Labour drop biggest clue yet that Reform UK and Nigel Farage have them rattled

THERE is now no doubt that Labour is rattled by the rise of ’s Reform UK.

Sir ’s party has gained a stark and vision of what they will face if the insurgent party ever replaces the as the official Opposition.

Both party leader Mr Farage and deputy leader had questions in Prime Minister’s Questions – blasting the Government for stripping pensioners of winter fuel payments and urging Sir Keir to “stop funding Hamas”.

But the clearest sign that Labour sees Reform as a real threat came immediately after Tory leader Kemi Badenoch finished asking her round of questions. This is normally the moment when a Labour MP will stand up and ask a friendly question which will allow Sir Keir to take a pot shot at the .

But this time the target was not Mrs Badenoch’s party but Mr Farage’s.

Labour MP John Slinger rose to his feet and claimed that the Reform leader is “open to anything” when it comes to the future of the NHS. In what must rank as one of the least difficult questions Sir Keir has ever faced, he was asked if he would confirm that under a Labour Government the NHS will be “there for everyone” and patients will not have to “worry about the bills”.

This is what political climate change looks like. Labour now feels the need to turn its fire on Reform.

A YouGov poll on voting intentions this week put Reform in first place (25%), ahead of Labour (24%) and the still-beleaguered (21%).

Labour MPs are reported to have set up a new internal pressure group to take the fight to Reform. They know they are in Mr Farage’s sights.

Reform won 4.1million votes in the summer election and came second in 89 seats – in 60 constituencies finishing second to Labour.

Mr Farage and his colleagues are serious about building a movement that can deny both Labour and the power – and Sir Keir’s party has woken up to this threat.

The Reform leader enjoys the attention. When he stood up in the Commons he looked across at the Labour benches and said: “There appears to be some panic on that side of the House. I’m not surprised.”

He then raised the case of his 99-year-old constituent Jim O’Dwyer, who served as a rear gunner in Lancaster bombers during World War II and has lost his winter fuel allowance.

If Chancellor Rachel Reeves is forced to cut public spending and slash further entitlements he will have plenty more examples in the coming years of people who are struggling as a result.

Deputy Reform leader used his question to claim the United Nations Relief and Works Agency is “riddled with Hamas sympathisers,” declaring that the “British people do not want our aid being stolen by Hamas”.

Sir Keir flashed with irritation in his response, saying “to absolutely clear – and he knows this – we are not funding Hamas and we never will”.

There was more to come. Straight after PMQs, Mr Farage had secured an “urgent question” and forced the Government to defend its planned deal with Mauritius over the future of the Chagos Islands.

This is a taste of what could be to come if the party ever supplants the as the Official Opposition. will fear Reform is scoring points against the Government while their party is making headlines about whether it can afford to keep its central London headquarters.

Labour MPs and ministers are now having to spend time thinking about the bear-traps that Reform is laying in the Commons. The quintet of Reform MPs have well and truly gained a bridgehead and they plotting a democratic revolution.

The need to adapt to this new reality. Former Commons leader Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg has made the case for a pact between the parties which he says would be “devastating for the socialists, wiping out its majority and paving the way for a truly Conservative coalition, a Government that could do things as Trump is showing us it can be done”.

Moderate who are appalled at how President Trump has transformed the once-genteel Republican party into a populist force will shudder at their party going through a similar metamorphosis. But both the and Labour ignore the new kids on the block at their peril.