UK Politics

Farage Shut Out of the Budget After His Commons Seat Card Was Moved, Telegraph Says

Nigel Farage could not attend the Budget in the Commons because his prayer card reserving a seat was moved, the Telegraph understands. Nobody has said who moved it.

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Should the House of Commons explain who moved Nigel Farage's seat card on Budget day?

Matt · 28 Oct 2026 · 20:07 · 10 min read · 1,680 reads

Nigel Farage standing to speak on the green benches of the House of Commons

News | By Matt, Editor

Update, 29 October: The House of Commons has since commented. A spokesman said: “There are clear and long-established arrangements for Members to reserve their own seats in the Chamber using Prayer Cards displaying a valid date stamp. Today, a Prayer Card placed on a seat did not display a valid date stamp and was removed in line with the usual Chamber protocol.” The Telegraph reported that it understands Mr Farage did not attend prayers or approach Commons staff about a seat reservation. (The Telegraph) On Thursday Lib Dem MPs accused Mr Farage over the May incident, which Reform denies. Read our follow-up.

Nigel Farage was unable to attend John Healey’s Budget in the House of Commons on Wednesday, 28 October, because his seat reservation was removed, The Telegraph understands. The paper reported that the Reform UK leader’s prayer card, the green slip MPs use to reserve a place on the green benches, “was moved after it was placed this morning”. (The Telegraph on X, 28 October 2026, 12:54 GMT)

According to the Telegraph, Mr Farage watched the speech remotely with his policy and communications teams instead. At a press conference after the Budget, Mr Farage confirmed that his card had been removed and said he stayed away to avoid “another physical altercation”. (The Telegraph)

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What is reported, and what is not

The story was first reported by the Telegraph, which said it “understands” what happened. Mr Farage has since confirmed it himself, and the Telegraph, the Independent, GB News and LBC have all reported his account. Nobody has said who removed the card, or why.

Mr Farage had said nothing about the seat on X by 14:00 GMT. He gave his explanation at Reform’s post-Budget press conference later in the afternoon (see below).

By 19:15 GMT on Wednesday, BBN had found no public statement from the House of Commons, the Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, or the Labour whips. The Commons has since said the card did not display a valid date stamp and was removed under normal protocol (see the update above).

How prayer cards work

No MP owns a seat in the Commons. By custom, the front benches are kept for ministers and the official Opposition’s leading members. Every other MP who wants a guaranteed place must be present at prayers, which open each sitting, under Standing Orders 7 and 8. (Erskine May, para 6.51)

To show they intend to claim a seat, MPs may leave a dated prayer card on it. Each MP must collect the card in person from an attendant, who is on duty from 8am until the House meets. The card secures the seat for the rest of the sitting only if the MP then attends prayers. (Erskine May; House of Commons, Short Guide to Procedure and Practice)

Space matters on Budget day. The chamber rebuilt after the Blitz has just 427 seats, for 650 MPs. (UK Parliament) The Commons sat at 11:30 on Wednesday, with the Budget statement following Prime Minister’s Questions at noon. (UK Parliament, What’s on)

Mr Farage has not said whether he attended prayers. Liberal Democrat MP Tom Gordon claimed on X that Mr Farage, “as far as I could tell, didn’t turn up to prayers to guarantee a seat”. (@tomgordonLD on X, 16:14 UTC)

Eight MPs, and a quarter of the vote

Reform UK has 8 MPs, against Labour’s 404 and the Conservatives’ 118, according to Parliament’s own figures on 28 October. (UK Parliament, State of the Parties) Mr Farage is MP for Clacton. Robert Jenrick, Reform’s Treasury spokesman and MP for Newark, had unveiled the party’s 64-point Economic Rescue Plan on Monday. (Reform UK, 26 October 2026; BBN)

A Deltapoll survey taken on 23 to 26 October put Labour on 32% and Reform on 25%. (Deltapoll) An Ipsos poll at the weekend had Reform lower, on 20%. (Evening Standard)

Who answered the Budget

The formal reply in the chamber is given by the Leader of the Opposition. On Wednesday that was Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, who said the tax burden next year would be “the highest in our country’s history”. (BBC News) Mr Jenrick’s verdict on X was three words: “Is that it?” (Robert Jenrick on X) The Budget itself is covered in our report on £14bn more on debt interest and £10bn for Ukraine.

What Reform has said

Mr Farage’s first post of the day, before the speech, attacked a reported plan to let HMRC take money from bank accounts: “If HMRC are allowed to take money from individuals’ bank accounts, as proposed in the budget today, then we are heading to a dark place.” (@Nigel_Farage on X, 07:56 UTC)

Reform UK said: “Labour’s budget will do nothing to fix broken Britain.” (@reformparty_uk on X, 10:01 UTC)

On tax, the party said Labour was “only raising the personal allowance to £13,036 for pensioners, whilst scrapping the triple lock”, and pledged to raise it “to £15,000 for EVERYONE”. (@reformparty_uk on X, 13:04 UTC)

It said Labour would “lift tariffs on groceries to save families 6 pence a day”, against Reform’s promised “£1,300 of tax relief a year for every working household”. (@reformparty_uk on X, 13:17 UTC)

Robert Jenrick, Reform’s Shadow Chancellor, posted “Is that it?” at 13:35. At 13:49 he added: “The OBR predicts households will be worse off in every single year of the 5 year forecast, compared to March.” (@RobertJenrick on X, 13:49 UTC)

When Mr Healey said he would remove biodiversity requirements for brownfield developments, Reform replied: “We are pleased he has been reading our Planning Teal Paper.” (@reformparty_uk on X, 13:59 UTC)

None of the posts by @Nigel_Farage, @reformparty_uk, @RobertJenrick or @TiceRichard between 07:00 and 14:03 UTC on Wednesday mentions the seat card or announces the time of Mr Farage’s response speech. Richard Tice had not posted about the Budget in that period.

