Starmer: Farage takes people for fools
The Prime Minister has branded Nigel Farage 'a wolf in Wall Street clothing' and claimed 'he's got no idea what he's talking about'.
In a fresh attack on the Reform UK leader Sir Keir Starmer, speaking at Welsh Labour's annual conference on Saturday morning, said: 'Nigel Farage isn't interested in Wales, he's interested in Nigel Farage.'
Reform is currently polling in first place in Wales in the run up to Senedd elections next year.
Mr Farage's party is expected to win a number of Labour seats in the principality thanks to a new proportional-voting system that will be introduced in the 2026 Welsh elections.
Labour, which has led every Welsh government since devolution was introduced in 1999, now polls in third place in Wales behind Reform and Plaid Cymru, the Welsh nationalist party.
In his speech to Welsh Labour MPs and party delegates, Sir Keir said: 'Nigel Farage isn't interested in Wales, he's interested in Nigel Farage. And he takes people for fools. Just look what he said earlier this month. Going to Port Talbot pretending he's got a plan to reopen a blast furnace when he's got no idea what he's talking about and he's got no plan at all.'
Sir Keir also accused Mr Farage of 'intending to charge people to use the NHS' and planning 'unfunded tax cuts for billionaires'.
'While we're planning the future, there are those who are firmly stuck in the past. Take Farage. When you ask him about Clacton, he thinks it's running in the 2:10 at Ascot. A wolf in Wall Street clothing.'
The Prime Minister repeated allegations that 'Reform claims to be the party of patriotism while sucking up to Putin' and said party figures had been 'abusing our armed forces online'.
The latter claim follows Richard Tice, Reform's deputy leader, voicing criticism of the head of an RAF base for having insufficient security measures after it was sabotaged by the activist group Palestine Action.
The speech marks the latest in a series of attacks by the Prime Minister on the leader of Reform, which has five seats in the House of Commons but is leading in the polls.
Sir Keir has said he considers Mr Farage's party to be the main challenger to Labour now, describing the Conservative opposition as a 'dead-party walking' under Kemi Badenoch's leadership.
The Prime Minister has described his tussling with the Reform leader as part of a 'a battle for the heart and soul of the country'.
'If we're to win that battle, we have to be the progressives fighting against the populists of Reform – yes, Labour has to be a progressive political party,' he told The Observer in an interview this week.
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