REFORM leader Nigel Farage said it was not a coincidence he chose Barnsley as the place to deliver the ‘most important message’ of his campaign - and although he’s more cautious than some of his party’s chances in the town in May, he believes there’s ‘every chance’ they take over at the town hall.

His visit to the town comes just weeks after another Reform politician, Lee Anderson, was in Wombwell and the town centre.

This year’s local elections are set to take place on May 7 with the town set to hold its first all-out cycle.

It means that all 63 council seats in each of the 21 wards will be up for election.

And with campaigning ramping up for political parties across the borough, the Reform leader delivered a key speech at Dodworth Central Social Club on Wednesday evening.

When asked how confident he is that Reform UK will win big in the town next month, he told the Chronicle: “I’ll be honest, I haven’t been to Ladbrokes yet.

“I know that we as a party have a very well-structured branch here, with very keen candidates, who are working the ground hard.

“And if there’s one thing we can learn from the Lib Dems, it’s where you have really good active ground campaigns it makes a massive difference.

“I just think the party in Barnsley is very, very well organised.

“I also think that Barnsley has a very strong sense of identity.

“Barnsley knows what it is, and maybe that family, community, country message that we push just seems to resonate.

“And if you look even at the last general election, you know, you’ll find that in Barnsley, we were scoring just over 30 per cent of the vote in a couple of the seats.

“Labour were about 48-50.

“And if you’ve even taken the swing in national polls since then, it’s realistic to say we’re up ten - and it’s more realistic to say they’re down ten.

“So even on the national swing, you can see why it would be somewhere we’re going to compete.

“But I think the local effort is going to make the difference.”

He then asked the crowd if they were going to win here in May and was greeted with a large cheer, and added: “I’ll be a little bit more cautious but I think we’ve got every chance.”

According to PollCheck, Reform are set to gain a majority in the town hall.

The poll states that Reform will gain 32 seats, Labour 18, Lib Dem two and Jake Lodge will be the only independent.

Despite the majority, the number of seats is down from the predicted 35 earlier this month.

It predicts that Reform will take the entirety of Dearne South, Royston, Stairfoot, Rockingham, Monk Bretton and North East - while also having at least two councillors in Old Town, Central. Worsbrough, Darton West and Hoyland Milton.

Athersley and New Lodge, Cudworth and Wombwell are the only three predicted wards to have three Labour councillors.

Farage said he chose Barnsley to deliver the most important message of the campaign so far and believes that only his party have the power to defeat Labour.

He said: “I would absolutely urge people here in Barnsley and elsewhere in the country to remember this - only Reform has the strength, the power, the depth and the geographical spread to beat Labour not just on May 7, but as we head towards the next general election.

“We launched our campaign at the very beginning in Sunderland and I’ve come to Barnsley for the most important speech that I’m going to give during this campaign.

“There is absolutely no coincidence in any of that.

“What we are seeing in Barnsley and elsewhere is the Labour Party literally crumbling in what it’s taken to be its heartlands in many cases since the end of World War One.

“That is the sheer political significance of what is going on.

“Of course there are still some people who will vote Labour - they’ll vote it out of habit.

“But I doubt many will vote Labour out of conviction.”