Nigel Farage has accused the European Union of postponing its big reset summit with the UK because it believes Labour Prime Minister Andy Burnham will be an even softer touch on Brexit than his predecessor, Keir Starmer. Writing exclusively for the British press, the Reform UK leader insisted he will not allow the EU to get away with what he calls a final sell-out of the 2016 referendum result.
Brexit earthquake transformed British politics
Farage described Brexit as an earthquake in British politics, triggered when millions of ordinary voters defied the entire political establishment by voting Leave. He argued that it changed the political landscape for good and exposed the gap between patriotic British voters and the unpatriotic Westminster parties. According to Farage, both the Conservatives and Labour proved unwilling to accept the democratic vote to Leave and unable to properly implement Brexit.
He claimed that the establishment decided that 17.4 million Leave voters were idiots, and that a few hundred Remainer MPs and Lords really knew what was best for the rest of Britain. As a direct result of this betrayal, he said, the old two-party system has collapsed.
Six prime ministers in seven years
Farage noted that as the old parties struggle to cope with the aftershocks of the Brexit earthquake, Britain has gone through six Prime Ministers in seven years. He boasted: I saw off four of them – Cameron, May, Sunak, Starmer – myself. We’ll soon be on our seventh. And if Andy Burnham heeds my demand for an early election, we’ll be on number eight shortly after that.
The Reform UK leader pointed to electoral shifts as evidence of the changing political landscape. In 2019, Labour’s Red Wall turned Tory blue as voters tried to get Brexit done. It turned red again in 2024 as they punished the Tories for their betrayal. And now, in two straight local elections, the former Red Wall has turned turquoise, as voters have backed Reform UK to deliver the changes that other parties won’t.
Brexit betrayal by political class
Farage insisted that people voted Leave because they wanted to take back control of Britain’s borders, laws and money. They wanted less immigration and fewer regulations. The fact that these things have not been delivered is not a failure of Brexit. It is a shameful betrayal by the political class, a refusal to do what the people wanted.
He argued that the next General Election will be a straight contest between the visions of Britain put forward by Burnham’s Labour and Reform UK.
What Reform UK would deliver
Farage set out his vision for what he would do if granted the privilege to serve as Prime Minister. I will finally do the job that nobody in the establishment was up to - making Brexit work, he wrote.
He pledged to wipe EU regulation from the statute book, quit the European Convention on Human Rights that allows EU courts to override the sovereign Parliament, once again make British laws with no deference to or alignment with Brussels, and secure and defend Britain’s borders - the mark of a sovereign nation.
Farage also promised to scrap net zero targets and use the North Sea to give British homes and businesses affordable and secure energy. He said he would stand up for coastal and rural communities abandoned by establishment parties that care more about the views of EU officials than British farmers and fishermen, and create a better future for Northern Ireland as a proud part of the United Kingdom.
The greatest moment in modern history
Farage recalled standing in Parliament Square at 11pm on January 31, 2020, the moment when Brexit passed into law, and we regained our freedom. He called it the greatest moment in the modern history of our great nation. I meant every word, he said.
He concluded: Only Reform UK will deliver on the promise of 2016, and make Britain a sovereign nation whose Government’s sole concern is to serve the people.
