Reform UK | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Leader | Nigel Farage |
| Deputy Leader | Richard Tice |
| Founders |
|
| Founded | 23 November 2018; 7 years ago (2018-11-23) |
| Headquarters | Millbank Tower 21–24 Millbank London SW1P 4QP[1] |
| Membership(December 2025) | 268,000 |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Right-wing[2] |
| Affiliates | Reform Derby[3] Bolton for Change[4] |
| Northern Irish affiliation | Traditional Unionist Voice (alliance) |
| Colours | Turquoise White |
| Slogan | Britain is broken. Britain needs Reform.[5] |
| Governing body | Reform UK Board |
| House of Commons | 8 / 650 |
| House of Lords | 0 / 836 |
| Scottish Parliament | 1 / 129 |
| Senedd | 2 / 60 |
| London Assembly | 2 / 25 |
| Directly elected strategic authority mayors in England | 2 / 14 |
| Directly elected single authority mayors in England | 0 / 13 |
| Councillors[6][7] | 964 / 18,645 |
| Councils led[8] | 12 / 369 |
| PCCs and PFCCs | 1 / 37 |
| Website | |
| reformparty | |
Reform UK, often known simply asReform,[9] is aright-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. It has eightmembers of Parliament in theHouse of Commons, two members of theLondon Assembly, onemember of the Senedd, onemember of the Scottish Parliament, onepolice and crime commissioner, and previously one member of theHouse of Lords. It controls twelve local councils and is to the right of theConservative Party.[14]Nigel Farage has beenLeader of Reform UK since June 2024.
Co-founded by Farage andCatherine Blaiklock in 2018 as theBrexit Party, advocating ano-deal Brexit, it won the most seats at the2019 European Parliament election in the UK, but won no seats at the2019 general election.[15] TheUK withdrew from theEuropean Union in January 2020, and later in the same year theCOVID-19 pandemic began in the UK. The Conservative government imposeda series of national lockdowns and Farage focused on anti-lockdown campaigning.[16][17] The party was renamed Reform UK in January 2021. Farage stepped down as leader in March 2021 and was succeeded byRichard Tice.
Since 2022, the party has campaigned on a broader platform, pledging to reducetaxation, limitimmigration, opposenet-zero emissions policies and substantially reduce public spending. In March 2024,Lee Anderson, who was elected in 2019 as a Conservative MP,defected to Reform UK, becoming its first MP.[18] In June 2024, Farage resumed the leadership, and the party won five seats at the2024 general election,[19] the first time it had elected MPs.
The incorporation of the Brexit Party in November 2018[20] was formally announced on 20 January 2019 by the formerUK Independence Party (UKIP) economics spokesperson[21]Catherine Blaiklock, who served as the Brexit Party's initial leader.[22] On 5 February 2019, it was registered with theElectoral Commission to run candidates in English, Scottish, Welsh and European Union elections.[23]
On the day of the announcement,Nigel Farage, who had been an independentmember of the European Parliament (MEP) since his departure from UKIP in early December 2018, said that the party was Blaiklock's idea but that she had acted with his full support.[22] On 8 February 2019, Farage stated he would stand as a candidate for the party in any potentialfuture European Parliament elections contested in the United Kingdom.[24][25] The MEPsSteven Woolfe andNathan Gill, also formerly of UKIP, stated that they would also stand for the party.[26][27]
The party's lead aim was for the United Kingdom to leave the EU, and then for Britain to trade internationally onWorld Trade Organization terms.[28] In April 2019, Farage said that there was "no difference between the Brexit party and UKIP in terms of policy, [but] in terms of personnel, there's a vast difference", criticising UKIP's connections to the far right. He also said that the party aimed to attract support from "across the board", including former UKIP voters and Conservative andLabour voters who had supported Brexit.[29] Later in the month he said that the party would not publish a manifesto until after the European elections had taken place,[30] saying that the party would have a policy platform instead of a manifesto.[31]
In May 2019, Farage described his admiration for how fellowEurope of Freedom and Direct Democracy members, Italy'sFive Star Movement, had managed to grow from a protest group into the country's largest political party in both houses of theItalian Parliament. He saw the Brexit Party doing the same kind of thing and "running a company, not a political party, hence our model of registered supporters" and building a base using an online platform.[32]
On 11 November 2019, the last day for candidates to register, Farage declared that the Brexit Party would not field candidates in the 317 seats in which there was an incumbent Conservative MP. This was done with the support of most of the Brexit Party candidates, so as not to split the anti-EU vote.[33]
On 22 November 2019, the Brexit Party set out its proposals for the2019 UK general election. They covered a wide range of policy areas including taxation, reforming politics, immigration and the environment.[34][35] The party received two percent of the vote in the election, with none of its 273 candidates winning a seat.[36]
Before the general election on 8 December 2019, Farage announced that, following Brexit, the party would change its name to the "Reform Party", and campaign for changes in the electoral system and structure of the House of Commons.[37][38]
In July 2020,Italexit, a Eurosceptic party inspired by the Brexit Party, was founded in Italy.[39] In November 2020, Farage and Tice announced that they had applied to the Electoral Commission to rename the Brexit Party to 'Reform UK'. They said that the party would campaign on a platform that was opposed to furtherCOVID-19 lockdowns and that it would seek to reform aspects of theBritish government, including theBBC and theHouse of Lords.[16][17] The party also gave its support to theGreat Barrington Declaration.[40] On 4 January 2021, the party's name change to Reform UK was approved by theElectoral Commission.[41]
In 2021, Reform UK gained representation in theScottish Parliament whenMichelle Ballantyne, then anindependent and formerly a Conservativemember of the Scottish Parliament (MSP), joined the party and was named Reform UK's leader in Holyrood.[42] She lost her and the party's only seat in Scotland in the2021 Scottish Parliament election,[43][44] and resigned as the party's leader in Scotland in February 2022.[43][44]
Farage stepped down as leader in March 2021, being replaced by the party chairman, Tice.[45] The formerNorth West England MEPDavid Bull was appointed as deputy leader of the party on 11 March 2021.[46][47] On 26 March 2021, it was announced that the former Brexit Party MEPNathan Gill had become the Leader of Reform UK Wales.[48] In 2021, Reform UK announced its intention to field a full slate of candidates in theSenedd,Scottish Parliament andLondon Assembly elections with Tice standing for election in the latter.[49][50][51] The party failed to win any seats above local level in the 2021 elections in May, and lost their deposit in theHartlepool by-election.[52]
