Labour building 'secret anti-Reform database' in desperate bid to take down surging Nigel Farage

It follows a week where Reform has polled higher than the Tories in every single national survey - with some placing Nigel Farage's party in standalone first place.

With Reform apparently edging closer to its goal of representing the "real opposition" while Sir Keir Starmer sits in No10, Labour Together will work with Downing Street to launch attacks on Farage's party.

Downing Street-aligned think tank Labour Together is plotting to turn the party against Reform

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Jonathan Ashworth claims to have identified Farage's 'Achilles Heel'

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The think tank is also reported to be building a "secret anti-Reform database" tracking everything the party does to help them work out the best strategy - while Health Secretary Wes Streeting has already directly lashed out at the party.

He told a Fabian Society conference last week: "I can't think of a more potent antidote to Farage's miserabilism than proving the cynics wrong and getting the NHS delivering world class care.

"We can defeat Farage by turning around the NHS.

"The populist right are coming for us. We need to be serious about beating them."

'We can defeat Farage by turning around the NHS,' Wes Streeting vowed

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So far, Farage has been dismissive - after Streeting's remarks, he said: "If the Labour Party want to give me free publicity, I look forward to it with relish."

And today, he and Reform's top brass headed to traditional Labour heartlands in the North East to lay down the gauntlet.

Addressing a packed venue in Houghton-le-Spring, near Sunderland, Farage welcomed two more Conservative defectors to his party.

Joe Quinn and Cathy Hunt were former Durham County Council Tories, and take Reform's numbers in the authority up to three.