Farage accuses Starmer of being 'hopelessly out of touch' as he looks to 'outflank' Labour on 'working people'
27 May 2025, 06:50 | Updated: 27 May 2025, 17:29
Nigel Farage accused Sir Keir Starmer of being "hopelessly out of touch with working people" as he bids to outflank him over benefits and fuel payments.
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Nigel Farage accused Sir Keir Starmer of being "hopelessly out of touch with working people" as he looks to outflank the Prime Minister on benefits and fuel payments.
In his "pitch to working people" speech, the Reform leader dubbed the Prime Minister the “most unpatriotic” in history after signing deals with the EU and handing over the Chagos islands to Mauritius.
Standing alongside a string of newly elected mayors and councillors, Mr Farage declared his party was the "official opposition” following their successful local election campaign at the start of May.
Mr Farage also made the keynote speech alongside new MP Sarah Pochin, fresh from winning the Runcorn byelection in a knife-edge vote earlier this month.
The Clacton MP would then go on to announce an array of new party policies, such as the scrapping of the two child benefit cap and reinstatement of the winter fuel payments for all – in a bid to outflank the PM on the left.
But last night, a government source said of the challenge from Mr Farage: “Who is more in touch with the working class? One of them grew up in a home where the phone was cut off.
“The other one went to Dulwich College.”
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Recent polling from YouGov has put the Reform party on 29 per cent – followed by Labour on 22 per cent and the Tories on 16 per cent.
As part of the blistering attack on the PM, Mr Farage said Sir Keir doesn’t understand the working people of Britain, who are turning to the Reform party in droves.
He challenged the Prime Minister to go to a working man’s club in the North of England to see who can better connect with the working class, before discussing immigration and net zero policies.
When talking about Sir Keir, Mr Farage said: "He and his government are so hopelessly out of touch with working people. They u turn on everything as they do not believe in anything.
"In 10 months, his Labour Government have let down countless individual communities. Pensioners, Farmers, businesses, fisherman. They will not forget what Labour has done and they will vote for Reform.
"What does Starmer know about people getting up at 5am to go to work, pay their taxes and still not have enough to pay the bills while a family next door to them doesn’t work and has more money in their pocket?
"It’s not right or fair. Reform will always support working people and not turn their backs on them."
He also dubbed the Chagos and EU agreements as the "biggest betrayal" of British national interests in history and said they are “surrender deals” which “betray the very essence of Brexit”.
Sources close to the Reform boss described it as a “coming of age moment” for the party – and said the speech showed that they were no longer a wasted vote.
They said: “For years Reform/Nigel led party’s have always had the issue with people wanting to vote for us but feeling it may be a wasted vote. This has now changed.
“If you vote for Reform, you get Reform - this is the coming of age moment for Reform.”
Ellie Reeves, Chair of the Labour Party, hit out at the Reform boss.
She said: “Nigel Farage, a private-educated stockbroker and career politician, has only ever cared about his own self-interest and personal ambition, never about what is good for working people in this country.
“Farage wants to abolish the NHS, praise Liz Truss’ disastrous mini-budget, oppose Labour’s landmark employment reforms and say Jaguar Land Rover, a huge employer, deserves to go bust.
“His Reform manifesto included billions of pounds worth of unfunded spending pledges but did not commit to the Triple Lock. Farage must urgently clarify whether he will cut the state pension to pay for his reckless tax cuts.
“Keir Starmer’s Labour Government is delivering real improvement to working people’s lives through our Plan for Change that has seen NHS waiting lists fall, wages rising faster than prices, and four interest rate cuts in a year turbo-charged by a trio of trade deals that are good for jobs, bills and borders.”
It comes as the Government are considering softening changes to benefits in a bid to dampen a rebellion over the welfare reforms.
LBC understands that ministers want to be ambitious in the upcoming child poverty strategy – but this has been delayed until the autumn.
Options on the table include a three-child benefit cap, scrapping the two-child cap altogether, giving disabled people time to swap to new systems, or boost benefits in other ways.
Last week the PM also confirmed he would partially u-turn on winter fuel payments – saying they would look again at the thresholds for the benefit.
But any change isn’t likely to be announced in full before the budget, as the Chancellor is attempting to finalise the plans and find the cash to pay for them.
