A by-election in Clacton has been formally triggered, following Reform UK leader Nigel Farage’s resignation as MP.
Reform MP Lee Anderson moved the writ in the Commons on Thursday morning, meaning there will be a likely by-election date of Thursday, 13 August, though this has yet to be confirmed.
Farage has said he will re-fight the Essex seat in what he billed as a “people versus the establishment” by-election, following increased scrutiny over his finances and a parliamentary investigation.
Labour, the Conservatives, the Lib Dems, the Green Party and Restore Britain have all ruled out contesting the seat.
Questions surrounding Farage’s finances started over a £5m gift he received before entering Parliament from Christopher Harborne, a Thailand-based British cryptocurrency investor and major Reform donor.
Parliament’s standards commissioner is investigating whether he should have declared that sum upon becoming an MP in his published register of financial interests.
The Sunday Times has reported Farage also received support ahead of the 2024 election from George Cottrell, external, a political ally who was jailed for eight months in the US in 2017 after pleading guilty to a charge of wire fraud.
The Reform leader, who has denied any wrongdoing, has accused the parties of being “scared” to face him and said their lack of co-operation did not make it a “fake” contest.
Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey urged Chancellor Rachel Reeves to refuse to let Farage resign as an MP until the parliamentary investigation into him had concluded.
“The people of Clacton deserve the facts first,” Sir Ed wrote on X on Wednesday.
Under parliamentary rules, an MP wishing to resign their seat must write to the chancellor, who can formally refuse but normally accepts the request as a matter of convention.
Reeves posted on X on Wednesday that the by-election was a “farce and a desperate distraction”, adding that the “people of Clacton deserve better”.
“But if he wants to spend the summer arguing with a bin, I won’t stop him,” she said, referring to serial election candidate Count Binface who has also announced his intention to stand against Farage.
Green Party MP Hannah Spencer said: “We get to spend the summer watching Clacton, a farce of a by-election where one of the candidates is a joke character filled with rubbish and the other is Count Binface.”
Actor-turned-politician Laurence Fox, leader of the Reclaim Party who lives in nearby Peldon, announced on Tuesday evening he would be also be standing, as has Adham Alkhatip, who leads the Forward Party.
