Nigel Farage vows 'the time has come for a new political force' as bullish Reform boss swipes aside Labour and Tories' 'decline'

As he launched into a tirade against the "acceptance of economic decline" in Britain, he said he was "optimistic" that Reform "can win power and turn all of this around".

He told supporters in Exeter: "The time has come for a new political force in this country that stands up for its fishermen, that stands up for its farmers, that stands up for free speech, that stands up for controlling its borders, that stands up for decency, that stands up for who we are as a nation."

Farage continued: "That stands up for all of our traditions, that believe in the British people, that believes in who we are.

"We believe in those things... we also believe optimistically that we can win power and turn this all around.

"I've had enough of this acceptance of economic decline as our nation sinks deeper into debt - as individually we get poorer, as we have... I've had enough of promises being broken."

That wasn't all - he also took aim at both the Conservatives' and Labour's lack of "understanding and comprehension" of British family farms.

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He said: "The South West of England voted Brexit - and one of the reasons was to get back control of our fishing and farming industries upon which this peninsula has depended for many centuries.

"What has happened since then with farming is total confusion from the Conservative Government."

"It seems they're keener on building solar panels than they are on producing food.

"But what this Labour Government has done - what Rachel Reeves did in that Budget - showed no understanding, no comprehension of what the traditional family farm actually is."

The Reform UK boss has hit out at the Conservatives and Labour in equal measure over the last few days.

Following Kemi Badenoch's Tory leadership victory on November 2, Farage said the Tory Party's branding was "wrong" and "broken", and warned that voters would receive "exactly the same as the last 14 years" under its new leader.

Then, he took aim at Labour's Budgetary inheritance tax hike, which he said "will destroy rural communities" as he blasted Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves for "declaring war on small family farms".

At the same time, his party's membership has seen an unprecedented surge - it currently sits at 93,000, having more than doubled since Richard Tice stood aside to offer him leadership ahead of the General Election.