Nigel Farage visits South Shields on Reform UK local election campaign
The divisive Clacton MP received a decidedly mixed reception as he wandered down King Street in South Shields on a sunny Tuesday morning, with some locals shouting that he was βnot welcomeβ in their town while others were keen to speak to him.
His party is aiming to make major gains in the region and repeat an historic landslide win in Durham County Council elections last year, as every council seat is contested in South Tyneside, Sunderland, Gateshead, and Newcastle on May 7.
Mr Farage called South Shields a βtown in declineβ and said he would βreally urge hardβ that prospective Reform councillors slash parking fees if they take control of South Tyneside Council next month.
He said: “I am going to really urge hard with all of our candidates when I have a big sit down with them later on, ‘for goodness sake, get rid of parking charges and give this high street and others in this area half a chance’.”
Mr Farage praised the work to relocate South Tyneside College into the town centre – a project awarded more than Β£18 million by the mayor last year, as well as further public funding from the Government.
Eddie Watson was among the first locals to confront Mr Farage as he stepped onto King Street and called him a βhorrible manβ.
CafΓ© owner Alan Clark, however, was one of those keen to raise the parking issue.
He said: “People want somewhere that has free parking, so they go to the Galleries (in Washington) instead.
“If we had three hours free parking here, it would attract a lot of people.”Β
South Tyneside is just one Labour-run area that Reform is targeting.
Latest data from More in Common shows that the likes of Sunderland could become the “clearest example” of Labour’s turquoise troubles.
The city council has been run by Labour since its formation, but the latest modelling shows Reform would win the constituency of Sunderland Central if a general election was held now, with the party 12 percentage points ahead of Labour with 37 per cent of the vote.
Projections show Labour could lose close to 2,000 seats in local elections, with the expected number of new seats for Reform UK ranging from 1,603 to 1,273.
Mr Farageβs visit comes amid growing expectations from his party of a strong showing in the polls.
The elections are considered a moment of particular peril for Sir Keir Starmer as speculation over his position continues.
Do you think Reform will see more success in May’s local elections? Let us know in the comments.