Watch Nigel Farage's full speech in Shrewsbury as he discusses Shropshire politics and election predictions
Nigel Farage spent more than 12 minutes at the lectern at a Shrewsbury pub discussing politics in Shropshire, election predictions and urging local Reform candidates to get on the campaign trail.
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He arrived at Venue 7 in Shrewsbury after visiting a couple of town centre businesses, and posed for pictures with candidates and supporters of the party.
In his speech, Mr Farage took to the lectern in the pub to tell members: “County councils matter enormously. There are one or two things in Shropshire we need to think about."
“Shropshire Council has declared a climate emergency!” he said, as people sarcastically shouted: “Oh no!”
“That’ll make a big difference, won’t it? With 18 new coal-fired power stations being built in China this year,” Mr Farage added. “They’ve spent £2 million quid of council taxpayers money on that.
“They’ve committed £4.6 million pounds of spending for extra de-carbonisation programmes.
“They spend millions every year on agency workers. I understand for a short-term crisis you might want agency workers, but a well-run business doesn’t rely on expensive agency workers. A well-run business employs the right men and women to do the job.
“Talking of which, council workers can now work from home. No longer from May 2 if we win in Shropshire!
“I can’t even begin to talk about the North West Relief Road. Projected in 2021 to cost £80 million quid, is now apparently going to cost £215 million.
“There is a strong argument to say the Conservatives didn’t just fail in national government, they have equally failed here in your county.”
He also said Conservative membership had fallen more in Shropshire than any county in the country.
“This is old Shire England,” he said. “It will turn its back on the Conservatives on May 1.
“I can predict with accuracy that the majority of seats will be three-way marginals.
“I’m getting very little energy from the other parties. Our candidates are out campaigning.
“Many seats in this county will be won or lost by 100 or 150 votes. It is going to be that tight.
“I encourage you to go out and speak to as many people, to knock on as many doors, to visit as many pubs as you possibly can.”
He added: “I look back about 10 months to Keir Starmer’s victory. He may even be able to define what a woman is, how about that?” Mr Farage said, to a cheering audience.
“In eight months we’ve built over 400 branches, and we’ve managed to vet and put into the field more candidates in these elections than Labour or the Conservatives.
“We’ve got one or two old lags, but most of you have never stood in an election before. And you’ve probably received a bit of stick out there, but a lot of love as well.
“Many of you will be elected on May 1.”