At the2021 Senedd election the party fielded candidates in every constituency and on the regional lists; it picked up 1.6% of the constituency vote (7th place) and 1.1% of the regional list votes (8th place).[53] At the2021 Scottish Parliament election no constituency candidates were fielded and the party received only 5,793 list votes across the whole country.[54] At theLondon Assembly election none of their constituency candidates were elected and the party finished tenth on the London-wide list with 25,009 votes.[55][56]
In October 2022 Reform UK and theSocial Democratic Party (SDP) announced anelectoral pact.[57][58] Tice declared Reform's intention to stand in 630 constituencies across England, Scotland and Wales with "no ifs, no buts".[59] In December 2022 David White, a Conservative member ofBarnsley Metropolitan Borough Council, and Richard Langridge, a Conservative member ofWest Oxfordshire District Council, bothdefected to Reform UK to stand asprospective parliamentary candidates for the party.[60][61]
The media gave renewed attention to Reform UK in December 2022 during thecost-of-living crisis after Farage announced that it would stand a full slate of candidates at the next general election.[62][63][64] Tice remained leader of the party. After some opinion polls indicated a modest increase in support for Reform UK,The Daily Telegraph described the party as a "threat on the Right" to the Conservative government of Prime MinisterRishi Sunak.[65]
On 7 and 8 October 2023, Reform UK held its party conference in London with 1,100 attendees.[66] On 20 October 2023 Tice confirmed that Reform UK would stand in Conservative seats at the2024 general election,[67] and by January 2024 the party was polling around 10% of the popular vote. It was suggested that Reform UK would play the role ofspoiler party for the Conservatives, since it attracted former Conservative voters.The Guardian speculated that votes for the party could lead to more than 30 additional seat losses for the Conservative Party.[68]
In Northern Ireland, in March 2024, the party formedan electoral pact with theTraditional Unionist Voice (TUV), in which the two parties would stand mutually agreed candidates there.[69] In May 2024Alex Wilson became Reform's first London Assembly member, elected via the London-wide voting system.[70] On 3 June 2024 Farage replaced Tice as leader of the party.[71] It gained five MPs in England in the July2024 general election,[72] and its Northern Irish affiliate TUV gaining one seat withJim Allister.[73]
In March 2024,Simon Danczuk, the formerLabour MP forRochdale, joined Reform and stood as their parliamentary candidate in the2024 Rochdale by-election.[74] Danczuk received 6.3% of the vote and was not elected. The seat was won byGeorge Galloway.[75]
Analysis in March 2024 byMatthew Goodwin for theLegatum Institute showed that support for Reform, like UKIP and the Brexit Party before it, was strongest among older voters and those who voted Leave, and relatively even across social classes. ByNRS social grades, 36% of likely Reform voters were in AB, 22% in C1, 23% in C2 and 19% in DE.[76]
Following the election, on 11 July, the businessmanZia Yusuf replaced Tice as chairman of the party, with Tice, now an MP, replacingBen Habib as deputy leader.[77][78][79] The party plans to stand at the2026 Scottish Parliament election,[80] and expects to win significantly in the2026 Senedd election in Wales, under thenew more proportional system.[81] In September 2024 Farage said that he would be surrendering all of his shares in Reform UK. This would mean members would have more control over the party, such as being able to vote on a constitution and motions, and could remove Farage as leader if over 50% of members wrote to Yusuf.[82] In October 2024 Farage called for Conservative councillors to join Reform UK and said "a huge number of them genuinely agree with us and what we stand for".[83]
In November 2024 it was reported that senior members of the party were divided about supporters of the far-right activistTommy Robinson, with two of party's parliamentary candidates expressing sympathy for some of the supporters of Robinson who took part in August's anti-immigration protests, in the face of objections from Tice and Farage.[84][85] There was also division amongst party MPs for the free vote on theassisted suicide bill, with Tice,Lee Anderson andRupert Lowe supporting the bill in its second reading, whilst Farage andJames McMurdock opposed it.[86]
In November and December 2024 several high-profile Conservatives quit that party and joined Reform. These included the former MPAndrea Jenkyns,[87] former MPLucy Allan,Tim Montgomerie (founder ofConservativeHome and adviser toBoris Johnson),[88] Rael Braverman (husband of the formerHome SecretarySuella Braverman),[89] the actress and singerHolly Valance andNick Candy (the billionaire luxury property developer and former Conservative donor).[90][91]
On 26 December 2024 Reform UK claimed to have overtaken the Conservatives and become the UK's second-largest party, behind Labour, in terms of size.[92]Kemi Badenoch, the leader of theConservative Party, later claimed onTwitter that Reform's totals were faked. Following this, Reform invited theFinancial Times,Sky News,The Spectator andThe Daily Telegraph to inspect their website's front and back-end code and the underlying data of the party's numbers. Each media outlet subsequently confirmed the ticker to be accurate.[93][94][95][96] Farage refuted Badenoch's claim, stating that the allegations were "disgraceful" and threatened legal action should Badenoch not apologise.[97]
On 5 January 2025 the American businessmanElon Musk, owner of Twitter, publicly urged Farage to step down as leader of Reform UK, marking a sudden withdrawal of support. Musk had previously supported Farage and been photographed with him, but later tweeted "The Reform Party needs a new leader. Farage doesn't have what it takes". The withdrawal of support came after Farage disagreed with and distanced himself from comments made by Musk supporting Robinson, who was jailed forcontempt of court.[98] Two days later Farage said that he aimed to "mend fences" with Musk, whom he referred to as a "heroic figure".[99]
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On 3 February 2025 Reform topped a nationalYouGov poll for the first time.[100] On 20 February 2025, following a September 2024 promise by Farage to hand control of the party to its members and give up his ownership of the party, the party ownership was transferred to Reform 2025 Limited, acompany limited by guarantee with Farage and Yusuf as directors. Reform 2025 Limited is anonprofit organisation with no shareholders and, according toCompanies House, "no persons with significant control". Yusuf posted on social media "We are assembling the governing board, in line with the constitution. This was an important step in professionalising the party as we prepare for government."[101] Ben Habib, former deputy leader until being ousted in 2024, welcomed the move.[101]
