Farage tells members to expect election in next two years as Rayner quits

Nigel Farage has told activists to expect a general election in the next two years, as he told the Reform UK conference that successes in the last 12 months are only the beginning.

The Reform leader struck a triumphant tone as he gave an ebullient speech to members at the event in Birmingham.

Mr Farage said the party was on track to enter government, as he announced it was setting up an internal department to prepare for office.

The party’s former chairman Zia Yusuf will become its head of policy.

The audience at the NEC was told that Reform would stop the small boats crisis within a fortnight, if Mr Farage wins an election.

He took to the stage earlier than expected, minutes after Labour politician Angela Rayner resigned from her position as deputy prime minister.

He said the Government was now “deep in crisis” after the news, and amid challenges from the Green Party and a party led by Jeremy Corbyn and Zara Sultana, he believed the country could go to the polls to elect a new government within two years.

Mr Farage said: “We’re used to hearing stories of splits in the Conservative Party. We’re about to witness a big rift in the Labour Party, too.”

He added: “Before long, there’ll be Labour MPs that reckon they’ve got a better chance on the (Mr Corbyn) sectarian ticket… they’ve got a better chance of being re-elected under that ticket, under Corbyn, than they do under Sir Keir.”

He went on: “I think there is every chance now of a general election happening in 2027.”

Mr Farage also welcomed former Conservative culture secretary Nadine Dorries on stage after the former I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here contestant announced her defection from the Tories on the eve of the conference.

He said it would address a perceived weakness in the party that it lacked experience in government, as he announced Mr Yusuf’s appointment.

Ms Dorries said: “I feel for the first time in a number of years as though I’m at a conference and amongst people who share the same principles and values as I have always held.”

She backed the party’s immigration policies, and said: “Nigel, his team, Richard (Tice) and others, the Reform Party is the party of the moment. Because Reform are going to do things differently.”

Mr Farage said: “In order to get all these policies brought together under one roof – and it’s a massive workload – I’m going to ask (Mr Yusuf), from this day, to be our head of policy to bring all of this together.

“I will, in the next few weeks, open up a new department within the party, leaning on the experience that Nadine (Dorries) and others have – and others will come.

“Others with experience will come. Don’t worry about that, and we will open a department for preparing for government so that when we win, we can hit the ground running.”

He listed a number of policies the party has adopted, including prosecuting shoplifters, overturning Labour’s taxes on non-doms, and would stop migrants arriving in small boats within a fortnight.

He said: “We will stop what is a threat to our national security, what is a danger to girls and women on our streets, we will stop the boats, and detain and deport those who are illegally breaking into our country, doing what nearly every normal country around the rest of the world does.”

He added: “We will stop the boats within two weeks of winning the government.”

The conference had earlier been told by party chairman Dr David Bull that membership had risen above 240,000. Mr Farage later said there were 240 branches across the country, and the party now had more than 900 councillors, largely down to victories in May’s elections.

He was welcomed onto the stage with pyrotechnic smoke and fireworks, and a standing ovation. Audience members were seen drinking pints as they watched him. He said: “We are all ships rising on a turquoise tide, ever-closer towards winning the next general election.”

He later said: “All I can do is to promise you, that I will give this everything. I will give this absolutely everything. No-one cares more about the state of this country than I do.

“I am determined to do something about it. I came back last year out of retirement, to try and lead a movement that would get our country back.

“I think we’re on track. I think we’re on our way. I’m proud to lead this party, I’m proud of you, the amazing contribution you’ve made to our success over the next year. But I tell you what folks, that was just the beginning.”

Mr Yusuf said in his own speech that Reform UK will put “British people first” and that “the era of British decline will soon be at an end”.

“We’re on the brink of drawing to a close a tragic era in this country’s history, an era in which British people have been made second-class citizens in their own country, an era in which those who played by the rules their whole lives are robbed by the state to pay for those who break them,” he said.

The Labour Party said Mr Farage was offering “anger without answers”.

“Nigel Farage could have used his conference speech to offer more than just anger without answers and to say more than just ‘don’t know’ to the problems facing the country. He didn’t. It was the same old parade of complaints we’ve heard before.