Polanski tells Clacton they deserve better than Farage

On Tuesday 7 July, Nigel Farage announced his intention to step down as an MP. Seconds later, he announced his intention to fight in the subsequent by-election. Minutes after that, the Green Party argued that Farage’s move is little more than a stunt:

"This is another stunt from Nigel Farage. He knew the grift was going to catch up with him eventually, so he's pulled the trigger instead."

Green Party leader Zack Polanski on Farage's resignation and forced by-election. pic.twitter.com/tLmqkflUAT

— The Green Party (@TheGreenParty) July 7, 2026

Fighting Farage on the (Clacton) beaches

In the video above, Polanski says:

And there we have it. Another stunt from Nigel Farage. He knew the grift was going to catch up with him eventually, and so he’s pulled the trigger instead. But over and over again, this man pretends to be a man of the people. Really, he’s a man of the wealthy people.

Reform exists to maintain wealth and power in this country. And then, they have the audacity to pretend this is the people versus the establishment.

What this country needs is to tax wealth fairly, to get big money out of politics, to cap political donations, and make sure that our assets like energy and water are in public ownership, nationalised, not given away to big business. And that’s exactly what Reform stand for, to keep protecting their wealthy mates.

Nothing has really changed… Nigel Farage is going to continue his circus. But what we know we really need is for the Green Party to keep on growing. If you’re sick of seeing this go round and round, this is your moment.

Join the Green Party. Let’s replace Labour and take on Reform.

Can the Greens win in Clacton? Absolutely not:

Current Nowcast Projection for Clacton:

➡️ RFM: 48.5% (+2.3)
🌳 CON: 19.2% (-8.7)
◼️ RES: 12.0% (New)
🌍 GRN: 8.2% (+4.0)
🌹 LAB: 6.2% (-10.0)
🔶 LDM: 4.6% (+0.2) https://t.co/F6REwvsOBj pic.twitter.com/sqBZiVpXTz

— Election Maps UK (@ElectionMapsUK) July 7, 2026

While they can’t win, they can certainly grab national attention. They can also force the Reform and Labour candidates to answer questions that no one else will ask; questions about wealth taxes and renationalisation.

Polanski also posted a video of himself interviewing residents in Clacton:

Clacton has the chance to show Farage the door.

People Vs the Establishment.

His whole political project is about protecting the wealth and power of the establishment. pic.twitter.com/9QvdB4x0VP

— Zack Polanski (@ZackPolanski) July 7, 2026

The people of Clacton want the same things that the rest of us want; for their lives to get easier, and for things to be fairer. The problem is Reform has fooled them into thinking Farage is the man to deliver on those things.

Others speaking out against Farage

The Greens aren’t the only party who have made their feelings clear about the by-election. Labour said:

This is a gimmick designed to distract from serious allegations about Farage’s funders

It’s a fair point, but hard to see things panning out like this. If Farage stands in the by-election, Farage will face scrutiny; if Farage faces scrutiny, much of it will focus on his scandals; if that happens, he won’t have distracted from anything.

The Lib Dems said:

He should pay for this by-election himself out of the millions he’s grifted

We don’t know if Reform is taking instruction from the Lib Dems, but the party has announced a plan to pay for the by-election:

I have spoken to the CEO of Tendring District Council. Reform has offered to cover the cost of the by-election.

I will be writing to Rachel Reeves later today with the same message.

Given that we asked for this by-election in the first place, it’s only right that we pay for it.

— Nigel Farage MP (@Nigel_Farage) July 7, 2026

Fair enough, honestly, but we suspect this move is just going to draw attention to how much money Reform UK has sloshing around:

Nigel Farage’s Reform Party finally update the parliamentary record to reveal the largest ever political donation in UK history

£9,000,000 from Crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne who pays his taxes in Thailand where he’s based

Cryptofascism

pic.twitter.com/IlRYv8KeWV

— Stuzi 🐝🐝 (@stuzi_pants) December 4, 2025

Restore bottle it

One party that won’t oppose Farage is Rupert Lowe’s Restore Britain. As the leader himself explained:

Restore Britain will stand in the Clacton by-election.

The second one, held later this year, when the investigations into Farage’s finances conclude as we all suspect they will.

We are not going to participate in a Reform-sponsored media circus over the summer months that is designed to puff up Farage’s ego and deflect away from wholly fair questions over why he has concealed such vast and irregular financial donations.

Farage can play with his toys for the next six weeks, but Restore Britain is going to continue producing detailed policy papers, exactly as we have been, outlining how we can fix our country.

If you’re an insurgent party that’s looking to climb up the polls, the last thing you want to do is sit out a fight. It’s not for nothing that the Greens’ polling fell after they functionally sat out the Makerfield by-election. In the world we live in, out of sight means out of mind. And if you want voters to think you’re fighting for them, you need to actually fight.

Here we go again

At this point, it’s starting to feel like the UK is addicted to blockbuster by-elections. The Gorton & Denton by-election showed that Starmer was finished and the Greens were a new force in British politics; the Makerfield by-election showed that Andy Burnham had what it takes to replace Starmer and to take on Reform; the Clacton by-election will show that Farage can win in Clacton if nowhere else.

There’s some suggestion that other parties could sit out the Clacton by-election, as Dan Hodges noted:

In 2008 David Davis resigned from parliament to call a by-election over 42 day detention. It was seen as a stunt, and none of the other major parties stood candidates as a result. Whole thing looked a bit daft. Danger for Farage is same thing happens.

— (((Dan Hodges))) (@DPJHodges) July 7, 2026

The Greens would honestly be bananas to sit out another chance to speak to the public.

We hope that the party is in it to – well, not win it – but certainly to lose with purpose.

Featured image via the Canary