'There are very few people more accountable than me' - Nigel Farage on donations from Sheffield-born billionaires

Nigel Farage answered questions on Sheffield’s green belt and accountability, amid proposals of a “sweeping deregulation” of the planning system, and donations from Sheffield-born billionaires.

The leader of Reform UK spoke to an audience at Doncaster Racecourse at the first date of his ‘100 days to save Britain’ tour.

He told the audience this was the launch of his general election campaign and he would remain “on the road” every week, actively campaigning, until the election date.

Reform UK recently received the two biggest political donations in British history from two Sheffield-born billionaires.

Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne, who both live abroad and made their millions in cryptocurrency, each donated £36 million to the party.

Mr Harborne gave Mr Farage £5 million in 2024 ahead of the 2024 general election, a “gift” which the MP for Clacton did not register, landing him in a Parliamentary Standards investigation.

The Metropolitan Police are also investigating Reform UK over foreign funding laws after Channel 4 aired an investigative report where an aide appeared to suggest avoiding electoral law to receive donations.

The recent scandals have raised questions about ethics and legislation on political donations.

Yet Mr Farage was firm in his belief that he is accountable: “I’m accountable to you. I’m accountable to the public. I think there’s very few people more accountable than me in many ways.

“I just asked the people of Clacton whether they wanted to have me or not. And I’m accountable to the party, we’ve got a constitution that they can get rid of me if they want to.

He told the LDRS: “One of the greatest disappointments in politics is that parties say things at elections, that they think the punters want to hear, without sincerely wanting to deliver them, and that’s led to widespread disenchantment with the whole political process.

“What we’re saying is, we will stand on a 100 day pledge. We will make a series of four, and many other things, but four very, specific pledges that we believe we can turn around in 100 days. And we’ll need to pass legislation to do it.”

These pledges include stopping the boats, raising the personal income tax allowance, “slashing” energy bills by an average of £250 a year and ending VAT on household energy, and changing education by “cutting funding to Mickey Mouse degrees, training more British doctors and giving nursing students interest-free loans”.

Mr Farage continued: “If that means Parliament has to sit 24-hours a day for six days a week, well so be it, that’s what we’ll do.

“And if we don’t deliver it, I will sack the ministers, and then go to the back benches.

“There will be a degree of jeopardy, a degree of genuine accountability, and that’s the promise that we’re making.”

The visit to Yorkshire comes a few weeks after Reform UK’s party conference, where Mr Farage announced a sweeping deregulation of the planning system, including scrapping protections and regulations such as affordable housing targets, building standards, biodiversity and habitat delivery and Section 106.

Questions have been raised over how this stacks up with protecting 327 hectares of Sheffield’s green belt from housing and industrial development that is proposed in its draft local plan.

He said: “When it comes to planning overall, we are tied in knots. We do have a housing shortage, and we are firm advocates of building up in cities, and using brownfield sites, and not going for mass urban sprawl over the green belt.”

At Sheffield’s last full council meeting council leader Fran Belbin suggested that deregulating the planning system would allow developers more free reign over the countryside.

She called out “rank hypocrisy” of Reform councillors bringing a motion to protect the green belt from development when their party proposed scrapping protections weeks before.

“Not necessarily,” Mr Farage said to the suggestion that these goals don’t align. “I think one of the biggest problems, if you talk to developers, one of the biggest problems they’ve got is meeting net zero obligations.

“It’s a massive problem for them, and it’s also putting a huge premium on the price of houses.

“When you say deregulation, you can be misinterpreted as calling it a free for all. We’re not calling it that. But at the moment, it’s too erroneous.”

A large proportion of Doncaster and Rotherham’s green belt is also under threat from the 1,100 to 1,400 hectare Whitestone Solar Farm.

Mr Farage said solar farms are a “complete abomination” and “ghastly, especially when they’re on good agricultural land.”