Labour Warned Against Celebrating Nigel Farage’s Commons Bid

Labour has been warned against feeling positive about Nigel Farage standing for Parliament. Baroness Chakrabarti believes that while the move will hurt the Conservatives at the 4 July general election, it is “not good news” for Keir Starmer in the long term.

Farage announced on Monday that he will be standing for Parliament as the Reform UK candidate in the Essex constituency of Clacton, which is currently Tory-held. It is the only seat that has ever elected a UKIP MP and recent polling suggests Farage is in a strong position to win it.

His decision is seen as a boost to Reform UK's prospects at the upcoming election and a further blow to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's chances of pulling off what currently looks like an unlikely electoral recovery. The latest polling from YouGov, conducted after Farage’s announcement, shows the right-wing party taking 17 per cent of the vote share, compared to the Conservatives on 19 and Labour on 40. 

Even if Reform UK doesn't win any House of Commons seats of its own, it is well-placed to punish the Tories in numerous seats nationwide by taking votes from Sunak's party. This, in turn, will make it easier for Keir Starmer's Labour to win them. 

In an exclusive interview with The House magazine, Labour peer Baroness Chakrabarti, a former shadow cabinet member and director of Liberty, warned her party against celebrating Farage's decision because "nobody should be heartened by an emboldened populist far right”.

“I am sure that many of my Labour colleagues will have felt a boost that he was standing because that will undoubtedly take some votes to Reform that wouldn't otherwise have gone there. It certainly put it on the map,” she said.

“I'm sure that some Labour colleagues will go, 'great, he's