Nigel Farage accused of 'trying to rig' election rules in Trumpian 'sore loser' move

Nigel Farage is accused of trying to 'rig the rules' in elections with Trumpian plans to restrict who can vote and ban postal votes after defeat at the Gorton and Denton by-election

Nigel Farage has been accused of trying to “rig the rules” in elections after unveiling Trumpian plans to restrict who can vote and ban postal votes.

TUC chief Paul Nowak branded the Reform UK leader a “sore loser” who was peddling “baseless conspiracies” after he was defeated by the Green Party in the Gorton and Denton by-election last week.

Writing in the Mail on Sunday, Mr Farage claimed the Greens’ victory “was the most glaring example yet of what happens if we’re not careful about the impact of mass immigration and the legitimacy of those who can vote in our elections”.

Reform announced on Sunday that it would only allow naturalised British citizens to vote in British Parliamentary elections. Currently, Commonwealth citizens of British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories who have leave to enter or remain in the UK can vote.

Mr Farage also vowed to end postal voting, with exemptions for the elderly, disabled people, serving armed forces personnel and those working overseas during an election.

“People in Gorton and Denton turned out to reject Reform’s nasty and divisive agenda. An agenda that would scrap employment protections, legalise discrimination and axe renters' rights - handing more power to bad bosses and rogue landlords.”

And UNISON assistant general secretary Jon Richards said: "If Nigel Farage was such a fan of democracy, he'd have insisted on a by-election every time another chancer Tory MP defected to Reform. It's funny how he has far less interest in overseas influence when it comes to the funding of his party."

Reform beat Keir Starmer ’s party in the Labour safe seat in Greater Manchester but Green candidate Hannah Spencer stormed to victory with a more than 4,000 majority daily-mirror-icon_news_politics_nigel-farage.

Since the result, Mr Farage has invoked Donald Trump’s playbook and claimed his defeat was a result of “election fraud”, amid concerns of family voting. Family voting is an illegal practice where two voters use one polling booth and potentially direct each other or collude on voting.

On Friday, Reform reported cases of family voting to the electoral commission and the police. Mr Farage said the allegations raise “serious questions about the integrity of the democratic process in predominantly Muslim areas”, adding: "If this is what was happening at polling stations, just imagine the potential for coercion with postal votes.”

Democracy Volunteers said its observers saw family voting in 15 of the 22 polling stations observed in the Gorton and Denton by-election.

Manchester City Council said no issues had been reported and that it was "extremely disappointing" the group had waited until after the close of polls to make the claims.

Last week, a Greens spokesperson said: "This is an attempt to undermine the democratic result and is straight out of the Trump playbook.

"We've just won a historic by-election by a comfortable margin. "We've shown the country that Greens can beat Reform, despite their big business donations."