Divisive Farage by-election a reminder our politics badly needs repair

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage says he will resign as an MP for Clacton, triggering a by-election which he says he will fight.

It comes after Farage faced scrutiny over his finances, including a Sunday Times investigation into support from his long-time ally George Cottrell who was jailed for fraud in the US in 2017.

He is already facing a parliamentary standards investigation over a £5m gift from Reform UK donor Christopher Harborne prior to becoming an MP.

Naomi Smith, Chief Executive of Best for Britain, said:

“As voters head to the polls to vote for their future, it’s clear that Farage only offers destruction and division: from his own career to the UK’s democratic institutions, he has stopped at nothing in his race to the bottom, including orchestrating a disastrous Brexit that 62% of voters now agree is a failure and normalising a strain of intolerance that risks ushering in a far nastier and more dangerous politics.”

*This page has been updated to remove a calculation included in error.