Nigel Farage is bidding to seize control of six London councils next year as he looks to end the capital’s reputation as a no-go zone for Reform.
The Reform leader has made London a key target in his plans to trigger another political ‘earthquake‘ at the local elections in May.
In an interview with the Mail, he said Reform would target Sadiq Khan‘s ‘terrible’ record on law and order. Mr Farage said success in the capital next year could be the springboard for a serious push to topple Mr Khan in the next mayoral election in 2028.
Reform and its predecessor parties have struggled in the past to gain a foothold in London, which was a stronghold of the Remain campaign.
But Mr Farage said ‘everything has changed’ since the last election.
The party is pouring resources into the contest in the capital and Mr Farage said it has a ‘very real chance’ of winning in ‘half a dozen’ of the 32 London boroughs.
Key targets include the outer London boroughs of. Bromley, Bexley, Havering and Barking and Dagenham.
But Mr Farage, who will launch his party’s London campaign at a major event at the Excel centre next month, is also looking for signs of Labour’s vote splintering in currently rock-solid parts of inner London where it is under intense pressure from the Greens and other Left-wing parties.
Capital offensive: Nigel Farage is targeting Reform’s first electoral success in London
‘Labour are going to find their vote horrendously split,’ he said. ‘With the Greens and Corbyn and the Gaza independents. All these different people. There is a chance that Labour vote really gets hit.’
He added: ‘Starmer’s problems as we face May are immense, These elections in May are the British equivalent of the US midterms.
‘We’re going for gold.’
Mr Farage criticised the record of both Mr Khan and the Conservatives on crime in the capital.
‘London is in big, big, big, big trouble,’ he said.
‘Absolutely at the heart of our campaign in London is law and order. Crime is everywhere and Sadiq’s record is one of almost not caring about it. It is remarkable. And the Tories’ record I’m afraid… 87 per cent of police stations in London closed under the Conservatives. People feel there is no local police station, there is no community policing. They see the dramatic decline in police numbers since 2010 and yet large numbers of Londoners get knocks on the door for what they say on Facebook.
He added: ‘I don’t know anybody in London who has not had a member of their family who’s been a victim of crime in the last year. I don’t know anyone. It’s literally everywhere. People who commute in from the suburbs every day are deeply conscious of it.
‘If your mobile phone is stolen… I had a relation whose phone was stolen, mugged outside Victoria Station and phone taken. We had a tracker on it, we phoned the police we told them exactly where it was and the postcode in High Wycombe and you can bet your life it wasn’t just his mobile phone – there would have been 100 of them – and the police did nothing. They’re just not interested.’
Mr Farage plans to adopt the ‘broken windows’ strategy pioneered by Rudy Giuliani in New York, which saw crime rates slashed in the 1990s by taking a zero tolerance to even minor offences.
He said Reform would introduce ‘radical change’ to the policing of offences like shoplifting and phone theft.
‘Basically now, you can shoplift with impunity,’ he said. ‘We believe every single shoplifting case should be prosecuted – every single one.
Reform believe success in the capital in May could provide a springboard for a serious bid to oust Sadiq Khan as London mayor
‘We are basically beginning to apply the broken windows theory from Rudy Giuliani. He’s somebody I admire and know very well. During my time working for American companies I saw the most dangerous city in America become the safest city in America. We want to model ourselves on that.’
Labour is expected to lose control in Wales for the first time ever, with Reform fighting it out with Plaid Cymru to emerge as the largest party.
In Scotland, recent polls have suggested that Reform is now in second place behind the SNP.
There is a genuine collapse in the Labour vote across the country,’ Mr Farage said. ‘It’s amazing.’
Reform topped the poll in this year’s local elections, delivering a seismic shock to both Labour and the Conservatives last May.
Recent council-by elections suggest that the trend is continuing.
A tally of this year’s contests shows that Reform has quietly gained 59 seats at by-elections this year, including 25 from Labour and 19 from the Conservatives. The Lib Dems, who hope to do well in the home counties in May, have picked up 20 seats, half of them from the Conservatives. Meanwhile, the Tories have lost 25 seats and Labour is down by 44.