In March 2025 Jack Aaron, a parliamentary candidate for the party at the 2024 general election, was appointed as head of vetting for the party.[102][103] In that same year Lowe was suspended from the party due to allegations of bullying office staff.[104]
In May 2025 the party received its fifth MP viaa by-election inRuncorn and Helsby, withSarah Pochin elected with a majority of 6.[105] The2025 United Kingdom local elections were described as "wins" for Reform. The party placed first, winning the most seats, and took control of 10 local authorities and two mayoralties.[106] At 30%, Reform's projected national vote share (PNS) was higher than UKIP's 23% at the2013 local elections, representing the first set of local elections since PNS began to be calculated in which neither the Conservative nor Labour parties received the highest vote share.[106]
In May 2025 analysis by theFinancial Times of data from a More In Common survey showed that the projected Reform vote share had a strong correlation with poor social mobility in a constituency, as measured by the educational and early career achievement of those receivingfree school meals, with no correlation for the Conservatives andLiberal Democrats, and a weak positive correlation for Labour. Social mobility is lowest in the constituencies with the highest Leave vote in the2016 EU referendum – 27 of the 30 seats with lowest social mobility voted Leave – and highest in constituencies with the highest foreign-born population.[107]
In May 2025 afar-right influencer, David Clews, and the founder of the far-right organisationPatriotic Alternative,Mark Collett (both of whom formerly worked for the fascistBritish National Party), both called on their supporters to "infiltrate" Reform UK and move it politically further right and in support of extremist views.[108] Clews claimed that he has sympathisers in Reform UK who are branch chairs and who have been on Reform UK candidate lists. A Reform spokesman said the far-right would never be welcome in the party and a "stringent vetting process" was in place.[108]
On 5 June 2025 Yusuf resigned his position as Chairman of Reform UK, stating on Twitter: "I no longer believe working to get a Reform government elected is a good use of my time, and hereby resign the office."[109] It came hours after Pochin's call for a national ban on the wearing ofburqas, which led to media speculation that Yusuf's resignation had been as a result of the question and a statement by Reform that it was not official party policy.[110][111] Yusuf said he had not been informed of Pochin's plans to call for a ban and said it was "dumb" for her to call for a measure which went against Reform policy.[110][112] Yusuf returned to Reform UK 48 hours in a different capacity after resigning, saying his resignation "was a decision born of exhaustion" and was a "mistake".[113] In a subsequent interview withThe Sunday Times Yusuf stated that his intervention over the burqa question had been an "error" and that if he were an MP he would "probably" vote in favour of banning the burqa along with other face coverings in public.[114][115] The former deputy leaderDavid Bull was later announced as Yusuf's successor as chairman.[116]
Inspired by Musk'sDepartment of Government Efficiency in US PresidentDonald Trump's administration, a unit with the titleDepartment of Government Efficiency was established by Farage and Yusuf in June 2025 after the party gained control of a number of councils in the 2025 local elections.[117][113] The unit's remit only focused onKent andLancashire County Councils with plans to extend toWest Northamptonshire Council. The unit's "head", the tech entrepreneur Nathaniel Fried, resigned alongside Yusuf on 6 June 2025, less than a week after starting the role, saying that as Yusuf had appointed him it was "appropriate for me to leave with him".[118][119] On 7 June 2025 Yusuf announced he was returning to working with Reform UK, now as the new leader of the unit.[113][120][121]
In June 2025 Reform also contested theHamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election and recorded their strongest result to date in an election for the Scottish Parliament by finishing in third place (behindScottish Labour and theScottish National Party) with 26.1% of the vote. The election was described by journalists and the political scientistSir John Curtice as a breakthrough for the party in Scotland.[122][123][124]
At the end of June 2025, two political groups were launched by prominent former Reform UK members, each positioning themselves as an alternative to Reform UK.Advance UK is a creation ofBen Habib, former Brexit Party MEP and deputy leader of Reform UK, whileRestore Britain is a creation of Lowe.[125] Both groups were launched on the same day, 30 June.[126] On 5 July 2025 the MP James McMurdock suspended himself from the party as "a precautionary measure" due to a pending investigation into him for previous property tax offences during the COVID-19 pandemic.[127] McMurdock was cleared by theparliamentary standards commissioner of the allegation but decided not to return to Reform UK and instead remain as an independent MP.[128][129] The party announced the same month that it would replace its existing vetting process with a looser "common-sense vetting" approach, and has suggested that candidates rejected by the previous vetting process re-apply, with re-applications to be treated as priority cases.[130][131]
In July 2025,Paul Nuttall was appointed as Reform UK's deputy chairman.[132]
In August 2025, Mick Barton, the Reform UK leader ofNottinghamshire County Council took the unprecedented step of banning the local newspaper,Nottingham Post, from talking to himself or any Reform UK councillors and said that the authority would stop sending press releases to the publication and it would not be invited to council events. Barton accused the paper of "consistently misrepresenting our policies, actions or intentions" and said the ban was "not about silencing journalism", but "about upholding the principle that freedom of speech must be paired with responsibility and honesty".[133][134] Deputy leader Richard Tice defended the policy when challenged about it being undemocratic to ban media.[135] On 17 September 2025, Mason Humberstone a member of Stevenage Borough Council, became the first Labour Party councillor to defect to Reform UK.[136]
On 15 September,Danny Kruger, the Conservative MP forEast Wiltshire, defected to Reform. In a press conference after his defection was announced, Kruger stated "the Conservatives are over" and that he was "honoured" to have been asked to help prepare Reform for government, adding that he hoped Farage would be the next prime minister.[137] On 26 September, Reform UK announced it had reached 250,000 paid-up members, more than double that of the Conservatives at 123,000 members, and just shy of 60,000 short of Labour, which had the largest number of members at 309,000.[138] On the same day,Nathan Gill, an ex-Reform politician and former leader of Reform Wales between March and May 2021, who quit the party later that year, pleaded guilty for accepting bribes from pro-Russian journalist and former member of the Ukrainian Parliament pro-Russian 'Opposition Platform — For Life' partyOleh Voloshyn, at theOld Bailey in London. Gill pleaded guilty to eight counts of bribery. The charges related to payments of money he accepted from Voloshyn between 2018 and 2019 while serving as a Brexit PartyMEP in theEuropean Parliament, in exchange for making specific pro-Russian statements directed by Voloshyn in the European parliament and media.[139][140][141] Gill was sentenced on 21 November 2025 to ten years and six months in prison.[142] Reform UK condemned Gill's actions and Farage described him as a "bad apple".[143]
