Reform UK conference latest: Farage vows to force parliament to ‘sit day and night’ if he wins power

Lisa Nandy has said she will meet TikTok “in the coming days” as she told MPs there is more to do to address an “epidemic” of young people using social media to encourage dangerous behaviour.

It comes after two police officers died last month when their vehicle collided with a car being driven the wrong way along a dual carriageway in Teesside, killing five young men as well.

A social media account, thought to have belonged to one of the five, posted videos last year appearing to show dangerous driving, the BBC reported. The videos have since been removed.

The purported donors were in fact undercover reporters from investigative group Verbatim posing as an American financier and his UK-based son.

The two-day conference in Birmingham is expected to hear from senior Reform figures setting out their own pledges for their first 100 days in office, as well as an address from Jordan Bardella, leader of the French National Rally.

Nigel Farage is expected to announce that any frontbenchers who fail to achieve those targets “will be sacked”.

He is also due to make his own promise to focus on reducing the cost of living and lead on efforts to end small boat crossings in the Channel.

This summer saw the lowest number of crossings in six years, while the overall number for the year is at its lowest since 2021, but the subject remains a key issue with 16,513 people making the journey so far this year.

Nigel Farage is to announce that he will declare a “national emergency” if Reform UK wins the General Election.

The announcement is set to be made in his keynote speech at the party’s conference in Birmingham.

He will also blast the Tories for their “failed” 14 years in government and highlight that Andy Burnham “wants 10 more”.

To bring home his argument, he will state that “time is running out to save Britain” and that the country “doesn’t have 10 years to be saved”.

Nigel Farage’s party will build credibility with the financial markets by being the party of fiscal responsibility, Robert Jenrick said.

Speaking from the party’s conference, the party’s business spokesperson said: “I want Reform to be different to that so we have to earn the markets’ trust and respect in the period between now and the general election, and in the days immediately after the general election.

“I think it will require urgent action by a chancellor to say it’s different now, we’ve got this, we’re going to behave in a responsible way.”

He added: “Reform is the party of fiscal responsibility.

“The Conservative Party ceded that ground for the first time in a very long time with the events of the mini-budget a couple of years ago.”

If elected, he said his party would unveil a budget within its first 100 days.

In an astonishing admission, Reform’s deputy leader Richard Tice has admitted that the party needs to get the country to ‘love Nigel Farage again’ – and that’s a big problem for the party, as political editor David Maddox explains:

Reform UK’s promise to cut £100bn in public spending is based on “fantasy”, an economist has warned.

Jonathan Portes has criticised Robert Jenrick’s claim that his party would slash £50bn from welfare, cut another £20-30bn from other departments and reduce debt interest by £28bn.

The treasury spokesman told The Telegraph that the savings would fund tax cuts, saying: “We won’t make the same mistake as Rachel Reeves.”

Mr Portes has casted doubt on the claims, saying: “Reform promised to copy Trump and Musk by saving billions from government waste. The result was chaos and little or no savings.

“Based on what we know of Reform’s plans the likelihood is that we would see much the same here.

“In particular their plans for large welfare savings without touching pensions are fantasy -their numbers don’t come close to adding up.”