Mr Farage said: “Starmer is overseeing a politics in Britain that is broken with an electoral system that is no longer trustworthy.”

He branded the by-election result “an absolute disgrace,” claiming that “foreign-born nationals holding foreign passports, many of whom do not speak English, were allowed to vote.”

The Clacton MP’s comments follow his party’s defeat to the Green Party’s Hannah Spencer, who secured victory with a majority exceeding 4,000 votes.

Reform UK has unveiled proposals to fundamentally reshape who can participate in British elections.

Under the party’s plans, only naturalised British citizens would be permitted to cast ballots in parliamentary elections.

This would strip Commonwealth nationals of their current voting rights.

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The party has also pledged to abolish postal voting for the vast majority of the electorate.

Exemptions would apply solely to elderly and disabled voters, members of the armed forces serving overseas, and those working abroad during election periods.

Mr Farage has argued that postal ballots should be restricted to individuals who “genuinely cannot vote in person on the day,” supported by evidence.

The by-election took place last Thursday in the Greater Manchester constituency, with Ms Spencer claiming victory for the Greens with 40.7 per cent of the vote.

Speaking to GB News, Green Party Leader Zack Polanski branded Mr Farage as a “sore loser.”

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The contest was overshadowed by allegations of widespread family voting, an illegal practice where two people enter a polling booth together, potentially allowing one to direct the other’s choice.

Election monitoring group Democracy Volunteers reported observing this practice at 15 of the 22 polling stations it monitored.

The organisation’s director John Ault said these were “the highest levels of family voting at any election in our 10-year history of observing elections in the UK.”

Former Conservative minister Robert Jenrick, who defected to Reform UK and now serves as the party’s Treasury spokesman, echoed Mr Farage’s concerns about immigration’s impact on British society.

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“Extreme levels of immigration has divided our country and allowed sectarianism to fester,” Mr Jenrick said.

He claimed the country had become “balkanised, with communities living in enclaves” and that “backwards practices like family voting, sharia courts and cousin marriage” had been imported and permitted to spread.

Mr Jenrick accused both Labour and the Green Party of “pandering to sectarianism.”

Reform UK has formally reported 32 alleged incidents of family voting to Greater Manchester Police and the Electoral Commission.

The force confirmed it had received the report and was reviewing the allegations.

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Shadow local government secretary James Cleverly has separately contacted the Electoral Commission requesting a full inquiry into the poll.

Critics have rounded on Mr Farage’s proposals, with TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak branding the Reform UK leader “a sore loser” peddling “baseless conspiracy theories.”

“His baseless conspiracy theories make him sound more like Donald Trump every day. Instead of trying to rig the rules – restricting who can vote or banning postal ballots – he should look closer to home,” Mr Nowak told The Mirror.

Green Party deputy leader Rachel Millward condemned the plans as “a bizarre and dangerous attack on democracy.”

She said Reform had made “abundantly clear that they are seeking to undermine our democracy with their Trumpian playbook.”

Ms Millward added: “We must now all look to defend the foundations of our democracy – they’ve never been more at risk from a domestic threat.”

The latest Electoral Commission figures from 2024 show no evidence of large-scale election fraud in Britain.