In September Tice took part in "Britain's March Against Antisemitism", at which he said, "I don't want a single Jewish person to feel like they have to leave. We need to stand united, united as proud Britons."[144] The following month,[145] aYouGov poll found that 46% of white British respondents viewed the party and its policies as racist, compared with 36% who regarded the party as "generally not racist". Among respondents from ethnic minority backgrounds, only 13% had a favourable opinion while 80% had a negative view.[146]
In December 2025,The Electoral Commission reported that Reform UK had received over £10 million in donations in the third quarter of 2025.[147] These donations included, but were not limited to, a £9 million pound donation byChristopher Harborne[148] and donations of £250,000 and £240,000 byNicholas Candy.[149][150] In the same month, a report byThe Times said Reform had grown into the largest political party in Britain and overtaken Labour by membership numbers.[151][152]
On 7 January 2026Laila Cunningham was announced as the Reform candidate for the2028 London mayoral election.[153][154] On 12 January 2026, former ConservativeChancellor of the ExchequerNadhim Zahawi joined Reform UK.[155] Three days later, formerShadow Secretary of State for Justice andShadow Lord Chancellor andConservative Party immigration ministerRobert Jenrick joined Reform UK after being expelled from the Conservative Party, bringing the party's representation in the House of Commons to six MPs.[156][157] On 18 January, Conservative MP forRomford,Andrew Rosindell announced he had switched allegiances to Reform and became the party's seventh Member of Parliament.[158] On 26 January, Conservative MP forFareham and Waterlooville and formerHome SecretarySuella Braverman also defected to Reform, becoming the party's eighth MP.[159]
On 27 January,GB News presenter and authorMatthew Goodwin was announced as Reform UK's candidate for theGorton and Denton by-election. He was described by the Liberal Democrats, who also have a candidate in the election, as being racist for stating that people from ethnic minority backgrounds born in the UK were not necessarily British.[160][161][162]
Lee Anderson, who was elected as the Conservative Party MP forAshfield in the2019 general election, defected to Reform UK in March 2024, giving the party its first MP.[18] He was re-elected in the2024 general election and joined byNigel Farage,Richard Tice,Rupert Lowe, andJames McMurdock, representingClacton,Boston and Skegness,Great Yarmouth, andSouth Basildon and East Thurrock respectively.[163][164]
Rupert Lowe was suspended from the party in March 2025 after criticising Farage's leadership, lowering the party's MPs to four.[165][166] The number increased to five again afterSarah Pochin won the2025 Runcorn and Helsby by-election.[167] McMurdock stepped down from the party in July 2025, after previously admitting to business misconduct.[168]
On 15 September,Danny Kruger, the Conservative MP forEast Wiltshire, defected to Reform, bringing Reform's total MPs back up to 5 again after McMurdock stepped down in July.[137]
On 16 January 2026Robert Jenrick, the Conservative MP forNewark, defected to Reform, giving the party a total of six MPs.[169] On 18 January he was followed byAndrew Rosindell, the Conservative MP forRomford.[170] The formerHome SecretarySuella Braverman, Conservative MP forFareham and Waterlooville also defected to Reform on 26 January 2026, making it the third defection by Conservative MPs in that month.[159]
In December 2025,Malcolm Offord defected from theConservatives to Reform UK, becoming its first and only peer in theHouse of Lords, he retired his position in the Lords after being appointed the party's leader in Scotland.[171][172]
In February 2019, nine MEPs, who had left UKIP in opposition toGerard Batten's leadership, joined the party;[26] by mid-April 2019, the number had increased to 14, all being members of theEurope of Freedom and Direct Democracy (EFDD) group in the European Parliament.[173]
| Name | Constituency | First elected | Joined |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diane James | South East England | 1 July 2014 | 5 February 2019 (2019-02-05) |
| David Coburn | Scotland | 1 July 2014 | 12 February 2019 (2019-02-12) |
| Nigel Farage | South East England | 10 June 1999 | 12 February 2019 (2019-02-12) |
| Nathan Gill | Wales | 1 July 2014 | 12 February 2019 (2019-02-12) |
| Julia Reid | South West England | 1 July 2014 | 12 February 2019 (2019-02-12) |
| Tim Aker | East of England | 1 July 2014 | 13 February 2019 (2019-02-13) |
| Jonathan Bullock | East Midlands | 28 July 2017 | 13 February 2019 (2019-02-13) |
| Bill Etheridge | West Midlands | 1 July 2014 | 13 February 2019 (2019-02-13) |
| Paul Nuttall | North West England | 14 July 2009 | 15 February 2019 (2019-02-15) |
| Jill Seymour | West Midlands | 1 July 2014 | 15 April 2019 (2019-04-15) |
| Jane Collins | Yorkshire and the Humber | 1 July 2014 | 15 April 2019 (2019-04-15) |
| Margot Parker | East Midlands | 1 July 2014 | 15 April 2019 (2019-04-15) |
| Jonathan Arnott | North East England | 1 July 2014 | 17 April 2019 (2019-04-17) |
| Ray Finch | South East England | 1 July 2014 | 17 April 2019 (2019-04-17) |
Only three of these incumbent MEPs − Farage, Gill and Bullock − were selected to stand for the Brexit Party in the 2019 election,[174] which took place on 23 May 2019. Twenty-nine Brexit Party MEPs were elected to theEuropean Parliament, including Tice and the former Conservative MPAnn Widdecombe, while Farage,Nathan Gill andJonathan Bullock kept their seats.[175] BBC News described the Brexit Party, which gained 31.6% of the vote in the UK, as "the clear winner in the UK's European elections."[176]
The Brexit Party MEPs were not members of a group in the Parliament. The MEPAndrew England Kerr was expelled from the party on 29 September 2019 over a potential conflict of interest. Farage explained that England Kerr made "comments about a business and a product that he has a direct financial investment in and we think that is unacceptable."[177] The MEPLouis Stedman-Bryce resigned on 19 November 2019 in response to "The Brexit Party's recent decision to select a Scottish candidate who has openly posted homophobic views".[178]
In the2024 London Assembly election,Alex Wilson was elected as a London-wide member for theLondon Assembly.[70]
On 4 October 2025,Keith Prince, theConservative London Assembly member forHavering and Redbridge, defected to Reform.[179]
