Polls open in Clacton, where Farage spent more than £10,000 in byelection against Count Binface – UK politics live

The Reform UK leader resigned as the MP for Clacton at the start of July and forced a byelectionFor more than two decades before the Brexit vote, Nigel Farage spent his time campaigning to restore the sovereignty of parliament. But his decision to trigger the Clacton byelection suggests that he is no longer such a big fan of the institution he claimed to cherish for so long.He has posted a video message to supporters on X this morning and in it he says:Why should I be judged, today or in history in the future, by Sky News and their ilk? Why should they be the people that decide my fate when, as I repeat, I’ve done nothing wrong.I’m being judged as being guilty every single day by newspapers, broadcasters and elsewhere.I think the thing we always failed to do is have a sense that this actually affects everybody. Because as long as you think, ‘Well, it might not affect my family, it’s not something I really need to worry about or focus on,’ that’s a problem.The fact that it has such a massive impact now on our NHS, the fact that if you go to A E, you could be waiting a lot longer because of failings in social care, that you could be waiting longer to get a bed in hospital, because there are people who are in hospital who don’t have social care – it affects all of us. Continue reading...