Nigel Farage has called on Britain to end the culture of working from home, claiming employees are ‘more productive being with other fellow human beings’.
The Reform UK leader told 2,000 supporters at a rally in Birmingham that the UK needed an ‘attitudinal change to hard work, rather than work-life balance’.
Mr Farage added that people work better ‘as part of a team’ in an office and described claims that staff are more productive at home as a ‘load of nonsense’.
The politician, who is preparing to unveil his shadow cabinet, told the NEC: ‘You can’t go on the sick because you’ve got mild anxiety. But it is an attitudinal change that Britain needs. An attitudinal change to hard work, rather than work-life balance.
‘An attitudinal change to the idea of working from home. People aren’t more productive working at home – it’s a load of nonsense. They’re more productive being with other fellow human beings and working as part of a team.’
Remote working policies were introduced by thousands of companies in Britain during Covid-19 lockdowns, with office employees the most affected by them.
The number of people working from home doubled between late 2019 and early 2022, from 4.7million to 9.9million, according to the Office for National Statistics.
Latest official data from the start of 2025 showed 28 per cent of the UK workforce was in hybrid work, 13 per cent are fully remote and 44 per cent travel to work.
Nigel Farage speaks during a rally for Reform UK at the NEC Birmingham yesterday
Latest Office for National Statistics data from the start of 2025 showed 28 per cent of the UK workforce was in hybrid work, 13 per cent are fully remote and 44 per cent travel to work
But a growing number of big companies such as Amazon, Boots and JP Morgan have told their employees to get back in the office full-time over the past few years.
Mr Farage first pledged to end the ‘working from home culture’ ahead of the local elections last May, saying staff in Reform councils would be told: ‘You either work from the office or you’re gone.’
This came after former Asda and Marks and Spencer chief executive Lord Rose said in January last year that remote working policies had spawned a generation who are ‘not doing proper work’.
He claimed at the time that working from home makes people less productive, linking it to the ‘general decline’ of the UK economy.
Yesterday, Mr Farage also said Reform UK was now on a ‘general election war footing’ and called on the Prime Minister to resign.
He told the crowd that Reform was ready to fight and win the next general election, and said he felt it could come around sooner than expected.
(From left) Suella Braverman, Robert Jenrick, Richard Tice, Nigel Farage, Lee Anderson, Andrew Rosindell, Sarah Pochin and Danny Kruger during the rally for Reform UK yesterday
Leader Nigel Farage arrives on stage during a rally for Reform UK party at the NEC Birmingham. Picture date: Monday February 9, 2026. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: Jacob King/PA Wire
Mr Farage added to the mounting pressure on Sir Keir Starmer to resign over his appointment of Peter Mandelson as US ambassador, despite his friendship with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
He said Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar’s calls for Sir Keir’s resignation meant it was ‘virtually impossible’ for Labour to fight the Scottish elections.
Mr Farage told how the May 7 elections would be ‘crucial’, but said he planned to unveil his shadow cabinet this week because the party has ‘the right people’.
He also explained that Reform was working on plans to revolutionise the civil service.
The party has promised to axe 68,500 jobs in the civil service should they succeed at the polls and to reduce the salary bill by 17 per cent.
All of Reform UK’s MPs joined the party leader on stage at the end of the rally as Mr Farage welcomed those who have joined the team before they launched branded T-shirts into the crowd.