On 15 May 2019 four Members originally elected or co-opted for UKIP (Caroline Jones,Mandy Jones,David Rowlands andMark Reckless) joined the Brexit Party,[180] with Reckless being appointed as leader of their group,[181] which was known asPlaid Brexit inWelsh.[182] In May 2020 Reckless said that Nigel Farage is "consulted over key decisions... but he doesn't micro-manage us here", and that in the2021 Senedd election it would campaign to scrap the current system of devolution and replace it with a directly elected first minister accountable to Welsh MPs.[183] This policy announcement triggered the departure from the party's group in the Senedd of Caroline Jones, Mandy Jones and David Rowlands. They formed a new members group, theIndependent Alliance for Reform, which sought to reform rather than abolish the Senedd.[184][185] The remaining Brexit Party Senedd group member, Mark Reckless, left to join theAbolish the Welsh Assembly Party.[186]
Reform UK contested the2021 Senedd election on a platform of ending lockdowns, investing in the NHS, giving parents greater control over education, building theM4 relief road, and cutting local government,[187] but did not win any seats, although they got a one percent vote share for regional and constituency lists.[188]
On 22 July 2025,Laura Anne Jones, aWelsh Conservative member of the Senedd forSouth Wales East, defected to the party, becoming their first representative in theSenedd as Reform UK.[189] This decision comes while she is under investigation by the Senedd standards watchdog due to reports of bullying and false expenses claims.[190]
On 11 January 2021Michelle Ballantyne, an MSP forSouth Scotland, joined Reform UK. She first sat as a Conservative but left the party in 2020.[191][192] Ballantyne continued to sit with the party until the2021 Scottish Parliament election in May, when she lost her seat to a candidate from theScottish Conservatives. She resigned as the party's leader in Scotland in February 2022.[43][44]
On 27 August 2025,Graham Simpson, an MSP forCentral Scotland, defected from the Conservatives and joined Reform.[193]
On 4 August 2025,Rupert Matthews, theLeicestershire Police and Crime Commissioner and former MEP forEast Midlands, defected from the Conservatives and joined Reform.[194]
As of March 2024, two-thirds of Reform UK's local councillors were former councillors of the Conservative party who defected over to Reform UK.[195] In October 2024, Farage called on Conservative Party councillors to join Reform UK, saying that he was contacting over a thousand of them and that "a huge number of them genuinely agree with us and what we stand for".[196]
Reform won a by-election in the Marton ward of Blackpool Council on 3 October 2024, with its vote share rising from 9.5% (in the 2023 election) to 38.8%.[197] In October 2024, twoScottish Conservative Party councillors, Mark Findlater and Laurie Carnie, serving onAberdeenshire Council defected to the party and became Reform UK's first local representatives in Scotland.[198][199] As of 17 March 2025, prior to the local elections of that year, 15 of the 113 Reform councillors had been won through elections, with the remainder defecting from other parties, the majority of which were from the Conservatives.[103] In June 2025, aScottish Labour councillor, Jamie McGuire, fromRenfrewshire Council defected to Reform along with a third former Scottish Conservatives councillor, Duncan Massey, from Aberdeen.[200][201]
Reform polled in first place and won 677 seats in the2025 United Kingdom local elections. Within six weeks the number of Reform councillors had fallen to 668 due to five suspensions from the party, and four newly appointed councillors stepping down from the role, which led to two by-election losses (one to the Conservatives and the other to the Lib Dems).[202][203] Two further by-elections were scheduled for July and August 2025.[204][205]
Within months of the election, issues emerged for Reform UK party groups on local authorities. On 18 October 2025The Guardian newspaper released video footage of an online meeting of Reform UK councillors whereLinden Kemkaran, leader ofKent County Council, swore at some of her colleagues who criticised her leadership.[206] After the leak she called those responsible cowards.[207] Four councillors were suspended as a result of the leak.[208] OnCornwall Council, the leader and deputy leader of the group resigned.[209] Other local authorities where elected councillors who have left includeCity of Doncaster Council,[210]Northumberland County Council,[211]Nottinghamshire County Council,[212]Staffordshire County Council,[213] andShropshire Council.[214]
Reform UK is aright-wing populist[b][218][219][220] andanti-immigration political party.[221][222] It has been described asfar-right[c][226][227][228] andradical right;[229][230][231] others have labelled itneoliberal,[232] right-wingnationalist,[233] andnational conservative.[217] Farage said in May 2024 that Reform UK is becoming a "brand new Conservative movement".[234]
In March 2024, theBBC called the partyfar-right but soon retracted its statement and apologised to Reform UK, writing that describing the party as far-right "fell short of our usual editorial standards".[235] Commenting on the incident, professor of politicsTim Bale wrote that labelling Reform UK as far-right is unhelpful, and that it "causes too visceral a reaction and at the same time is too broad to be meaningful", as an umbrella term. Bale stated that the importance of distinguishing between the "extreme right" and "populist radical right", and stated that parties described as far right should instead be "more precisely labelled".[236] Bales later described party leader Farage as the "British representative of the populist radical right in Europe", while being placed "on the more moderate side of far-right parties in Europe."[237] Reform UK rejects the descriptor of far-right, and has threatened legal action against media using it.[238]
InParliamentary Affairs, Bennie & Widfeldt described the party as fitting "into a broader European family of radical right parties working within democratic structures", with the radical right being a subset of far-right.[239] InBritish Politics, Hayton wrote that the party had evolved into a "fully-fledged right-wing populist party" that "can be most sensibly classified as a populist radical right party", having moved beyond the single-issue politics of Brexit while retaining a Eurosceptic legacy. Hayton placed this as "outside of the mainstream right and as part of the far right, but distinguishes it from the extreme right elements of the far right."[217] In theJournal of Contemporary European Studies, Shuttleworth, Brown & Mondon stated that the categorisation of Reform UK as far-right had been regularly left out from academic and public discourse, despite it's "clear credentials", and questioned whether the BBC apology or the party's opposition to label was a reason for such exclusion.[240] Since the apology, the party has also been labelled as far-right in theJournal of European Public Policy,[241]Journal of Cultural Economy,[242]Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties,[243]Ethnic and Racial Studies,[244]Nations and Nationalism[245] andStudies in Conflict & Terrorism.[246]
