Nigel Farage latest: Clacton by-election given green light as Reeves ‘lets Reform leader argue with a bin’

The Hillsborough Law is likely to return to Parliament before the summer break, David Lammy said, as he came under pressure to ensure the security services were subject to its “duty of candour”.

The deputy prime minister told the Commons that he was “confident” it would be back before MPs in the next week as he was asked about reports by the BBC that MI5 had covered up for an agent who had attacked his girlfriend with a machete and was “obsessed” with violence.

Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper said MI5 had given false evidence to courts to protect the agent, who has not been identified. The proposed law had previously stalled over concerns it would not apply to the intelligence agencies.

The law, formally known as the Public Office (Accountability) Bill, will require public officials to tell the truth during inquiries and investigations. It was promised by Labour in its 2024 manifesto.

It takes its name from the Hillsborough disaster in 1989 when 97 Liverpool fans were killed at the football stadium at Sheffield in a crush during an FA Cup semi-final match.

It was found afterwards that key public servants, including the police, had not told the truth about the decisions taken leading up to the fatal crush at the Leppings Lane end of the ground.

Speaking during Prime Minister’s Questions, Ms Cooper said: “MI5 has defended in court an agent that they knew to be openly misogynistic, obsessed with violence and who used his position to coercively control his girlfriend Beth, and attack her with a machete.

“To add insult to injury, MI5 also gave false evidence to the courts.

“So, will the deputy prime minister use this opportunity to offer Beth a full apology on behalf of the Government? And will he use his position to bring back a full Hillsborough Bill next week to cover the security services, so we can pass the law before the summer recess?”

Mr Lammy, standing in for Sir Keir Starmer who was at the Nato summit in Ankara, responded: “She raises a very serious issue, of course, and I will arrange for Beth to meet with the security minister to discuss this in detail. She also raises the Hillsborough Bill and I’m confident that this will be before the House in the coming days.”

Both Sir Keir, and Andy Burnham – who is expected to be Labour’s next leader – have previously spoken of their support for the Bill.

Read more about the campaign for a Hillsborough Law below.

Some voters in Clacton-on-Sea believe other political parties are not standing candidates against Nigel Farage because they are frightened they would lose.

Jim Jackson, 76, said: “They’re scared to face him as if they come here and lose it’ll show them up.

“I think they’re bullying him myself, and they’re trying every tactic as his ratings are going up with Reform and theirs are going down.”

“He’s bringing money into the place, that’s important,” said Mr Jackson.

“You might see him in America and obviously in Parliament but he’s still here in Clacton talking to the people.”

He said Mr Farage was “our hero” and that he will vote for him.

Clacton resident Gary Grant, 60, was outraged by Nigel Farage’s resignation, branding it a “hissy fit” that could cost taxpayers £250,000.

The parcel-distribution worker, who voted Liberal Democrat in 2024, told The Independent: “He’s just throwing his toys out of the pram, that’s all he’s doing. He just doesn’t want to face the music, does he? That’s all it is. He’s done wrong.”

Mr Grant was once a supporter of Farage, but now says Reform is just a party of ex-Tory MPs.

“I was a big fan of Farage when he first started. When he started going on about migration, I thought, yeah, let’s get something done about it. He’s the man who’s gonna do it.

“Farage is just going to be a new form of Conservatives. He’s not going to do anything for the poor; he’s just going to line the rich’s pockets. That’s all he’s going to do.”

As for the people of Clacton, “he’s done absolutely nothing”, Mr Grant believes.

“When Farage first came on the scene, and he started telling people what they wanted to hear, that’s what I wanted to hear. I thought, yes, he’s the man we want, this is what we need, but since 2024, he’s done absolutely nothing. I’ve seen him in passing, but I’ve got no time for the bloke, not now.”

Chancellor Rachel Reeves says she will accept Nigel Farage’s request to “be appointed steward and bailiff of the Manor of Northstead”, the formal mechanism for him to resign.

“It is a farce and a desperate distraction, and the people of Clacton deserve better,” she said.

“But if he wants to spend the summer arguing with a bin, I won’t stop him.”

In The Room podcast hosts Helen MacNamara and Cleo Watson say Farage’s speech bore telltale signs of “Trumpism”.

Cleo said: “He has pulled together little factoids that build his case and narrative.”

Helen said: “The Trumpian bit is the whole, ‘we’ve come top in the last 350 polls, we have more members than any other party, we’re winning so hard, and yet because the establishment is working against us and trying to take me down, we’re not winning enough.’ And Reform are riding high in opinion polls. They’ve got more donors than any other political party. He’s managed to present quite a convincing argument about that.

“The point he made about Labour trying to cancel elections in May is unfortunately true. That they only happened because of the Reform court case, also true. So he has these really rock solid big truths that he’s able to lace together.”

Listen to the full episode:

Asked whether Conservatives should vote for Count Binface in the forthcoming by-election, Kemi Badenoch told Sky News: “The people of Clacton, and the Conservatives in particular, are very sensible – they will do what they know to be right. It’s not for me to be getting involved in that.

“Let’s see what kind of campaign Count Binface runs, and who the establishment really is – if it’s the people versus the establishment, I think Nigel Farage might be looking like the establishment, and Count Binface may be the people. So the whole thing is a farce.”

Nigel Farage’s offer to pay for the Clacton by-election using party funds has been shot down by Downing Street.

The prime minister’s spokesperson pointed out: “The law is clear that the cost of running an election must be met through public funds not by candidates or political parties.

“Individuals or groups can make donations to the consolidated fund in the normal way but these are not ring fenced for specific events.”