Nigel Farage is seeking to cash on Gen Z 'youthquake' after bragging about Reform's 'dominance' on social media in the election with his party enjoying a 'rapidly growing' under-18 fanbase
Nigel Farage is aiming for a Gen Z 'youthquake' at the next general election as he brags his party is enjoying a rapidly growing fanbase among the under 18s.
The Reform UK leader said on Friday his dominance on social media has won him support among teenage boys many of whom were too young to vote this time around.
It comes after his party racked up more than four million votes, or 14.3 per cent of the national vote share at the general election on Thursday.
Mr Farage's talk of emasculation and a failing state in particular seems to have resonated with the under-18 age group who interact with his videos on TikTok.
The Reform leader has 853,000 followers on the social media platform and his party has 227,8000 - compared to the Conservatives' 73,600 followers.
In one video Farage sings along to Eminem's song Without Me with the lyrics: 'Guess who's back, back again.' He captioned the post: 'Good morning, Rishi Sunak.'
Nigel Farage rapping along to Eminem song Without Me in an attempt to connect to younger voters
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage joins young boxers at a boxing gym in Clacton, Essex on July 3
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage during a visit to Wyldecrest Sports Country Club, Corringham, Essex on July 6
The Reform leader has 853,000 followers on TikTok and his party has 227,8000 - compared to the Conservatives ' 73,600 followers
Mr Farage is looking to capitalise on support among younger voters at the 2029 general election when Reform believe they will be able to replace the Tories as the official opposition.
Mock elections - that have been held across British schools - have been reflective of the support for Reform among that age group.
Kit, aged 14, from Walthamstow, east London, told The Times that in his school's mock election Reform 'absolutely barbecued the other candidates'.
His mother Emily Howe said when Kit told her Reform was popular with the children at school she assumed 'he'd got the wrong end of the stick'.
But her son assured her 'it would be a total wipeout' and this turned out to be the case'.
Speaking at a press conference on Friday afternoon, Farage said: 'We completely and utterly dominated social media, whether it was X, whether it was Facebook, whether it was Instagram, whether it was TikTok.
'We completely dominated that landscape in the most remarkable way, with a very, very small spend in comparison to the other parties.
Mr Farage is looking to capitalise on support among younger voters at the 2029 general election when Reform believe they will be able to replace the Tories as the official opposition
The Reform UK leader said on Friday his dominance on social media has won him support among teenage boys many of whom were too young to vote this time around
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage with the new Reform MP for South Basildon and East Thurrock, James McMurdock,
'I'll tell you something, the enthusiasm for what we stand for, that is now growing rapidly among Gen Z, is unlike anything I've ever seen before with the Brexit Party or with UKIP.
'I don't think it has yet quite converted into votes. A lot of them are 17 and a lot of them haven't voted and many said they weren't registered but there is something remarkable happening there.'
A poll by released by JL Partners ranked Reform in second place behind Labour among 16 and 17-year-olds with a total of 23 per cent saying they would vote for the right-wing party.
However, among boys of the same age, Reform UK was tied in first position, with the party polling at 35 per cent.
In the general election on Thursday, as many as two-thirds of the seats the Tories lost were the result of Reform UK splitting the Right-leaning vote, analysis has revealed.
In more than 170 of the 251 constituencies lost by the Conservatives, the Reform vote was greater than the margin of the Tories' defeat.
This was the case in seats across the country, particularly in so-called 'Red Wall' constituencies snatched from Labour by former Tory prime minister Boris Johnson in 2019.
The analysis, by polling guru Professor Sir John Curtice, lays bare the scale of the damage caused by Nigel Farage's insurgent party after it racked up more than 4million votes, or 14.3 per cent of the national vote share.
A poll by released by JL Partners ranked Reform in second place behind Labour among 16 and 17-year-olds with a total of 23 per cent saying they would vote for the right-wing party
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage during a visit to Wyldecrest Sports Country Club, Corringham, Essex on July 6
n the general election on Thursday, as many as two-thirds of the seats the Tories lost were the result of Reform UK splitting the Right-leaning vote, analysis has revealed
It shows that former prime minister Rishi Sunak's repeated warnings that a vote for Reform was a vote to hand Labour a huge majority and a 'blank cheque' – a sentiment echoed by this newspaper this week – were correct.
But Mr Farage yesterday dismissed the idea he was single-handedly responsible for handing Labour a thumping majority.
At a press conference in Westminster, he said: 'The truth is, the Conservatives sunk themselves by betraying the 2019 [general election] vote.
'It's just as simple as that. They've done this to themselves and there are large parts of the country – the Red Wall in particular – where it's the Conservatives that are splitting the Reform vote because we are now the challengers to Labour in those constituencies.'
