Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has only mentioned his constituency twice in the House of Commons during the past year, DeSmog can reveal.
In total, Farage has mentioned Clacton six times since being elected as an MP on 4 July 2024 – once every four months.
The Reform leader announced today that he would be triggering a by-election in Clacton – in which he intends to stand – in response to negative media coverage of the substantial gifts that he has received from party donors.
Farage said in a statement that it would be a “people versus the establishment” election.
He has been the subject of a parliamentary standards investigation over his failure to declare a £5 million gift from Reform mega-donor Christopher Harborne prior to standing as an MP in 2024. Parliamentary rules indicate that this investigation will pause while Farage is no longer an MP, but will resume if he wins the by-election.
If a parliamentary committee decides that Farage has committed a serious breach of the rules, it appears that he may face a second by-election following a recall process.
A new investigation by the Sunday Times found that the Reform leader also accepted gifts in the form of personal security and accommodation from his aide George Cottrell in the year prior to the 2024 election.
Farage has also been criticised for using his status as a parliamentarian to earn vast amounts of money. Prior to the 2026 elections across Britain, DeSmog and The Guardian revealed that Farage had made £2 million from outside sources since being elected to Parliament.
Farage’s deputy Richard Tice has mentioned his constituency of Boston and Skegness on at least 34 occasions since being elected to Parliament, while the only other Reform MP to have served under the party’s banner for the past two years, Lee Anderson, has mentioned his seat of Ashfield on at least 28 occasions.
Parliamentary records show that Farage has made 69 spoken contributions in the Commons over the past two years, compared to 391 from Tice and 204 from Anderson.
MPs typically use their Commons appearances to lobby ministers on behalf of their constituents. For example, Farage could have highlighted the risks posed by climate change in his local area.
As DeSmog has reported, coastal Clacton is at risk from the consequences of rising temperatures, which include heavier rainfall and rising sea levels. Mapping from the science-based visualisation platform Climate Central suggests that substantial parts of the constituency will be at risk of yearly flooding by 2030.
The international journal Oceans and Coastal Management also produced a study in 2022 suggesting that the Tendring area, which encompasses Clacton, is exposed to sea level rises – potentially affecting hundreds of homes.
However, Farage claims not to believe basic climate science. Speaking at the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship conference in February 2025, while admitting that he knew little about climate science, Farage claimed it was “absolutely nuts” for CO2 to be considered a pollutant.
As revealed by DeSmog, Reform has received £24 million from fossil fuel interests since its creation in 2019, equivalent to two-thirds of its income.
Meanwhile, a poll by More in Common and the think tank E3G prior to the 2024 general election found that a majority (68 percent) of voters in Clacton are concerned about climate change.
Reacting to Farage’s announcement, Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said: “Farage has spent his whole life dodging responsibility for his actions. This new stunt is his latest attempt to escape consequences for his biggest grift. We won’t let him.”
