'It's going to be between me and Labour': Lee Anderson MP on first constituency tour in Ashfield

  • Ashfield MP Lee Anderson speaks to ITV News Central correspondent Phil Brewster on his first constituency tour since defecting to the Reform UK party.

Reform UK's first MP, Lee Anderson, says the result of the Ashfield seat will be between him and Labour at the next general election.

The former Conservative deputy chairman defected to the Reform UK party earlier this week, after being kicked out of the Conservative party last month when he refused to apologise for claiming that “Islamists” had “got control” of London mayor Sadiq Khan.

People from across Nottinghamshire gathered to see Mr Anderson and party leader, Richard Tice, aboard the Reform UK campaign bus in Ashfield on Friday 15 March.

Lee Anderson MP and Reform UK party leader Richard Tice tour Mr Anderson's Ashfield constituency aboard the Reform UK campaign bus. Credit: PA Images

He told ITV News Central his comments saying "we want our country back" have gone "nuclear" and that he's been inundated with support.

He said: "We've given this country away over the years to all sorts of wokery nonesense, to this mass immigration. We've got illegal migrants who just don't want to integrate into our way of life - they complain as soon as they get off the boats. People are fed up. We want our country back".

Mr Anderson has become a member of a third political party in the space of six years.

For the majority of his life, he was a member of the Labour Party and was elected as a Labour councillor - until he was suspended in 2018.

He defected to the Conservative party the next month and was elected Ashfield's MP in the 2019 general election.

Lee Anderson MP walks through Ashfield on his first constituency tour since becoming Reform UK's first MP. Credit: PA Images

He told ITV News Central that if he can get his message across, he's confident he's got a good chance of winning the Ashfield seat as a Reform UK MP at the next general election.

He said: "My politics has not changed throughout the years, it has remained exactly the same.

"The parties have changed. They've not delivered on their promises. The Labour party is supposed to be for the working class - it's not. The Conservative party said they were going to control our borders - they haven't."

Mr Anderson also denied that there was a financial incentive for him to join Reform UK - responding "absolutely not" when questioned.

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