Nigel Farage says 'red wall is an obvious target' for Reform while campaigning in Cheshire
Granada Reports Political Correspondent Elaine Willcox interviewed the leader of Reform UK at an event in Frodsham.
Nigel Farage has been out clay pigeon shooting as his election campaign continues.
The Reform UK leader met supporters and farmers at Catton Hall in Frodsham, Cheshire, where he claimed the North West's red wall was an "obvious target" for his party.
He said: "People are beginning to realise the election is over, Labour has won. So it’s easier for people to vote with their hearts.
"It’s a big region - the North West. Huge population, over 70 constituencies. Some of the polls say we’re going to win seven seats, five seats… but I have no doubt that the biggest conversation around the breakfast table is Reform.
"If we’re able to keep that momentum going for the next two weeks, we’re going to surprise everybody here."
The politician went on to try out some clay pigeon shooting at the outdoor activity centre.
He hit four of the clay pigeon targets before being asked to pose for photos.
He refused to point a gun at photographers, saying: “Never point a gun, even in jest.”
His visit came ahead of an expected trip to Blackpool – where political campaign group Led By Donkeys prepared for his arrival by posting a video of beach artwork at the seaside resort featuring Mr Farage’s face and the words: “Friend of Putin. Enemy of the NHS.”
Reacting to the image, Nigel Farage said: "The NHS isn’t working. I’ve been saying this for many years. The more money we put in, the less we get.
"We’ve got British nurses who have come out of University with huge debts not getting jobs and being replaced by foreign agency workers."
He claimed Reform UK's plans to encourage those who can afford it to use private healthcare was the best way to support the NHS.
He said: "For those who can afford it and want to use the private sector, we’ll give you some tax reliefs. We have a two-tier system already, but we have a problem with waiting lists.
"One of the problems is a population explosion has put impossible pressure - we would need to be building a dozen GP surgeries a week."
Blackpool overwhelmingly voted in support of Brexit in 2016, and the Reform leader claimed they had been let down by the Conservative government.
He said: "I feel betrayed by the Conservative party not implementing what we voted for. The failure of mass migration on an unprecedented scale isn’t a failure of brexit.
"It’s the tories who betrayed it and Labour don’t even want to talk about it."
Speaking to Reform supporters in Cheshire, the party leader also claimed that “something remarkable” was happening with younger voters.
He said: “We are not doing well with millennials. The 25 to 35s we’re not doing well with, but Generation Z, Gen Z, the 15 to 25s, something remarkable, I mean truly remarkable, is happening.
“Our support in that age bracket is rapidly, and I mean rapidly, going up.
“The following I’ve built up on TikTok, Instagram, those sort of accounts is amazing.”
He was greeted with cheers and whooping from the crowd of supporters when he said he had been voted the sexiest party leader by a website called illicitencounters.com.
He also said football supporters at the Euro 2024 tournament in Germany had been “wearing Farage masks”.
He added: “There’s an awakening in a younger generation who’ve had enough of being dictated to, had enough of being lectured to and they’re seeing through the BS they’re getting in schools and universities.”
He also defended his plans to up the tax threshold to £20,000, claiming it will boost productivity.
He said: "The problem is coming off of benefits and going to work doesn’t pay, which is why our biggest economic proposal is to raise the level at which you start paying tax to £20,000 a year."
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