Nigel Farage says Tories ‘not on the right in any measurable way’ and calls Labour government ‘miserable’ – UK politics live

<p>Leader of Reform UK criticises Conservatives and ‘declinist’ Labour government in new attacks</p><p>Good morning, defence secretary John Healey has finished speaking, so I can take a quick pause and actually welcome you to our rolling coverage of UK politics for Tuesday. Here are the headlines …</p><p>Defence secretary <strong>John Healey</strong> has announced what he described as the most significant defence reform for 50 years, in which reporting lines and budgets will be simplified, and a new “quad” of four senior leaders reporting directly to the minister appointed</p><p>Healy said there were extraordinary people in the UK’s defence forces, but too often they were hampered by process, and there was a lack of direct accountability. He suggested his changes might bring about up to £10bn in savings to the taxpayer over the next decade</p><p>Transport secretary <strong>Heidi Alexander</strong> has said the UK should not rule out sending troops to Ukraine as part of any future peacekeeping force</p><p>The rate of UK <strong>unemployment</strong> remained unchanged at 4.4% in the three months to December. Work and pensions secretary <strong>Liz Kendall</strong> said “Since July, wages have continued to grow at pace … but these figures also show that too many people are being locked out of work”</p><p>London mayor <strong>Sadiq Khan</strong> is reportedly set to tell EU diplomats “Brexit was a mistake”</p><p>Successive governments’ overreliance on <strong>prison</strong> sentences and desire to seem “tough on crime” have driven the justice system in England and Wales to the brink of collapse, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/law/2025/feb/18/prison-system-crisis-due-to-overreliance-on-long-sentences-says-gauke-review">an official review has found</a></p><p><strong>Nigel Farage</strong>, leader of <strong>Reform UK</strong>, has spoken at the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC) conference in London. Yesterday Conservative opposition leader <strong>Kemi Badenoch</strong> told the same event that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/feb/17/kemi-badenoch-western-civilisation-will-be-lost-tory-party-fails">“western civilisation will be lost” if the Tory party fails</a></p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2025/feb/18/defence-secretary-john-healey-armed-forces-nigel-farage-reform-uk-politics-live-news-updates">Continue reading...</a>