Nigel Farage blasts council that offered staff counselling

Council workers in Leeds have been offered counselling in a ‘safe space’ to deal with the stress of a visit by the Reform UK leader.

And tonight Nigel Farage, who is visiting the city next week as part of a local election campaign, called for those involved to be sacked, branding them ‘pathetic, weak people’.

Staff working at Labour-led Leeds City Council have been offered the ‘safe space’ in which to talk if they feel upset about Mr Farage’s visit.

John Ebo, the council’s head of human resources, said: ‘No doubt you will have picked up in the news that Nigel Farage and Reform are holding an event/rally.

‘I am mindful such events impact on colleagues, and would ask that we enable safe space conversations for colleagues such as the Wellbeing network chats.’ 

The email was forwarded to the council’s Race Equality Staff Network, with an extra warning: ‘Be vigilant if you are in the city centre that day.’

Mr Farage, has vowed to tackle ‘institutional Left-wing bias’ among the ‘blob’ of the civil service, local authorities and schools.

He told The Mail on Sunday: ‘These are pathetic, weak people who don’t understand democracy. They should all be sacked.’

His remarks came as Robert Jenrick, Reform’s Shadow Chancellor, uses an article in this paper to argue that the Labour Government is so scared of losing votes to the Greens that Zack Polanski’s party is already effectively running the country.

Mr Jenrick writes: ‘The Green Party’s victory is already terrifying Labour MPs, and predictably driving Sir Keir Starmer even further away from the sane majority in this country.

‘For, despite his bumper ranks of MPs, many of whom owe their parliamentary careers to the Prime Minister, he remains in hock to his restive and Left-leaning backbenchers. 

'In years past, the party used to rely on inner-city support, but it has long abandoned any pretence that it is the tribune of the working class. 

'Today, just 15 per cent of working class voters want a Labour Government.

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‘Alarm clock Britain – that silent majority of people who work for their money and love this country – is flocking to Reform. 

'The hard-working, decent, patriotic people I know, many of whose forebears voted Labour for generations, have had it with them.

‘To plug the gaping hole in their traditional support, the party courts two cohorts of voters: Muslims and those reliant on the public sector, such as teachers, nurses and civil servants. 

'And it is these two groups Polanski threatens to steal from Labour.’

Leeds City Council said that as the emails were between staff they ‘do not represent formal communications’.