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Nigel Farage has been accused of Donald Trump-style election denial by the Green party’s new MP for Gorton and Denton, after he claimed her Reform rival “came first” among British-born voters in last week’s byelection.
Hannah Spencer, a local plumber and councillor, was elected as the party’s first MP in northern England last week after winning 14,980 votes, more than 4,400 ahead of Reform’s candidate, who came second.
After the election, Reform reported allegations of “family voting” – where people appear to collude on votes in breach of secret ballot rules – to Greater Manchester police and the Electoral Commission.
Outlining a new Reform policy that he said would allow only British citizens to vote in parliamentary elections, Farage added: “I’m absolutely convinced that amongst British-born voters, Matthew Goodwin came first in their election last week. Of that, I have absolutely no doubt whatsoever.”
Farage later criticised Green voters themselves, saying: “It was ironic hearing the winning Green party candidate talking about hard-working people when she won the byelection. I’m not sure anyone who votes Green works, but there we are.”
Spencer, who arrived at Westminster on Monday to take her seat, accused Farage of insulting voters in the Manchester constituency.
“Everyone’s vote is equal. Farage today is talking racist nonsense and is trying to sound like his hero Donald Trump who also tried to deny the results of an election he lost,” she said.
“Farage doesn’t even know who voted for Reform, it’s a secret ballot and he spent hardly any time in the constituency. Farage has insulted the people of my constituency by saying people who voted Green don’t work. We won by appealing to everyone, including Reform voters, and his party were shown the door.”
Georgie Laming, director of campaigns at the anti-extremism campaign group Hope Not Hate, claimed that Farage had a “track record of seeking to undermine elections and the wider democratic process”.
“Like his close ally Donald Trump, Farage has regularly disputed election defeats, including in Oldham in 2015, Peterborough in 2019 and Rochdale in 2024.”
Sunder Katwala, the director of the British Future thinkthank, said Farage was trying to delegitimise lawful voters but added that his numbers didn’t add up either. “The Greens would have won the election among the four-fifths of voters born in the UK, who include white and Asian voters, perhaps more by 1,000 or 1,500 votes than 5,000,” he added.
Polling indicated that Reform and the Greens were likely to have won about a third each of the white British vote while Reform had too narrow an appeal to the under-40s, students, graduates and renters, and British-born minorities, he added.
Reform UK unveiled plans on Sunday to significantly restrict postal voting and remove Commonwealth citizens’ right to vote. After saying it would ensure that “only British citizens would be able to vote in British elections”, the party later clarified that Irish passport holders in the UK would continue to be able to vote in general elections.
Currently, anyone eligible to vote in UK elections can choose to do so by post but under Reform UK’s plans this would be limited to elderly and disabled people, serving armed forces personnel and those working overseas during an election. Under the proposals, Commonwealth citizens, who can currently vote in all types of UK elections if they qualify as a resident, would lose that right.
