Nigel Farage’s Clacton by-election “shouldn’t be happening”, Yvette Cooper has said this morning as she blasted the Reform UK leader’s “political tantrum”.
Asked why Labour was not standing a candidate in the contest, the Foreign Secretary told BBC Breakfast: “Well, look, the by-election shouldn’t be happening, it’s Nigel Farage who has chosen, I think, frankly, to disrespect the people of Clacton by just doing this.
“This is a stunt that is all about his own interest. It’s not about the people of Clacton. It’s not about the country. He was elected in a general election.
“He is only doing this because he wants to somehow distract from what is simply the proper application of the rules and I don’t think that is fair on the people of Clacton. But that is the responsibility of Nigel Farage and not anybody else.”
Foreign Secretary Ms Cooper, who is at the Nato leaders’ summit in Turkey, said her focus remained on problems around the “increasingly dangerous world”.