Party Political Broadcast

Last night I watched Nigel Farage’s Party Political Broadcast for the upcoming council elections. I sat there, flabbergasted. Not mildly surprised or quietly dismayed – no, properly gobsmacked. The whole thing was about immigration. Nothing on potholes, refuse collection, social care, housing maintenance, or any of the things that councils are actually responsible for. Just wall-to-wall immigrants.

What’s galling isn’t just the content, but the sheer brass neck of it. Here we are, a nation prepping for local elections – you know, the sort where you decide who’ll fix the lamp posts and empty your bins – and Farage rolls out the same tired Greatest Hit from his xenophobic jukebox. No local relevance, no sense of civic responsibility, just "be afraid of foreigners" repackaged and pumped into your living room like some tabloid-fuelled air freshener.

Let’s be absolutely clear. Local councils have no power over immigration. None. Zilch. If a council leader stormed into Westminster demanding to shut the borders or tear up visas, they’d be laughed back into their Civic Centre. Councils deal with the consequences of central government policy, not the causes. They pick up the pieces when Whitehall makes a hash of things.

But Farage doesn't care. He’s not aiming for truth, or even relevance. This is pure, undiluted populism – emotionally charged, factually hollow, and cynically targeted. It's politics as pantomime, where immigrants are the villains and he's the grinning, pint-clutching saviour. Only it’s not funny. It’s not even clever. It’s dangerous.

Because when you start taking national anxieties and injecting them into every available level of government – even those completely unequipped to address them – you edge closer to something darker. Something with less interest in democracy and more in domination. Populism, when it knows it’s lying, begins to shed its skin and reveal what’s underneath. And what’s underneath, in this case, is the sharp stink of fascism dressed up as common sense.

Local elections should be about competence – about who can best run services, maintain infrastructure, and represent their communities. Not some dog-whistle referendum on border control. But Farage doesn’t want you thinking about potholes or planning applications. He wants you angry. Angry enough to vote for someone whose only qualification is their willingness to shout the loudest at shadows.

If you’re genuinely fed up with the state of things – and frankly, who isn’t – then good. Be angry. But aim your anger properly. Don’t let it be hijacked by opportunists using local elections to launder national grievances through false promises and divisive rhetoric.

Because if you let that happen, it won’t be your bins getting emptied. It’ll be democracy itself.