Nigel in the county later today... get your nappies ready

Nigel Farage has launched an excoriating attack on Norfolk’s Tory council ahead of his visit to the county this evening.

Writing in the Eastern Daily Press, the Reform UK leader accused the Conservative-run county council of “maladministration”.

He also took aim at the pay packets of County Hall’s most senior executives, questioning why its chief executive, Tom McCabe, earns more than the prime minister.

Mr Farage also criticised what he saw as a series of wasteful spending decisions by the authority.

He claimed the council had spent £476,000 on translators between 2022 to 2023, and made reference to the £160,000 cost of converting a farm house into a children’s home west of Norwich that was later scrapped entirely.

He pointed to 24,000 violent crime incidents recorded across Norfolk in the past year, and said there were roughly six potholes for every mile of road in the county.

The council, he said, has run up £884 million in debt – costing taxpayers the equivalent of £90,000 a day in interest alone.

Mr Farage is due to speak at a ticketed rally at the Norfolk Showground this evening alongside Reform chairman Dr David Bull and “special guests”.

The event is part of the party’s campaign for next month’s local elections, where it has been tipped to make big gains.

In Norfolk, voters will head to the polls on May 7 for every seat at County Hall and 14 of 39 Norwich City Council wards.

Protestors have already said they plan to demonstrate against Mr Farage at tonight’s Showground event.

A post – which gives no details about who is behind it – has been circulating online encouraging people to go to the venue an hour beforehand to “tell Reform to do one”.

Mr Farage’s visit comes a week after an eventful trip to Suffolk.

He was forced to cut short a planned walkabout in Felixstowe after being confronted by protestors, while demonstrators also assembled outside a Reform event at Trinity Park in Ipswich.

Mr Farage’s visit to Ipswich also saw a sparked an extraordinary row involving the town’s football team, after he published a video online showing him on a tour of Portman Road.

Many Ipswich Town fans were angered by his appearance there, saying it suggested the club had endorsed him.

It led to days of humiliation for the club which started with officials first trying to deny any involvement in the visit and ended with Mark Ashton, the chairman, “unreservedly apologising” for the farrago.

✍Original copy via Local Democracy Service by Henry Durand

Posted By: ParrotPuncher on March 31st 2026 at 03:11:39

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