Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said that he accepted that Brighton and Hove was not an election target for his party.
But Reform would still put up candidates to give people a choice, he said yesterday (Wednesday 25 March).
The MP for Clacton made his comments at a rally in Ardingly for the local elections taking place across Sussex in May.
Brighton and Hove is not due to have elections until next year and Mr Farage said: “Brighton is totally different from the rest of Sussex
“Could Reform sweep the board in Brighton? I think there are other parts of Sussex that are higher priorities.
“We’ll compete, of course. The Greens are very strong in Brighton … Caroline Lucas was there for many years as the one Green MP in the country.
“I will willingly accept Brighton is not our strongest place but we’ll be there. We’ll be campaigning and giving people a choice.
“But there are many other parts of Sussex in which we’ll do phenomenally well.
“Across the counties (East and West Sussex), it’s been traditional true blue all the way. And last year, Tory fiefdoms (fell across the country) to reform. The same will happen this year.”
He said that Brighton had weeds growing out of the pavements and the highest parking charges in Britain.
At the event yesterday, Reform UK welcomed two defectors from the Conservative group on Wealden District Council – David Greaves and Neil Cleaver.
Any more city cuts, closures and mysterious fires and Reform could find themselves pushing against an open door in BH come the next local election. A few weekend photoshoots of Labour Councillors waving shiny brooms and empty binbags is not going to swing it.
If you mean the fore at the King Alfred there was nothing suspicisous about that – unless you’re a conspiracy theorist.
If you think a Reform contreolled council will be any better then look at e.g. Kent where their promises to cut expenditure and the council tax have been proven to be empty.
In Croyden they selected a candidate for the elected Mayor that had been dead for six months.
https://www.scenemag.co.uk/reform-uk-leader-nigel-farage-declares-that-legalising-same-sex-marriage-was-wrong/
Perhaps try not being homophobic if you want to run in Brighton of all places…..
Come on Kurt. Intelligent person such as you must be aware of all the openly gay men supporting and promoting Reform
Yep, like Gary Farmer? He’s not exactly winning this argument for Reform either, not because of his sexuality, but the things he’s been reported and evidenced as saying about woman and immigration, in particular. Let’s remember, he was chosen to be the Chair for Reform in Brighton. The best they have.
https://standuptoracism.org.uk/yet-more-racism-and-anti-semitism-from-reform-uk-in-brighton-and-hove/
https://brightonandhovesutr.wordpress.com/2025/04/15/gary-farmer-very-far-from-a-charmer/
https://www.brightonandhovenews.org/2025/04/22/election-candidate-deletes-twitter-account/
Good old SUTR – Socialist Workers Party paid for agitators, always screaming hatred and abuse. Nasty people, vile and ignorant. The lies they peddle……..
Great thing about the internet, is that you can view the content and context and decide for yourself. Even deleting ones account doesn’t erase it from the internet. Waybackmachine exists after all.
You are a sad little man, you seem to spend you life arguing with people and pushing your agenda from your bedroom thinking anyone is actually paying attention and believes you. I am surprised they let you on here as you just rant and spit and scream at anyone who doesn’t agree with your toxic, blinkered world view. Sad little man, hiding behind the keyboard with your vile SWP mates throwing mud and hoping it sticks. Your vendetta with the right is extremely hostile and libellous, heavily edited to misrepresent those you oppose. SUTR is a hateful bunch, you know it and people are waking up to their true agenda. People are fed up with reading your nonsense, everyone is a racist according to people like you, you portray everyone who disagrees with you as such. Not only publishing highly dubious and redacted material to falsely represent people but also use aggressive methods such as harassment and threats to scare and intimidate.
Yeah, you’re the one coming across as the ranting, toxic loony here, Sanderson. Escalating to a personal attack against someone who’s expressed an opinion without a trace of the bile you’re putting out there. Take a nap, eat something.
Oh dear Sanderson, for something to be libellous, the person writing it has to believe it to be a false representation. I do not. It is an opinion formed over time and has only been cemented. Providing reported links from multiple sources is not “heavy editing” either. We also have the Wayback Machine to see the direct source material. Ironically, your claim there is more aligned with the very thing you are trying to excuse me of.
To take your metaphor, in this case, I don’t need to throw mud; the ex-chair of the Reform branch has been rolling around in it and covered himself through his tweets that attack women’s intelligence through petty ad hominem, describing immigration as “an invasion” – comments that he has doubled down and defended himself plenty of times on here, and stands by them so strongly, that he deleted his twitter account.
Not everyone to the right is a racist, Sanderson; that’s your assertion. Racists are racists. People who say or tweet racist things are racist. And those who defend racism are intolerant themselves, even indirectly.
To highlight what someone has freely said isn’t harassment, nor is it a threat. It’s a reminder that Brighton isn’t a hateful place, and that misogynistic and inflammatory spiteful speech is not – and never will be – accepted here. Reform will never be in Brighton, because Brighton deserves better than Reform.
You are very right there. me for one.
Born and bred Brightonian, who will be voting reform.
Same here.
Well, he is absolutely right that Brighton is completely different to Sussex.
Interesting to see Benjamin agreeing with Nigel Farage here — didn’t expect that crossover.
I also agree with Mr Farrago that Sussex is different to Brighton.
Doesn’t mean I agree with him on any other issue though – because I don’t!
