POLL OF THE DAY: Should Reform UK have been allowed to lay a wreath at the Cenotaph? YOUR VERDICT

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage on a balcony at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) ahead of the Remembrance Sunday service at the Cenotaph in London
PA
GB News Reporter

By GB News Reporter


Published: 11/11/2024

- 04:01

Updated: 19/11/2024

- 20:22

A total of 5,952 GB News members voted on whether Reform UK should have been allowed to lay a wreath at the Cenotaph yesterday

GB News members decisively believe Reform UK should have been allowed to lay a wreath at the Cenotaph yesterday.

A staggering 97 per cent of respondents claimed Nigel Farage should have joined Sir Keir Starmer, Kemi Badenoch, Sir Ed Davey, Stephen Flynn and Gavin Robinson.


Just three per cent of the 5,952 respondents expressed opposition to Reform UK laying a wreath at the Cenotaph.

The poll comes after Farage had blamed "the Establishment" for not allowing him to take a public facing-role with other party leaders at the National Service of Remembrance at the Cenotaph today.

Farage, as leader of Reform UK, was forced to watch proceedings from a balcony on Whitehall along with Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer and some representatives from Quebec in Canada.

The Clacton MP said that Reform UK was told that it could not lay a wreath as the party only has five MPs in the House of Commons, below the threshold of six MPs needed to qualify for wreath laying.

However, Farage pointed out that Gavin Robinson, deputy leader of the DUP, laid a wreath.

A Government source told GB News that the DUP laid a wreath on behalf of the Democratic Unionist Party following an addendum to the 1984 protocol.

This is to ensure that all four constituent parts of the UK are represented at the service of remembrance.

This 1984 protocol stipulates that only the leaders at Westminster of parties which had won (and taken up) six or more seats at the preceding General Election should lay Wreaths.

Separatetly the SNP and Plaid Cymru have an agreement that they lay a joint wreath with the SNP laying their wreath on behalf of both parties this year.

The addendum to the 1984 protocol is as follows: “To ensure all four constituent parts of the UK can always be represented, the party with the most sitting MPs from each of the devolved nations should be given the opportunity to lay a wreath (including if that party has fewer than six seats).

"The change has been agreed by the Speaker, The Prime Minister’s Office, the Northern Ireland Office, the Chief Whip and the Royal Household.

You may like