Nigel Farage raged at Angela Rayner after the Deputy Prime Minister confirmed millions will no longer get to vote in local elections this year.
Nine council areas will postpone their elections until May 2026 as they shift from being two-tier to unitary authorities.
Taking to an emergency press conference in Westminster, the Reform UK leader said he is “blooming angry” at the “completely outrageous” decision.
However, he teased that voters still getting to elect councillors in May are in for a “big surprise” when Reform sets out its local elections manifesto in the coming weeks.
Mr Farage revealed to the Daily Express that Reform has been quietly submitting thousands of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests that will reveal scandalous levels of waste by current councils.
He later suggested one revelation would be the levels of social housing currently being given to people not born in Britain.
The Clacton MP explained: “You’re going to be very surprised.
“We have literally been putting in thousands and thousands of FOIs up and down the country for some months.
“We are getting to the bottom of waste at local government, we’re getting to the bottom of overpay of too many officials at local government.
“We’re also going to shock you and surprise you when we show you some of the contracts that have been signed – five and 10-year contracts that have been signed by existing county councils for essential services that are being delivered very, very badly.
“We’re going to show you how Reform can fix it. We are going to show you how we can get better value for money from council taxpayers.”
A party source confirmed the big reveal will come at Reform’s local election campaign launch in Birmingham on March 28, which they promise will be their “biggest event yet”.
Mr Farage suggested his working target was about 175 council seat wins in May, but this came down after the Government and local Tory councils managed to prevent elections from going ahead in some of Reform UK’s strongest areas.
He singled out Essex and Norfolk, where Reform won seats in last year’s General Election, as areas Reform would have performed very well in had the local contests gone ahead.
He even predicted Reform UK could have won Essex council outright.
Mr Farage said strong governance by Reform UK at local level would prove to voters the change they could bring to the country at large if they win the 2029 general election.
He used the press conference to accuse the Government of behaving like a dictator in delaying local elections for about five million voters.
Taking to the podium, Mr Farage slammed the decision and insisted the delay would not merely be for a year but up to three years if previous local government reorganisations are anything to go by.
He accused Labour and the Tories of conspiring to avoid going to the polls because they fear the advance of his new party.
He told the audience: “We are blooming angry this afternoon that 5.5million in this country are being denied their vote on May 1 this year.
“Now I thought only dictators cancelled elections, but no. This is the connivance of a now terrified Labour Party … and Conservative-led councils who of course want to keep their money rolling for another couple of years.
“There is absolutely no justification for cancelling the elections for 5.5million people other than the cowardice of the existing political class.”
Reform UK’s petition demanding the local elections go ahead has now reached 250,000 signatories.