Nigel Farage took on Kemi Badenoch in an election Battle for Croydon as he described London as “riddled with crime, potholes and struggling schools”.
Ahead of launching his party’s London local elections campaign in Croydon on Saturday, the Reform UK leader hit out at rising council tax in the capital.
Reform has its sights on gaining councils at the May polls, targeting Outer London including Havering, Bexley, Bromley and Hillingdon, as well as seeking to make inroads in Croydon.
Speaking to the Standard, Mr Farage said voters in the capital were telling him “nothing seems to work” anymore.
“What should be the beacon of Britain is riddled with crime, potholes and struggling schools,” he added despite the capital’s education system seen as better than most other regions.
“Meanwhile, council tax bills continue to soar,” the Reform leader continued.
“Across London, council tax has risen by an average of 22 per cent in the last five years and it’s not hard to see why.
“As a result of total fiscal illiteracy by Labour, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, London councils have racked up a staggering £20.5 billion of debt.”
However, Reform has come under fire for promising council tax cuts in other parts of the country and then failing to deliver them.
Reform’s London mayoral candidate Laila Cunningham is spearheading the party’s local elections campaign in the capital but it is not yet clear if it can recruit the 1,800 candidates that it is seeking.
On Croydon, Mr Farage stressed that it had the second highest level of debt of any London council at £1.5 billion.
“The Conservative administration has turned what should be a thriving council into a complete basket case,” he argued.
Reform also said that despite the council’s debt crisis, it still employed 21 officers on salaries above £100,000.
It criticised low traffic neighbourhoods in the borough which have been found to be unlawful and could lead to the council having to repay motorists millions.
At Reform’s launch event, Mr Farage was expected to announce the party’s candidate to take on Tory Mayor of Croydon Jason Perry.
Mrs Badenoch highlighted shoplifting in Purley, in Croydon borough, when she launched the Conservatives’ local elections campaign for England just days ago.
Sir Keir Starmer’s party is set to get a hammering at the May elections, with local government expert Professor Tony Travers of the LSE saying Labour could lose 600 seats, around half it currently holds in London.
However, the Prime Minister has recovered from his record lows in popularity, with his handling of the Iran war, and this may have a limited impact on the local elections, with many people casting their vote on national issues rather than those in their neighbourhoods.
The Tories are seeking to regain Westminster, Wandsworth and Barnet which were won by Labour in 2022, the last time the borough elections were fought.
Zack Polanski’s Greens are on the march, after winning the Gorton and Denton by-election, and could win hundreds of seats in London, according to Prof Travers, as could Reform.
The Liberal Democrats, under Sir Ed Davey, are aiming to become a minority administration in Merton, or possibly even win it, to increase the number of councils they run to four in the city.
Pro-Gaza candidates are also expected to win seats in the capital, especially with the ongoing US and Israeli war against Iran.
The outcome of the local elections are extremely difficult to predict after the fragmentation of British politics, with the rise of Reform and the Green Party, with many wards expected be decided by 20 votes or less.
