Watch the moment a debate about Nigel Farage’s influence on British politics kicks off on GB News.
As Reform eye up major gains in the local elections, Labour MP Catherine Atkinson said while Nigel Farage has a proven track record of winning votes, he has little to show for it.
Ex-Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg contested the claim, pointing to Britain’s departure from the European Union, which he said would not have happened without the influence of the Reform UK leader.
GB News’s Deputy Political Editor Tom Harwood put it to Atkinson that her party leader Keir Starmer not campaigning in Runcorn and Helsby was an “unusual” move given it is the first by-election of his term.
Jacob Rees-Mogg and Catherine Atkinson locked horns over Nigel Farage's achievements in politics
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“I think he has been getting on with running the country”, she said. “We’re seeing NHS waiting lists coming down month on month and we’re rolling out breakfast clubs.
“We’re also seeing a return to neighbourhood policing. He’s been a bit busy. I think especially with the fantastic work he has been doing on the global stage when things are uncertain, I could understand why he has one or two other things to do.”
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Catherine Atkinson said Keir Starmer has been too busy to visit Runcorn and Helsby for its by-election
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She continued: “There are elections happening across the country. There’s nothing new with Nigel Farage winning votes, he’s done it with lots of different parties.
“In 2014, he got loads of votes and more seats than anyone else in Europe but what can he actually say he has achieved for anyone?”
Jacob responded: “Well, we left the European Union. That’s quite a big achievement.
“We left because of Nigel winning so many votes in 2014 and David Cameron promising an election.”
Atkinson said Farage has been “disowning Brexit” ever since, before Jacob returned to the overarching point about Keir Starmer’s absence from this by-election campaign.
“I think your efforts on the line to take are absolutely noble - I admire you for that. I have never known a prime minister to be too busy to campaign when his party is doing well”, he said.
“When it’s doing bad, prime ministers run away from by-elections. John Major never went anywhere near by-elections because we lost them all.”
Tom Harwood turned his attention to Jacob, saying Kemi Badenoch has also not been campaigning in the constituency.
The ex-Tory MP said such a move would prove ultimately pointless given how the party is extremely unlikely to win in an area which has traditionally been a Labour stronghold.
