Nigel Farage visits the North East

Nigel Farage visited South Shields as part of his campaign trail and received a mixed reception from locals.

Elections are taking place in England on 7 May and around 5000 seats across 136 local councils will be up for grabs.

Mr Farage was out campaigning on King Street, in South Shields town centre as latest polling from More In Common predicts Reform is on course for massive gains.

Farage called South Shields a “town in decline” and encouraged Reform councillors to scrap parking charges in the city centre if they win the vote.

Last month, Nigel Farage claimed that he had been invited to Sunderland AFC.

Sunderland fans were quick to voice their concerns and started a petition called ‘Keep Farage out of Sunderland AFC’, which now has over 4000 signatures.

Following the backlash, Farage said that he was not going to visit the club.

Spark Sunderland spoke to North East locals about Nigel Farage visiting South Shields, check out the video below!