Leading figure who has jumped ship to Reform UK hit out at the London Mayor

Sir Robin Wales blasted Sir Sadiq Khan, pictured (Image: Getty)

A Labour defector to Reform UK ripped into Sir Sadiq Khan at a press conference alongside Nigel Farage. Former Labour local authority mayor Sir Robin Wales blasted the state of the capital under the London Mayor, who has been in charge since 2016.

Sir Robin, who was directly elected mayor of Newham from 2002-18, said the city has seen “soaring crime, failing services, and a party that prioritises the wealthy elite over the working class it was built to represent”. Ex-Labour councillor Clive Furness, who has also jumped ship to Reform, insisted Labour has “clearly and demonstrably failed London”.

Former Labour local authority mayor Sir Robin Wales has joined Nigel Farage’s ranks (Image: Getty)

He said: “It’s sad to see that even Newham, a borough that Sir Robin and I managed to lift out of deprivation, has gone completely backwards under a Labour mayor and a Labour council that is now completely out of touch with the communities it was meant to represent.”

Sir Robin will act as Reform’s London director of local government, while Mr Furness has been selected as the party’s candidate for mayor of Newham.

It comes after Mr Farage had teased imminent Labour defections in recent months.

Asked whether Sir Robin and Mr Furness were the Labour figures he had been referring to, the Reform leader suggested there would be more.

He said: “They’re some of them – we are talking to a number of Labour figures.

“What is particularly pertinent about these two guys is their record in government in London as we approach a London election.

“There are other Labour figures we’re talking to, and you will see them over the course of the next weeks and months.”

But London Labour accused Reform of “scraping the barrel”, as the pair had not been involved in the Labour movement “for some time”.

A spokesperson said: “If Clive Furness and Robin Wales count as a ‘major London announcement’, Reform really are scraping the barrel.

“Nigel Farage, Laila Cunningham and their allies spend their time talking London down and attacking the success of one of the most proudly multicultural cities in the world.

“Meanwhile, Labour is focused on delivering for London – supporting 240,000 children by ending the two-child cap, cutting energy bills for 3.7million households, expanding free school meals and breakfast clubs, and strengthening protections for 2.7million renters.”