PATRICK Harvie has said it is “really worrying” that the General Election exit poll predicted Nigel Farage’s Reform UK are set to win 13 seats.
Speaking exclusively to The National at the Glasgow count, the Scottish Greens co-leader said that the poll – which also predicted just 10 seats for the SNP and a landslide victory for Labour UK-wide – wasn’t all that surprising but highlighted the surge in support for Reform.
“I think one of the under-reported aspects of this is that a realignment of the far right looks as inevitable as a Labour majority,” he said.
“So it's really, really worrying to see Farage predicted to get a group of MPs into the Commons.”
Harvie said that the “pressure” will be on an incoming Labour government.
“They have run a very cautious campaign. Their manifesto has the word change on the cover but they have not set out a bold, transformative manifesto,” he said.
“The tepid centre ground is not showing itself around the world to be successful at resisting the rise of the far-right. We see it in France. We see it in Italy, the Netherlands, and a number of different countries."
He added: “Unless a Labour government actually responds boldly to the genuine deep-seated troubles that people have after 14 years of Tory austerity – the poverty and inequality, and the anger and resentment that has caused.
“Unless the Labour government actually summons up some of the boldness in government that was missing in the campaign, there is a real worry about what's going to happen with the rise of far-right nationalism in England.”
Reform UK, which was only formed in 2018, only had one MP, Lee Anderson, who defected from the Conservatives.
Any victories on Friday would be the first time the party have managed to secure an MP at the ballot box.
Farage had earlier declined to say what number of MPs they would classify as a win, but 13 elected representatives is higher than predictions by most polls.
Farage has tried and failed to get elected to Parliament seven times in the past, and if polls are correct it may be the eighth time lucky.
The exit poll by Ipsos UK for Sky News, the BBC and ITV News, said Reform UK have a likelihood of 99%-plus that Farage will win the seat in Clacton, Essex.
“This, folks, is huge”, Farage has said in response to the early boost for his party – meanwhile – after it pushed the Tories into third place in two early constituency results.
On a video posted to X, formerly Twitter, he said: “It’s midnight, there are two results in from the north-east of England that put Reform on 30% of the vote, that is way more than any possible prediction or projection. It is almost unbelievable.
“And what does it mean? It means we’re going to win seats, many many seats I think right now across the country.
“But to watch the TV coverage it’s almost comical. There’s not a single representative on there from Reform UK, mainstream media are in denial just as much as our political parties.
“This is going to be six million votes-plus. This, folks, is huge.”
