Nigel Farage will warn that the UK’s electoral system is ‘sinking towards Third World status’ following allegations of so-called family voting in this week’s Manchester by-election.

In a speech, the Reform UK leader will insist that allowing foreign-born nationals to vote in British elections is a ‘disgrace’.

Mr Farage has claimed that foreign-born voters cost his party victory in last Thursday’s poll in Gorton and Denton, and has since pledged that if his party wins the next General Election it will ban the practice as well as end postal voting.

This week’s by-election win was mired in allegations of voter fraud after the Greens were accused of whipping up sectarianism. 

Zack Polanski’s party targeted the constituency’s large Muslim population with messages about the war in Gaza and claims of genocide rather than local issues.

Election observers reported record levels of ‘family voting’ – an illegal practice that often involves a man entering the polling booth with his wife to tell her how to vote.

The independent group Democracy Volunteers claimed as many as one in eight votes cast may have been affected by the practice, which is a criminal offence and carries a prison sentence.

Reform UK has urged Greater Manchester Police to investigate 32 alleged incidents of family voting in the poll, which was won by plumber Hannah Spencer with 40.7 per cent of the vote.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage pictured speaking at a press conference last month

The Reform UK candidate, Matt Goodwin, gained 28.7 per cent, and Labour’s Angeliki Stogia took 25.4 per cent. 

The Tories and Liberal Democrats both polled less than two per cent.

Citizens of Commonwealth nations such as Pakistan can take part in British ballots if they register themselves as being resident at an address in a UK constituency. 

They must also be in the UK legally, which generally means they must have valid immigration status.

Reacting to the row in a speech today, Mr Farage is expected to criticise Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, saying: ‘Starmer is overseeing a politics in Britain that is broken with an electoral system that is no longer trustworthy. 

‘Last Thursday’s by-election result in Gorton and Denton, where foreign-born nationals holding foreign passports – many of whom do not speak English – were allowed to vote, was an absolute disgrace. 

‘We’re sinking towards Third World status.’

Mr Farage claimed that Reform UK had won among British-born voters in Gorton and Denton.

Green Party leader Zack Polanski pictured on BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg today

Speaking alongside him, former Tory minister Robert Jenrick – now Reform UK’s choice as its chancellor following his defection – will criticise high levels of immigration, saying: ‘Extreme levels of immigration has divided our country and allowed sectarianism to fester.

‘It’s left part of our country balkanised, with communities living in enclaves. It’s imported backwards practices like family voting, sharia courts and cousin marriage, and allowed them to spread. 

‘It’s even become so ingrained that we’ve seen instances of the police pandering to the Muslim community because they fear disorder.’

Mr Jenrick accused Labour and the Green Party of ‘pandering to sectarianism’ and that he would expose ‘this poisonous politics’.

The Green Party, in its campaign to win the safe Labour seat in Greater Manchester, had focused its campaign on Gaza and accused Israel of genocide.

It even released a video in Urdu of Sir Keir shaking hands with India’s Hindu Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, despite its irrelevance to the election.

After the poll, Reform UK candidate Mr Goodwin blamed the Green victory on a ‘coalition of Islamists and woke progressives’, adding: ‘What you’ve seen is the emergence of a dangerous sectarianism in British politics. I think the Greens are riding a very dangerous wave.’

Mr Farage said that 10 per cent of the electorate in Gorton and Denton were born in Pakistan, and that in half of the wards more than 20 per cent of voters had been born abroad, The Mail on Sunday reported today.