Farage Criticized Over ‘Trumpian’ Claim of Election Cheating

Nigel Farage with Matt Goodwin, during the campaign.
Photographer: SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images

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By Lucy White and Laura Avetisyan

February 27, 2026 at 11:38 AM UTC

Updated on

February 27, 2026 at 2:07 PM UTC

Reform Party Leader Nigel Farage accused the Greens of winning a UK special election on Thursday by “cheating,” after independent observers reported several instances of the banned practice of family voting.

“This election was a victory for sectarian voting and cheating,” Farage wrote on X after Reform’s candidate, Matt Goodwin, lost in Gorton and Denton to Hannah Spencer of the Greens.