The Reform UK leader has slammed the PM after news of new peerages broke last night.
Nigel Farage slammed Starmer over the appointments (Image: House of Commons)
Nigel Farage has blasted Keir Starmer after he delivered a huge snub to Reform UK when appointing new members of the House of Lords last night. Sir Keir confirmed 34 new peers yesterday evening, appointing a whopping 25 for himself as he attempts to stuff the upper chamber with allies to get legislation passed.
While the LibDems got five new peers, despite being a small party, and the Tories got three, Reform UK were handed none. Last week the Express revealed Mr Farage was on course for a snubbing, despite writing to the PM in August to argue his party should have representation in the upper house. He argued it is unfair that parties with fewer MPs than Reform UK have representation in the House of Lords.
Keir Starmer appointed 25 new Labour peers last night (Image: Getty)
Reacting to last night’s confirmation, Mr Farage blasted the Prime Minister.
Taking to X he fumed: “In the summer I wrote to Keir Starmer to ask that Reform have some representation in the House of Lords.
“He didn’t give me the courtesy of a response, despite Reform winning the elections in May.
“This makes me more determined to smash the political establishment than ever.”
The Green Party, Plaid Cymru and UUP have 13 peers between them, while the LibDems have 76 peers despite winning just 12.2% of the vote.
Former Olympic swimmer and women’s rights activist Sharron Davies has been nominated for a peerage by Tory leader Kemi Badenoch.
The top Tory also put forward ex-Conservative Cabinet Minister Sir John Redwood and historian Simon Heffer are also set to join the House of Lords.
Smaller parties than Reform UK have over a dozen peers (Image: Getty)
Meanwhile Sir Keir Starmer handed peerages to several friends and Labour cronies, including his former press chief Matthew Doyle and former Rachel Reeves aide Katie Martin.
Iceland boss Richard Walker also made the cut after backing Labour at the election.
Despite the new peerages, the Tories are still by far the largest party in the Lords. Mr Starmer has appointed 62 peerages since being elected to Government: 25 yesterday, 30 last December and seven for ministerial appointments.
This compares to 122 peers appointed by David Cameron over a two-year period.
A Labour source said: “The Tories stuffed the House of Lords, creating a serious imbalance that has allowed them to frustrate our plans to make working families better off. This needs to be corrected to deliver on our mandate from the British people.
“We will continue to progress our programme of reform, which includes removing the right of hereditary peers to sit and vote in the Lords.”