Don’t tell anybody in Brighton you’re voting Reform, they’ll spit in your plant based kebab, expel you from the gong bath breathing group or wee in your ice bath at the sauna… the city is full of people who think they’re the good guys when really they’re just awful, awful, infantile fantasists. If you’re for open borders, what you’re actually doing is supporting people traffickers…
Where did I say I was voting for reform?
Because I didn’t!
“If you’re for open borders, what you’re actually doing is supporting people traffickers”
One of the most intelligently uninspired straw man arguments I’ve ever heard, and we get some really bold takes on here.
Not a straw man Benjy. An objective truth. All illegal immigrants have been trafficked. The mentally ill left have had their empathy weaponised and a direct consequence of their delusional pomposity that their ‘progressive’ views always places them on the ‘right side of history’ are real world harms. How many females have been assaulted, raped and murdered by people who shouldn’t be in this country? But still, a price worth paying so you can virtue signal and feel good about your self.
You are not even remotely correct on definitions, Jay.
Just because some immigrants are trafficked does not mean all illegal immigration is trafficking; that’s an objectively flawed generalisation.
Suggesting compassion for vulnerable people is a sign of being mentally ill is not only offensive but also goes against what people value in Brighton. It undermines the values of empathy and solidarity this city stands for.
The data is clear: White British people commit the majority of crimes in the UK across nearly all categories. So your attempt to link serious crimes to immigration status is not only misleading; it’s disingenuous. Just because Reform often weaponises tragedy by pushing this false narrative without evidence, it doesn’t make it true. It’s a dangerous tactic, and one that has no place in Brighton.
The vast majority of people, regardless of immigration status, are not perpetrators of crime. To claim Labour, Green, or Lib Dem, value virtue signalling over safety is a baseless slur, and, once again, simply wrong.
No, it’s simply yet another example of why Reform are unfit for government.
Brightonians will perform a list of fantasies involving body fluids, e.g. ‘wee’, because they’re infantile fantasists. Riiiight.
It’s called humour Adam. Look it up.
If you have to explain it Jay…it’s probably not funny. I’m sorry to break it to you.
Me neither, James.
If you wilfully misunderstand things Benjy, there is little hope for any discourse. You and your intellectually impoverished ilk are driven by ideology, like the rest of the privileged, blinkered fools pushing it because they suffer zero consequences themselves. You prioritise ‘vulnerable’ people over women’s rights because of the hardwired woke mind virus. The delicious irony is that you and your mates have done more damage to the political left’s credibility than Trump and Farage could have achieved on their own. And as a final remark, you seem to think you you speak for everybody in this city. You don’t. Thankfully your squalid mindset is not universally held and i’m sorry but occasionally the adults in the room will have to point that out to you.
Adults in the room would probably be able to put together a coherent thought, I’d imagine.
That’s all you do is imagine Benjy. You imagine you are right about everything but then your midwit level critical thinking unfortunately betrays the fact that you are mostly wrong about mostly everything. To consistently take the wrong headed positions you do suggests either you are deliberately trolling or just how banal and tedious the Labour playbook that you cut and paste from is.
Sticks & Stones. More ad hominem, more straw men, more false dichotomies. It reveals more about your shortcomings and inability to engage with substance than anything else. I don’t have to imagine at all. It’s just an observable fact at this point.
…got anything to say beyond meaningless insults?
Brighton is a Reform free zone
Amen to that! Let’s hope it stays that way!
From the downs to the sea, Brighton will be brain cell free…
You advance a daring argument. Have you thought it through?
Your corner of Brighton certainly is.
Reform no chance when we have queen Bella in charge.
Council tax should be increased to pay for the statue and plinth of our esteemed leader.
Thank goodness, i was brought up in Hove and I moved back because I love the energy, acceptance and tolerance in the city of Brighton and Hove.
All those who are saying ‘ i was born and bred’ have you lived anywhere else, or experienced life away from Brighton?
We need reform in Brighton,to sort out this cess pit of a town,i am a true Brightonion,but am now a dying breed,come on Mr Farage!!
You seen KCC? Their “shop window?”
There are more Reform voters in Brighton that even Nigel realises.
And it’s the gays. Who want to stay here alive and well.
Benjamin “I hope you don’t mind me saying, but some of your opinions come across as quite far-right. I’m curious how you think about that.”
“At times your views feel quite strongly aligned with the far right—do you see it that way?”
I’d say that you should feed your AI more information on my historical comments, and it’d tell you that I exclusively express left-wing views and opinions, and that the insinuation that I’m far-right is completely detached from reality, reminiscent of a man who frequently changed his monkier. Let’s not forget that even Cllr. Ivans labelled me as “Labour’s Attack Poodle” – I don’t even qualify as a soft right in his eyes.
Also, I’ve never expressed a single far-right view. Can you point to an example?
Oh absolutely, Benjamin—clearly the entire universe has conspired to misunderstand you. It couldn’t *possibly* be anything to do with how your comments sometimes come across; no, it must be a tragic failure of data input and AI training.
And invoking a councillor calling you “Labour’s Attack Poodle” as definitive proof? Bulletproof. Case closed. Academic journals everywhere are scrambling to update their methodologies.
As for examples—funny how when people consistently get a certain impression, it’s *always* everyone else who’s wrong, isn’t it? But sure, let’s all just recalibrate our perception engines and try harder to see the *true* you.
Remember how I told you that GPT hates being asked for specifics when it knows it is wrong? #20
Please tell me again ?
Well…GPT hates being asked for specifics when it knows it is wrong… 🤦