In theBritish Journal of Politics and International Relations, Newton categorised the party as right-wing populist that strategically utilises radical right populist ideology, differentiating it from minorfar-right parties in the UK engaged in similar anti-migration activism.[247] Writing inThe Political Quarterly, Wraight described Reform UK as having rallied voters behind their brand of "little Englander conservatism", as populist rivals to the right of the Conservative Party.[248] Writing inThe Spectator,Ross Clark argued that Reform had become a left-wing party, by attracting disillusioned Labour voters with stances on restoring welfare benefits, nationalising the steel industry with 50% of utilities and increasing government spending (including the NHS).[249]
The party's constitution was published by the Electoral Commission as a result of a freedom of information request in May 2019.[250] It described the party as seeking to "promote and encourage those who aspire to improve their personal situation and those who seek to be self-reliant, whilst providing protection for those genuinely in need; favour the ability of individuals to make decisions in respect of themselves; seek to diminish the role of the State; lower the burden of taxation on individuals and businesses."[251]
Social Democratic Party politicianPatrick O'Flynn, who was elected as a UKIP MEP under Farage's leadership and supported the Brexit Party in the 2019 European elections, commented on the constitution's description of the party as followingclassical liberalism and described them as having aThatcherite ideological core.[252]James Glancy, one of the party's MEPs, has compared the party to theReferendum Party, being a "united and diverse group of people from different political backgrounds".[253]
The party's first non-Brexit-related policy was announced on 4 June 2019: a proposition to transformBritish Steel into a partlyworker-owned company, in what was described as "a hybrid of Conservative and Labour policy".[254] The party also supported cutting Britain's foreign aid budget, scrapping the proposedHS2 project and introducing free WiFi on all British public transport.[255][256] The party also said it would scrap all interest paid on student tuition fees, reimburse graduates for historic interest payments made on their loans,[257] and pledged to abolishinheritance tax.[258]
In July 2019, the Brexit Party signed a cross-party declaration alongside theLiberal Democrats,Green Party of England and Wales, and theScottish National Party, calling forfirst-past-the-post voting to be replaced by aproportional system for Westminster elections.[259]
On 22 November 2019, the Brexit Party set out its policy proposals for the2019 UK general election. Its key policies for the election included:[34][35]
Following the UK's departure from the European Union on 31 January 2020, Farage sought a new right-wing populist project for the party under its new name of Reform UK, opposing further COVID-19 restrictions, paralleling right-wing populist anti-lockdown sentiments in other countries.[260]
At the party conference in October 2021, leader Richard Tice criticised the Conservative Party as a party of "high tax". He said that his party would stand on a low-tax and low-regulation platform. The party supports raising the threshold at which people start paying income tax from £12,500 to £20,000, and exempting the smallest businesses from corporation tax. He has said that energy companies should be owned by the government or British pension funds to stop profits going abroad.[261]
In January 2023, Reform called for an end to foreign ownership of critical national infrastructure such as water, though as part of its plans private firms would continue to supply and distribute water.[262]
On 17 June 2024, Reform UK launched their manifesto,Our Contract with You, which Farage presented during an interview. The key policy proposals included:
Reform UK said that the total cost of its manifesto would be £140 billion but say that they would raise £150 billion. According to Reform UK, this money would be raised from the scrapping ofnet zero subsidies, the ending of payments of interest onquantitative easing reserves to banks, the halving of foreign aid, cuts to working age benefits and other public spending reductions.[279][267][263] The party said that it would "cut bureaucracy […] without touching frontline services",[269] while theInstitute for Fiscal Studies said that the savings required "would almost certainly require substantial cuts to the quantity or quality of public services" and that the sums of the costs of tax cuts and spending increases and savings proposed "do not add up" and were based on "extremely optimistic assumptions".[280][281][279]
The party's manifesto was criticised in a 2024 article by John Pring as threatening the rights of disabled people and as posing significant safeguarding risks to benefit claimants.[282][better source needed]
Analysis in 2024 found that Reform UK's tax plans disproportionately benefit high earners.[263] Farage said that his plans to raise the minimum threshold at which workers start paying tax from £12,571 to £20,000, would result in millions of low-paid workers not paying tax altogether.[263] Reform UK wants to raise the higher rate threshold of tax from £50,271 to £70,000, which would result in a tax cut of close to £6,000 for the top 10% of earners. According to analysis forSky News this would far outweigh any benefit to the lowest earners.[263]
In April 2025, Reform called for thenationalisation of the steel plant in Scunthorpe and government take-over of two electric arc furnaces at Liberty Steel's plant in Rotherham.[283]
In September 2025, Reform said they would abolishindefinite leave to remain.[284] Reform also proposed significant reforms to disability benefits, primarily focused on reducing the welfare bill by tightening eligibility and reassessment processes, particularly for those with less severe or non-serious conditions.[285] The party aims to move over a million people back into work, suggesting that for those considered fit to work, benefits would be withdrawn if they decline two job offers or fail to find employment within four months. They argue that work itself can be beneficial for mental health.[286]
Arron Banks, who Reform UK calls a "senior" member, told theFinancial Times in September 2025 that Reform should roll back human rights laws and get rid of legislation underpinning corporate regulation, saying in regards to regulators that he wants to "get rid of virtually everything".[287]
Reform UK has echoed Trump's "Make America Great Again" slogan, using "make Britain great again", and has set up its ownDepartment of Government Efficiency (DOGE), mirroring the initiative by the second Trump administration to cut government spending, which as of 25 March 2025 was led by Elon Musk.[288]