Farage’s response speech

Mr Farage and Robert Jenrick gave Reform’s response at a press conference in Westminster after the Budget, streamed live on X from 14:56 UTC. (@Nigel_Farage on X) Asked why he was not in the chamber, Mr Farage said: “At the State Opening of Parliament, I got involved, I didn’t want to, but I got involved in a physical altercation with an MP in the Chamber.” (Genevieve Holl-Allen, the Telegraph, on X)

He went on: “I didn’t make a fuss about it. I didn’t complain. But I could see, given that my prayer card had been removed, I was heading towards another physical altercation and just sometimes it’s better to avoid conflict.” Reform declined to say who the other MP was. (The Telegraph)

He said the second reason was that watching from his office let him go through the Budget “line by line” with Reform’s economists. Of the seat-reservation scramble, he said: “It’s like being at school.” (The Independent; GB News)

On the Budget itself, he called Mr Healey’s statement “competent” but “deeply cynical”, saying it was “hiding the truth from everybody that they are all going to get poorer in every single year of the Labour Government”. Mr Jenrick called it a “nothing burger”. (GB News) At 17:43 UTC Mr Farage posted: “They haven’t got a clue how to save our economy and they are coming for your money.” (@Nigel_Farage on X)

The Lib Dems pile in

Opponents queued up to mock him rather than ask what happened to the card. Lib Dem MP Tom Gordon called the story “grievance politics” and said there were “loads of spaces”. (@tomgordonLD on X) Lib Dem MP Josh Babarinde wrote: “You snooze, you lose.” (The London Economic) Conservative MPs Alicia Kearns and Ben Obese-Jecty also dismissed the explanation, with Ms Kearns saying any Reform MP “could have given their seat up for him”. (GB News; @BenObeseJecty on X)

Mr Jenrick hit back on LBC. He said that at the King’s Speech “a load of bolshy Lib Dem MPs got in the way of him and made it very difficult for him to join the procession”, adding that he had not witnessed it himself but that “it sounds like it was pretty petty and pretty nasty”. (LBC)

Key facts

The Telegraph understands Nigel Farage could not attend the Budget on 28 October because his prayer card was moved. (The Telegraph)
He watched from his office with Reform’s economists, and later said he stayed away to avoid “another physical altercation”. (The Telegraph)
Prayer cards reserve a seat only if the MP attends prayers at the start of the sitting. (Erskine May)
The chamber has 427 seats for 650 MPs. (UK Parliament)
Reform UK has 8 MPs and Labour has 404. (UK Parliament)
Lib Dem MP Tom Gordon claimed Mr Farage did not attend prayers; Robert Jenrick blamed “bolshy Lib Dem MPs” for the earlier State Opening clash. (X; LBC)
No statement from the Commons authorities, the Speaker or Labour had been found by 19:15 GMT.

Verdict

This is opinion. Whatever the explanation, the picture is terrible for Westminster. The leader of a party backed by around one voter in four sat outside the chamber while Labour MPs congratulated their Chancellor. (BBC News)

We do not know who moved the card, and nobody should be blamed without evidence. But note who rushed to X to sneer: Lib Dem MPs. Mr Jenrick says Lib Dem MPs also got in Mr Farage’s way at the King’s Speech, behaviour he called “pretty petty and pretty nasty”. The House authorities can settle this quickly. They should say whether the card was moved, who moved it and why. Millions of Reform voters deserve an answer.

A Budget day with the Reform leader’s seat gone and no explanation is no advert for Labour’s Britain, or for Parliament. For what Reform would do differently, read our guide to Reform UK’s policies.

FAQ

What is a prayer card?

A dated green card an MP collects in person from a Commons attendant and leaves on a seat. It reserves that seat for the day only if the MP attends prayers at the start of the sitting.

Who moved Farage’s card?

That has not been reported. Mr Farage says the card was removed; neither he nor the Telegraph has said by whom.

Has the Speaker commented?

BBN has found no comment from the Speaker. A House of Commons spokesman later said a prayer card without a valid date stamp was removed “in line with the usual Chamber protocol”. (The Telegraph)

Why did Farage say he stayed away?

He said that with his card removed he was “heading towards another physical altercation”, after a clash with an MP at the State Opening in May, and that watching with economists let him study the Budget line by line. (The Telegraph)

Why doesn’t Reform reply to the Budget in the Commons?

The formal reply goes to the Leader of the Opposition, who leads the second-largest party. That is Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, whose party has 118 MPs to Reform’s 8.