Farage: I won't go back to the Tories until tough action is taken on the 'population crisis'

Nigel Farage said many younger members were disappointed with the Tories' «pretty boring» leadership. Photo: Ken Mackay/ITV/Shutterstock

Nigel Farage has ruled out rejoining the Tories until the party takes more radical action to tackle what he called Britain's «demographic crisis».

Former The Brexit Party leader has said the Conservatives have «no answer» to the pressures of migration. provision of housing and communal services and general practitioners.

In an interview with Good Morning Britain, he warned that many younger members are frustrated by the «pretty boring» leadership.

Mr Farage made the remarks after receiving a warm welcome at the Conservative conference this year in Manchester, where he was surrounded by a crowd of activists.

The former politician turned broadcaster said he was surprised by the reception, but it showed a desire for change within the party.

“I have fought against them for years, I have fought against them in elections for me always there was a fair amount of hostility,” he said.

“I was always accused of having some extreme, bad and wrong plans, and yet those things that I fought for for many years years, including getting rid of HS2, have now become fairly mainstream within the Conservative Party.»

< p>“I was really welcomed with open arms, but especially among the youth, a lot of young delegates. They're looking for ideas, they want a really positive vision for the future of the country, and I think they frankly find a lot of Tory politicians pretty boring.»

During the conference, Mr Farage was photographed taking selfies with young activists and performing a karaoke duet with Priti Patel, the former house secretary.

The scenes raised questions for Rishi Sunak and his cabinet ministers about whether they would welcome him back into the fold.

Mr Farage said: “It was very nice of Rishi to say this is us — the broad church , and we would bring him back, something previous Conservative leaders would never have said.

“They have very, very serious problems, and they especially have problems in the Red Wall. Those Red Wall voters who became Conservatives in 2019 almost all came through the UK Independence Party, so you can see why they're being so nice to me.»

But the former leader of the Brexit Party and the UK Independence Party said the government's data on migration meant he would not consider returning to the fold for now.

Referring to housing shortages and rising waits to see a GP, he said: «We're looking at a demographic crisis which is really affecting everyone's quality of life. The Conservatives don't have an answer to that, so frankly I'd join at the moment Should I join them? No, I won't.»

The statement came a day after he suggested the BBC would consider returning to the Tories «if they reset and rebuild after the next election.»

Mr Farage was a member of the party when he was younger, but left it in 1992 after Sir John Major signed the Maastricht Treaty.