Nigel Farage has revealed his plan to improve council services (Image: Andy Commins / Daily Mirror)

       Slashing migration and ending the “population explosion” will lead to better council services, Nigel Farage has declared. The Reform UK leader said councils have failed to adapt and “cut their cloth accordingly”, after a fall in central Government funding and growing demand. But Mr Farage insisted cutting spending locally and tackling migration at a national level could lead to drastic improvements.

       “They are picking up some of the tab”, he said of local councils and the migrant crisis”.

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       Nigel Farage spoke to the Express this week (Image: Andy Commins / Daily Mirror)

       Nigel Farage said the UK must tackle population explosion (Image: Andy Commins / Daily Mirror)

       “If you look at the interpretation bills, hundreds of thousands a year and they also pick up some of the asylum costs as well.

       “It’s a heck of an issue.

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       “Housing targets – another big local issue - as a result of an exploding population.

       “National government, local government are very closely linked.”

       Asked how he will convince voters his immigration plans will lead to better council services, Mr Farage insisted: “If we stop the population explosion, through legal migration, that will take pressure off local services.

       “If we deport those who come illegally, the country will save five to seven billion pounds every year – that’s nationally.

       “And goodness knows how many hundreds of millions though local councils too.”

       Mr Farage’s ambitions come after shocking projections revealed migration will lead to another five million people living in the UK in just seven years.

       The population will surge to 72.5 million – up from 67.6 million – by 2032, heaping more pressure on the NHS, housing, roads and schools.

       Statisticians at the ONS have predicted net migration will settle at 340,000 per year from 2028.

       But this could be higher, with current levels soaring at 728,000.

       This is down from a record high of 906,000 in June 2023.

       Migration will account for “the entirety of the population growth” as the difference between births and deaths is “projected to be around zero”.

       Mr Farage has called for “net zero immigration” in a bid to restore control of Britain’s borders and improve services.

       And the UK is also grappling with an illegal migration crisis.

       A record number of migrants have crossed in the first four months of this year – 9,099.

       But few Channel migrants are ever deported.

       And the UK and France are desperately trying to secure a returns agreement so that asylum seekers who make it back to the UK are taken back to France.

       Mr Farage has insisted he wants to deport as “many of them that come”.

       But asked if he was talking about Donald Trump-style mass deportations, the Reform UK leader insisted: “Australian – Tony Abbott-style. They had the boat problem, coming from Indonesia.

       “They grappled with it for years.

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       “Tony just towed the boats back to Indonesia. End of.”

       Reform is hoping to win hundreds of council seats on May 1 and seize control of a handful of local authorities.

       Mr Farage, in a speech on Tuesday, highlighted the deteriorating state of public services and growing levels of debt.

       And he told the Express: “Central Government funding has been reduced and I don’t think councils adapted very well to that.

       “The pandemic also put more pressures on them.

       “There are more kids with special educational needs, an ageing population.

       “There are some real problems here.

       “But I equally think they haven’t adapted. They haven’t cut their cloth according to where things are now.

       “In many cases, there are a lot of people earning quite a lot of money, without that ever being linked to productivity or success.

       “You know, I’ve looked at potholes. It’s one of the issues that people talk about a lot, because your car gets trashed and it costs you a lot of money.

       “And you find councils are taking on inferior firms, aren’t delivering well, aren’t up on the new technology on potholes, and yet they are signing five and ten year contracts with inferior providers.

       “The whole thing needs a good look at.”

       Reform’s support since the last election has soared from 18 to 30 per cent.

       At the same time, Labour’s vote share has plummeted from 39 to 27 per cent.

       But Mr Farage insisted Reform is not a “protest vote”.

       He said: “The protest vote is to stay at home.

       “That is the protest vote. The last general election saw plenty of that.

       “We will not succeed through a protest vote, because people just won’t be bothered. We will only succeed if people think these guys have got some of the answers we need.

       “So for us, it’s got to be a positive vote.

       “We can’t sign Presidential orders on day one. But we can, as I say, get the auditors in, start cutting back on unnecessary expenditure and change the whole culture of the council workforce.”

       Mr Farage believes his party is attracting “life-long Labour voters” and accused Sir Keir’s party of abandoning the working class.

       "Reform is parking their tanks on the lawns of the red wall.

       "Today's the first day I've said that but I absolutely mean it, and we're here, and we're here to stay.

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       "And the evidence is that people who are switching to us, this is not a short term protest. They actually believe in us."

       He added: "If we go on like this, it'll be 'Nige-mare on Downing Street'."

       Mr Farage branded Labour "a very middle class party dominated full of human rights lawyers who seem to care more about vague concepts of international law coming from foreign and in some cases, in my view, illegitimate courts, than it does about working people”.