Policies on immigration and asylum include: leaving the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR); repealing the Human Rights Act 1998 and replacing it with a “British Bill of Rights”; disapplying the 1951 Refugee Convention, the UN Convention Against Torture, and the Council of Europe Anti-Trafficking Convention (ECAT); creating detention powers without Hardial Singh constraints; passing an illegal migration (mass deportation bill) and deny asylum for illegal immigrants.[289] In November Reform said it would remove the rights of EU citizens claim benefits, which would save £6.4 billion for 2025 rising to £10 billion by the end of the decade.[290]
A November 2024 poll conducted byYouGov found that Reform UK voters are twice as likely as the general public to believe that climate change is not caused by human activity.[291]
A policy document named "Reform is Essential" published in late 2022 contained a subchapter named "An honest debate on climate change" in which it said among other things: "Reform UK fully accepts that climate change is real, after all it has happened for millions of years based on multiple factors completely outside human control or influence. Warming has of course taken place over the last approximately 150 years, with signs over recent years that it is now leveling off."[292] In July 2024, in the run-up to the general election, the party broadly opposed the UK's legally binding net‑zero commitments, repeatedly pledging to scrap them, and according toThe Guardian many of its leading members had downplayed or denied climate science consensus.[293] This is a marked change in British politics which up until recently enjoyed cross-party consensus on achieving net zero.[294][295][296] Before the 2024 election and following it, the party attracted several donors associated with thefossil fuel industry orclimate scepticism, including David Lilley, Roger Nagioff and Fiona Cottrell.[297][298]
In an interview with the BBC in October 2021, then party chairman, Richard Tice criticised the Conservative Party's plans to decarbonise the economy, saying: "It is not net zero – it is literally net stupid." Instead, he suggested that the UK should focus on exploiting reserves ofshale gas.[299] Tice repeated the same stance in April 2022 saying that the Conservative Party's climate policy was out of touch with their voters and that Reform wanted to "cut taxes, go for growth, become self-reliant and use our own shale gas."[300] Reform UK's 2024 election manifesto rejected net zero and encouraged the use of fossil fuels.[267]
In June 2024, Pallavi Sethi andBob Ward of theGrantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment atLondon School of Economics accused Reform UK and its leaders Nigel Farage and Richard Tice of promoting misinformation about climate change.[301]
The Guardian reported in June 2024 that climate change deniers and sceptics were donating to Reform and Nigel Farage in 2024. The donors with stakes in the fossil fuel industry who were said to have donated wereTerence Mordaunt andJeremy Hosking. Donors who had donated to bothGlobal Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF) and Reform wereJon Moynihan,Nigel Vinson, andMichael Hintze.[298]
In February 2025, Tice said: "There's no evidence that man-made CO2 is going to change climate change. Given that it's gone on for millions of years, it will go on for millions of years" and that there were "a thousand" scientists who agreed with him, which was "not a minority". Scientists toldSky News that his first point was "categorically wrong", "missing the point" and that the "evidence is clear", regarding the second point, 99% of scientific publications agree with the scientific consensus.[302]
In March 2025,The New York Times reported: "Most of those bankrolling Reform in 2024 were multimillionaires, individuals and companies based in low-tax offshore countries, climate change sceptics, or those with investments in fossil fuels or other climate-polluting industries."[303]
In June 2024, Reform UK had accepted "more than £2.3 million from oil and gas interests, highly polluting industries, andclimate science deniers since December 2019".[304][305]
In April 2025, Farage said that the current government's net zero policy was "lunacy" and that "this could be the next Brexit", "where Parliament is so hopelessly out of touch with the country.” In response, theSecretary of State for Energy Security and Net ZeroEd Miliband accused him of peddling "nonsense and lies".[306][307] In July 2025, Reform UK'sMayor of Greater Lincolnshire, Andrea Jenkyns, said, "Do I believe that climate change exists? No."[308]
In November 2025, when asked bySky News if humans have impacted the climate, Tice said: "Possibly, but if so, a very modest percentage." He accepted the need to update infrastructure in Britain to cope with a changing climate. When asked whether he accepted that the climate was warming at an unprecedented rate, Tice said: "From the data that I've seen, from previous ice core data, I think the answer to that is questionable."NASA has stated "human activity is the principal cause" of unprecedentedly fast warming and 234 UN scientists from theIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have said it is "unequivocal" that humans have caused "widespread and rapid changes".[309]
In October 2024, all Reform UK MPs voted against the Employment Rights Bill. The bill includes banning zero-hours contracts and would give employees the right to sick pay from the first day of employment.[310] Another policy within the bill is workers' prevention from harassment, which has been heavily criticised by Farage and other Reform UK politicians, who have referred to it as a "banter ban".[311] The general secretary of theTrades Union Congress (TUC),Paul Nowak, said on 28 April 2025, "The likes of Reform are defying their supporters by voting against improvements to workers' rights at every stage."[311]
In January 2025, all Reform UK MPs voted for an amendment to theChildren's Wellbeing and Schools Bill regarding a new national inquiry into grooming gangs. The amendment was intended to block the bill and its passing would have halted the bill's progress in Parliament.[312] The Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill aims to improve laws regarding home-schooling and support for children in care, improve school inspections and improve safeguards regarding private education facilities.[313] The amendment to the bill was lost by 364 votes to 111, a majority of 253 against the amendment.[319] Farage stated Reform UK will launch their own independent inquiry and pay for it themselves as the government one was rejected in order to respond to the "overwhelming demand" of the public to know the "full, unvarnished truth". Farage said the attacks were racist against white children by Pakistani rapists. Farage also criticised the Conservatives saying, "Talk is cheap. The Conservatives had 14 years in government to launch an inquiry. The establishment has failed the victims of grooming gangs on every level."[320][321]
In its early days, the Brexit Party officially had three members, who were Farage, Tracey Knowles and Mehrtash A'Zami. The party opted for signing up registered supporters rather than members. The party structure was criticised for not providing the party's over 115,000 paying registered supporters[322] with any voting power to influence party policy;[251] Farage retained a high level of control over decision-making, including hand-picking candidates himself.[251][323] Since 2021, the party has options to become a member, rather than a supporter.[324]
