsible waste of taxpayers’ money and any party calling for these elections to go ahead must explain how this waste would be justifiable.”
Related: Angela Rayner ‘called Prince Andrew a nonce’ and ‘tried to block him from royal duties’