Farage called for the Lords to be scrapped after peers voted for the UK to stay in the EU customs union
Nigel Farage is trying to push prime minister Keir Starmer to allow him to appoint Reform UK peers, despite previously calling for the House of Lords to be abolished.
Incidentally, the Reform leader’s suggestion in 2018 that the House of Lords should be replaced with an elected senate came after peers voting against the government’s Brexit deal and argued the country should remain in a UK-EU customs union.
Now that Reform has four MPs and controls 10 councils, Farage has changed his tune and appears more focused on advancing his party’s influence than reforming the Lords.
In a letter to Starmer reported by The Times, Farage said: “The Greens, DUP, Plaid Cymru and UUP [Ulster Unionist Party] have 13 peers between them, but Reform UK has none. The time has come to address the democratic disparity that exists in the upper house.”
Farage is said to be considering former Tory turned Reform spokesperson Ann Widdecombe, Reform chairman Zia Yusuf and billionaire party donor Nick Candy as potential candidates for a peerage.
No 10 typically asks the leaders of opposition parties to nominate their own candidates for peerages at the same time as the Prime Minister nominates theirs.
Yet, in an interview on LBC in 2018, Farage said the Lords should be abolished after peers dared to scrutinise Brexit.
He said: “All I can say is the House of Lords is stuffed full of former MPs, party donors, spivs, former European commissioners, they’re a London-based clique, most of them are mates of Blair’s and Cameron’s.”
Farage added: “The whole place is a complete and utter disgrace and the sooner we close the whole shooting match down and replace it with an elected Senate the better!”.
It is interesting Farage is now keen to see Reform party donors sitting in the chamber he once wanted to abolish.
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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