Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has urged residents in the Bristol region to vote for the party’s metro mayor candidate Arron Banks as the only way to beat the “loony left”.

The MP for Clacton led a media call among party faithful at Mr Banks’s country park tourist attraction Old Down Estate in Tockington, near Thornbury, on Tuesday, April 29, two days before polling day for the new West of England mayor.

Reform is targeting traditional Conservative voters in a race that election forecasters say is too tight to call between all five main political parties, with the winner likely to need only about a quarter of the overall vote.

Addressing dozens of supporters, Mr Farage said: “If you look at the polling, the Greens are in the lead but with Arron only four points behind with two days to go.

“This would be the most dramatic electoral upset if Banksy wins Bristol.

“We need traditional Conservative voters, particularly here in South Gloucestershire, to recognise that only Banks can beat the loony left.

“So my message to Conservative voters or Conservative-minded voters is if you want someone to be elected to beat the Greens, to beat the madness, do lend your vote to Arron Banks, and boy, wouldn’t it be a different conversation in this part of the world.

“I can’t tell you whether he’s going to do it but I can tell you he’s damn close, he’s causing ripples in this election.

“If he’s elected as mayor of the West of England with that £30million budget and the connection and communication with other councils, council taxpayers in this area will feel confident they’ve actually got someone there that will root out the waste of money and will stop this ludicrous expense of diversity, equity and inclusion.

“We don’t believe any of that. We believe everybody should be treated equally and treated on their merits regardless of race or religion or sexual preference.

“Arron is a successful businessman, Arron is plain spoken, Arron doesn’t care who he upsets or who he offends.

“We are in economic decline, we are in societal decline as drugs proliferate, shoplifting is almost allowed, and we are in cultural decline.

“We need to turn this country around, we need to win the next general election, and what happens on Thursday is a very, very important stepping stone towards that target.”

Mr Farage said he was proud that Reform UK – formerly the Brexit Party – had increased its membership from 25,000 last year to 226,000 now, describing them as the “people’s army”.

In an interview with the Local Democracy Reporting Service afterwards, he said Mr Banks was the only candidate who could be trusted with the West of England Combined Authority’s (Weca’s) budget.

The MP said: “He’s got a track record of giving thousands of people jobs over the years, paying huge amounts of tax in this country and running successful businesses, and the rest have no experience in that sphere at all.

“With Arron what you will get is a harsh dose of reality about how local government is run.”

He said Weca was placed into special measures by the government last year because of very serious questions about how public funds were spent.

Mr Farage said: “We’re committed as a party, he’s committed as an individual, to cutting the size of government to making it more efficient, ending working from home, all those ridiculous practices, but also the big stuff for a rather more common-sense approach to work, to jobs, to the net-zero agenda.

“Whichever way you cut it, Arron, if he wins, will be a big national figure.”

He said pollsters found that of the people who said they were certain to vote on Thursday (May 1), more supported Mr Banks than any other candidate.

Mr Farage said: “For any of us to sit here and predict what’s going to happen in the West of England on Thursday is a bit like the child’s game of pin the tail on the donkey.”

The party leader said Reform was in with a chance of winning but it depended on Tories, particularly in South Gloucestershire, to vote for Mr Banks.

He said he had not discussed specific policies with the candidate if he became the elected head of Weca, which comprises Bristol, South Gloucestershire and Bath & North East Somerset councils and is responsible for transport, strategic planning, economy and adult education.

Mr Farage said: “I would trust his judgement as mayor to get on with that.

“Let somebody who’s a high achiever in life get on with it.

“He doesn’t need me looking over his shoulders.”

The candidates are: