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Nigel Farage says the UK is “massively overdiagnosing those with mental illness problems” and creating a “class of victims”.
In comments, which have drawn criticism from campaigners and charities, the leader of Reform UK said it was too easy to get a mental health diagnosis from a GP.
“It’s a massive problem. I have to say, for my own money, when you get to 18 and you put somebody on a disability register, unemployed, with a high level of benefits, you’re telling people aged 18 that they’re victims,” he told a local elections press conference in Dover.
“And if you are told you’re a victim, and you think you’re a victim, you are likely to stay [a victim].”
Farage said: “So many of these diagnoses, for Send before 18, for disability register after 18 – so many of these have been conducted on Zoom, with the family GP.”
The National Autistic Society said this was “incorrect, wrong, fake news”.
Assessments for conditions such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism cannot be done by a GP and statistics suggest that mental health waiting times are significantly longer than for physical problems.
Analysis by the charity Rethink Mental Illness suggests that eight times as many people wait at least 18 months for mental health treatment compared with patients needing physical care.
Farage suggested that GPs might be under pressure to confirm a patient had depression or anxiety. “I think you’re the family GP, and I’ve known your family for generations, and you’re saying to me there’s a real problem here with depression, or whatever it may be, it’s quite hard for me as your GP to say ‘no’,” he said.
“I don’t think any of these allocations should be done by family GPs. I think it should be done independently.
“And I think we are massively – I’m not being heartless, I’m being frank – I think we are massively over-diagnosing those with mental illness problems and those with other general behavioural disabilities. And I think we’re creating a class of victims in Britain that will struggle ever to get out of it.”
Mel Merritt, the head of policy and campaigns at the National Autistic Society, said: “Nigel Farage’s comments are wildly inaccurate and show that he’s completely out of touch with what autistic children and adults have to go through to get a diagnosis or any support at all. For the record, absolutely no one has got an autism diagnosis through the GP – this is just incorrect, wrong, fake news.
“Children with Send and disabled adults, including autistic people, are not victims who are being ‘over diagnosed’. They are people who face huge delays and long fights to get the most basic support across every aspect of their lives, including diagnosis, education, health and social care.
“Spreading misinformation only perpetuates stigma and makes life harder. We’re calling on all politicians to drop the political point-scoring and stand up for their autistic and other disabled constituents.”
Brian Dow, the deputy chief executive of Rethink Mental Illness, said: “If Nigel Farage has a medical degree, he clearly hasn’t been keeping up with his continuous professional development.
“Rather than over-diagnosing young people, we’re abandoning a generation in crisis. Armchair analysis won’t fix a broken system. What we need from political leaders is commitment to finding serious solutions.”
Farage also said it was possible that any councils won by Reform in the local elections on 1 May could ban migrant hotels.
Robert Hayward, a pollster and Conservative peer, told ITV on Wednesday he believed the Conservatives would lose up to 525 seats and Farage would win up to 450.
Labour would be expected to stand still, gaining some from the Conservatives but losing some to Reform, the Greens and independents. The Lib Dems also hope to pick up seats from the Conservatives in areas where they won at the general election.
Conservatives are at a high-water mark at next week’s local elections because the elections were last held in 2021 when Boris Johnson was enjoying his “vaccine bounce”.
Asked whether he believed his party could win 450 seats, the Reform UK leader said that outcome would be “quite a political revolution”.
Key targets for Reform include the Runcorn and Helsby byelection, where the seat was held by Labour until the conviction of the former MP Mike Amesbury, and two regional mayoralties in Lincolnshire and in Hull and East Yorkshire. These would give the parties significant new platforms. Reform could also win Doncaster and Lincolnshire councils.
