Nigel Farage accused of 'running away from justice' after 'chicken' decision by Rachel Reeves to green light by-election

Sir Ed Davey has accused Nigel Farage of "running away from justice" after resigning as MP for Clacton-on-Sea.

Speaking to GB News, the Liberal Democrats leader hit out at the Reform UK leader and declared he should "face scrutiny" amid an investigation by the Parliamentary Standards Committee.

Following his resignation on Tuesday, Sir Ed criticised Chancellor Rachel Reeves for giving the Clacton by-election the green light.

He told GB News: "The Chancellor has chickened out. I'm afraid the Chancellor could have not accepted the resignation.

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"It's a tradition going back many years, and it's been used before to stop a resignation back in 1842, when the then Chancellor said that the MP who wanted to resign had got some dodgy financial dealings. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?"

Sir Ed made clear the findings of the committee investigation should be concluded so the "people of Clacton can decide" if they wish to re-elect Mr Farage.

He argued: "Let's see what the commission says, the Commission of Parliamentary Standards. Mr Farage is trying to avoid that scrutiny.

"We think he should have faced it and we think he should face it, so the people of Clacton, before they vote, can find out whether Mr Farage is telling the truth when he claims he's not breaking the rules, or whether he's lying."

Pressed on whether he is "scared" of the Reform UK leader, Sir Ed was quick to disagree: "God, not at all.

"We love taking on Reform in areas that we're strong, because we tend to beat them. We beat them just the other day in a council by-election last week.

"The truth is, Clacton is a very safe Reform seat, but we want to expose Mr Farage for what he's doing. He's chicken. He's running away from being held to account, he's running away from the proper processes."

Pushing back on the Lib Dem leader, GB News Political Editor Christopher Hope argued Mr Farage is "giving you the chance to kick him out of politics".

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Sir Ed responded: "He's running away from justice. The process of the Commission for Parliamentary Standards has been used many times in the past to look at the allegations against MPs of all parties, and here is Mr Farage trying to prevent that happening.

"In his case, he reminds me of Donald Trump. He talks about fake news, but he's as corrupt as anything. Here we have Mr Farage not willing to have these serious allegations looked into before he goes to the electorate. That is chicken."

Challenged on whether the Lib Dems is "no longer the anti-establishment party", Sir Ed told GB News: "We are the anti-establishment party, but we believe in playing by the rules, unlike Mr Farage, who is trying to escape scrutiny, escape accountability.

"If that's anti-establishment, well, I think the people should see that, people in Clacton. Do they really think that it's okay to be given £5million by a Thailand-based crypto billionaire and then not declare it as the rules suggest?

"And let's remember, Mr Farage has gone online and lobbied to change the rules in favour of that crypto billionaire. There's a word for that in modern language. If that turns out to be true, it's corruption."

Sir Ed concluded the "rules could not be clearer" for MPs when declaring financial donations and gifts.

He said: "He should have declared it, the rules could not be clearer. Let the party Commission on Standards rule on it.

"He wants to escape that, so I think people watching this programme would say, ;Why does he want to escape scrutiny? Is this something to hide?' I think there's a lot to hide when it comes to Mr Farage."

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