NIGEL Farage is hoping Reform UK will make council seat gains in the Forest of Dean, Gloucester and Cheltenham but won’t say what number would be deemed a success for his party.

The Clacton MP was in Gloucestershire yesterday (April 22) meeting candidates for the County Council election which takes place next week.

Shire Hall has been led by the Conservatives since 2005 and there are currently no Reform UK councillors at the authority.

He believes it will be an “interesting election” where there will be “a lot of three way-marginals”, he told the Local Democracy Reporting Service at the Clavell and Hind Brewery and Tap Room.

When asked if fielding candidates would split the conservative vote in the county he said his party is “replacing the Conservatives nationally”.

“Already in the North of England, Midlands, Wales and Scotland we are ahead of the Conservatives.

“It’s very interesting that in the general election in Gloucestershire the Conservative vote was down 22 per cent. This will be down a lot more.”

He said there is “no forgiveness” for what the Conservative Party has done to the country.

In Gloucestershire, opinion polls suggest that the Liberal Democrats will be the largest party on the council after May 1.

“With the Lib Dems up, the Tories down, us coming up through the middle, there are lots of three seat marginals out there,” Mr Farage said.

“In some of the seats, where Labour is strong, there are four seat marginals.

“Obviously, we’ve got our targets, our Forest of Dean, bits of Cheltenham and Gloucester that are very clearly pro-Brexit wards – that’s naturally where we start.

“We are going to try beyond that. We put up a full slate of candidates and a party of our age that is pretty impressive.”

He was asked what a good result would be for his party and whether it would mean double digits, he would not specify a number.

“A good number of seats out of the 55,” he said. “I’m not going to commit further than that.”

A list of all the candidates standing and what the Conservatives, Green Party, Labour and the Liberal Democrats can be read here.