Nigel Farage’s shock decision to resign and re-stand in his Clacton constituency could cost the taxpayer over a quarter of a million pounds, analysis by The Independent has found.
The Reform UK leader has quit as an MP amid two ongoing investigations by the parliamentary standards watchdog over undeclared gifts totalling millions of pounds.
In a video statement outlining his plans, Mr Farage insisted: “I have done nothing wrong. I have not broken the law in any way at all.”
He added that he will now stand in a “people versus the establishment” by-election in the Essex constituency that he has represented since the 2024 general election.
Sir Keir Starmer branded the move was “a desperate stunt” from a man “up to his neck in sleaze”, while Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch derided Mr Farage’s decision a “hissy fit”.
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The high-stakes political stunt could cost the taxpayer £275,046 in election costs to be funded by the central government. The figure is based on the cost of the 2014 Clacton by-election, which totalled £193,463 after taking into account 12 years of inflation.
Taking to X after his speech was aired, the Reform UK said that his party has offered to cover the cost of the by-election, something that is not permitted under election laws.
Mr Farage wrote: “Given that we asked for this by-election in the first place, it’s only right that we pay for it.”
In the UK, all parliamentary elections and by-elections are funded by the government, unlike local elections which are funded by the local council.
Information on the cost of by-elections is recorded sporadically. But data produced by the government in 2010 found that the average cost of a parliamentary by-election was £228,964 – up to £323,254 today, when accounting for inflation.
The budget for June’s Makerfield by-election, triggered when former Labour MP Josh Simons resigned his seat to allow Andy Burnham to contest the by-election and return to Westminster to challenge the Labour leadership, was £226,208.
However, both figures are dwarfed by the expected cost of the mayoral contest for Greater Manchester to replace Mr Burnham, which ran to £4,719,754 when the seat was last contested in 2024. In this case, the bill is footed by the combined authority. Voters in the region will take to the ballot on 30 July to decide a successor to Mr Burnham.
But with a registered electorate of just over two million, the Greater Manchester seat is far larger than either the Clacton or Makerfield constituencies. Makerfield has an electorate of 76,517, while Clacton’s is 75,959, meaning the cost of the ballot will not run that high.
The latest drama surrounding Mr Farage comes as he revealed during his announcement that a second standards investigation into his personal finances had begun. It follows reports that long-term ally George Cottrell, a convicted fraudster, had provided undeclared funding for security and staffing in the year before Mr Farage was elected.
Earlier this year, it was reported that Mr Farage also received a £5m “gift” from billionaire Reform donor Christopher Harborne, which he claims was to pay for his personal security.
Commons’ rules dictates that new MPs are required to register any gifts worth more than £300 received in the previous 12 months, unless the gift “could not be reasonably though by others” to relate to their political activities.
The code specifies that “purely personal gifts or benefits” from partners or family members do not need to be registered.
In both cases, Mr Farage maintains that the gifts received were used for entirely personal purposes.
In his speech on Tuesday, the Reform leader claimed that the investigations by the parliamentary watchdogs were “being used as a political tool” against him.
Parliamentary standards commissioner Daniel Greenberg’s investigation into both donations will now be suspended due to Mr Farage’s resignation, but will resume should he win the by-election and once again become an MP.
Concluding his speech, the outgoing Clacton MP said he would not be “judged” by the media, adding: “I’ve decided that the people of Clacton should be the judges of my actions.
“It’s a chance to stick two fingers up to the entire establishment to frankly tell them where to go, and that is why I will be putting my name forward to stand in this by-election.”
