- Nigel Farage , leader of Reform UK, has resigned as MP for Clacton, triggering a by-election in Clacton-on-Sea, which he intends to contest.
- Labour leader and prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, criticised Farage, calling it a "desperate stunt" and accused the Reform UK leader of being “up to his neck in sleaze”.
- Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch labelled it an "ego by-election" and an "admission of guilt." Badenoch said: “In doing this, what he is saying is that he's already guilty, it feels like an admission of guilt,” she said.
- Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey called for Nigel Farage to fund the Clacton by-election himself. “We have just sat through a self-obsessed diatribe delivered by a Temu Trump who seems to think he is sat in the Oval Office,” said Sir Davey.
- Green Party leader Zack Polanski said: “Nigel Farage is once again trying to con the public with this stunt – trying to duck the fact that his history of taking dodgy donations is finally catching up with him.”
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