Election observer group Democracy Volunteers warned it had witnessed “concerningly high levels” of family voting in the ballot, where Reform came second and Labour a distant third. Asked about the claims on Sky News, Green leader Mr Polanski said: “Nigel Farage is a sore loser and he just lost an election badly.

“I think more to the substantive point though, Manchester City Council who are obviously independent in this, have been really clear that there has been no irregularity.

“Police officers were at every single polling station and there’s no finding that anything untoward happened.

“So actually once again Reform are spreading misinformation and smears, and the press and the media seem to repeat them.”

Pressed that the claims were from Democracy Volunteers, Mr Polanski added: “Who are Democracy Volunteers? I don’t think anyone had heard about Democracy Volunteers until yesterday.

“Manchester City Council have been really clear there is no irregularity happening, so why are we still having this conversation?”

Family voting is an illegal practice which sees people forcing family members to vote in a certain way.

Speaking after the election result, Mr Farage said: “This election was a victory for sectarian voting and cheating.

“Matt Goodwin was a great candidate for us. Roll on the elections on May 7th. It will be goodbye Starmer and goodbye to the Tory party.”