Nigel Farage becomes MP at eighth attempt after winning Clacton seat for Reform UK

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has won the Clacton seat for the party, becoming the second Reform MP of the night.

On his eighth attempt to become an MP, Farage won in Clacton with 21,225 votes – a majority of 8,405.

Earlier this evening Lee Anderson became Reform UK’s first MP when he won the Ashfield seat.

Reform UK’s stance on LGBTQ+ rights, particularly trans rights, has been less than positive.

In the party’s manifesto it took aim at ‘transgender ideology’, stating: “transgender indoctrination is causing irreversible harm to children” alongside blasting multiculturalism and “divisive, ‘woke’ ideology”.

The party outlined in its education section that it would ban “transgender ideology” – a term widely considered an anti-trans dogwhistle – in both primary and secondary schools if it got into power.

“No gender questioning, social transitioning or pronoun swapping. Inform parents of under 16s
about their children’s life decisions,” the pledges read. It is not clear how Reform UK would enforce this policy and how it would stop people using certain pronouns.

In the same section, Reform UK states schools must have single sex facilities.

This is a pledge which is repeated in the ‘children and families’ wherein the party states that single-sex facilities would be mandated in public toilets and changing areas.

Furthermore, another pledge of Reform UK would be to review the Online Safety Bill because “social media giants that push baseless transgender ideology and divisive Critical Race theory should have no role in regulating free speech”.

In the run up to the election, Reform UK campaigners were caught using homophobic and racist slurs.

Channel 4, which went undercover within the Reform campaign in Clacton in June, revealed that a canvasser had made racist and Islamophobic comments to potential voters in the Essex constituency. 

A Reform canvasser named Andrew Parker described Sunak as a “f**king p***” while George Jones, who runs events for Reform, was caught on camera calling a Pride flag displayed on a police car a “f**king degenerate flag”.

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