Initially the Reform UK party was a limited company (the Reform UK Party Limited)[325] with fifteenshares. Farage owned 53% of the shares in the company, giving him a controlling majority. The other shareholders were Tice, who holds about a third, and Chief Executive Paul Oakden and Party Treasurer Mehrtash A'Zami who each held less than seven percent.[325] In August 2024 Paul Oakden was removed and Farage took over his shares, giving him 60% ownership.[326] As of 2025[update], ownership of the party was transferred from Farage to a new business legally constituted as Reform 2025 Limited, acompany limited by guarantee, replacing the original company which was controlled by Farage as majority shareholder.[327][328] The directors and guarantors of the new company are Farage andZiauddin Yusuf, who will effectively control the new company.[327][328][329] The business's filing stated that it had no "person with significant control".[327]
Farage has said the party would largely be funded by small donations and that they raised "£750,000 in donations online, all in small sums of less than £500" in their first ten days. The party also accepts large donations.[330] He further said that the party would not be taking money from the key former UKIP funderArron Banks.[29][331] Farage personally faced questions during the2019 electoral campaign afterChannel 4 News revealedundeclared travel and accommodation benefits provided by Banks before Farage joined the Brexit Party, and on 21 May 2019 the European Parliament formally opened an investigation.[332] In response to the reporting, the Brexit Party bannedChannel 4 News from its events.[333]
In 2019, £6.4m was donated to the party byChristopher Harborne,[334] and £200,000 byJeremy Hosking, a former donor to theConservative Party.[330] 2023 donations included £200,000 fromTerence Mordaunt's company First Corporate Consultants Ltd.[335]
Two days before the2019 European election, Farage accused theElectoral Commission of "interfering in the electoral process" after the independent watchdog visited the Brexit Party headquarters for "active oversight and regulation" of party funding.[336] Official donations of £500 or more must be given by a "permissible donor", who should either be somebody listed on the British electoral roll or a business registered atCompanies House and operating in Britain. When asked if the party took donations in foreign currency, Farage replied: "Absolutely not, we only take sterling – end of conversation."Shadow ChancellorJohn McDonnell called for "a full and open and transparent, independent inquiry into the funding of Mr Farage".[337] The Electoral Commission reported in July 2019 that following its visit it made recommendations to the party for more robust internal controls on permissible donations, as those in place had not been adequate, and that the party had returned a donation of £1,000 whose source could not be identified as acceptable.[338]
In May 2024,The Guardian said that 80% of the party's funding, in loans and donations, came from Tice. It reported Tice as saying that the Conservatives spend £35 million annually, while Reform spends less than £1.5 million.[339]
On 12 June 2025,openDemocracy reported that "Reform has received almost £5m from wealthy donors since 2023, including those with links to fossil fuels, the financial services industry and tax havens".[340] Around a quarter of donations have been from former Conservative Party donors and Reform UK has an unusually high number of overseas donors with connections to tax havens.[340]
In June 2019, the Brexit Party reportedly had 115,000 paying supporters, though the party did not have an official membership.[341]
During the week after the 3 June 2024 announcement of Farage's resumption of party leadership,ITV News reported that party membership increased by 50% to 45,000.[342] By September of that year, the party said it had 80,000 members,[343] and they hit 100,000 by the end of November.[344] The party launched an online tracker on 23 December 2024 as it approached overtaking the number of Conservative members; it had 120,549 at noon of that day.[345] On 26 December, the party said it had surpassed the Conservative party's most recently published total of 131,680, making it the second-largest party by membership.[92] On 10 February, the party hit 200,000 members.[346] During the fallout from the dispute around Rupert Lowe in March, those around Lowe claimed that as many as 7,000 members had resigned in protest, though Reform denied this.[347] Following an incline to over 230,000 members up to May,[348] the membership figures have stagnated and dropped slightly since.[349][350]
As of January 2025, the party has 7,800 members in Wales.[351] In June 2025, the party said it had over 15,000 members in London[352] and 11,000 members in Scotland.[353] In Scotland, the party claims to be the third-biggest, beating the Scottish Conservative total of 6,941 in January 2025.[354]
According to research byTim Bale and theParty Members Project done just after the 2024 election, Reform members are similar to those of other parties.[355] The average age is 61 with very few between 18–24 and almost half of its members are over 65.[355] Members are predominantly from the middle class, and has a substantial share of its membership in theMidlands andNorth.[355] Nearly all voted leave, and 90% of them consider themselves as being some level ofright-wing.[355]
As of 10 June 2025[update] the membership had dropped from 237,099 to 234,175 in a week. This followed newly elected Reform UK MPSarah Pochin's Commons maiden speech in which she asked if the UK should ban the burqa for public safety as France, Denmark and Belgium had done.[356]
As of 29 August 2025[update] the party had 237,000 members and 450 branches, up from 80,000 members and no branches at the same time in the previous year.[357]
As of 12 December 2025[update] Reform UK said it had over 268,000 members, while according toThe Times the Labour Party's membership had fallen to below 250,000. At the time, standard annual membership of Reform cost £25 compared to £70.50 for Labour.[358]
The six members joining the party leader and chairman to form the inaugural Reform UK Board were announced on 22 August 2025.[359]
| Board | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Office | Incumbent | Selection method | |
| Leader of Reform UK | Nigel Farage | In office since prior to adoption of party constitution | |
| Chairman of Reform UK | David Bull | Appointed by leader | |
| Vice Chairman of Reform UK | Paul Nuttall | Appointed by leader | |
| Board Member | Andrea Jenkyns | Appointed by leader | |
| Board Member | Zia Yusuf | Appointed by leader | |
| Board Member | Dan Barker | Elected by party members | |
| Board Member | Darren Grimes | Elected by party members | |
| Board Member | Gawain Towler | Elected by party members | |
Reform UK has had three leaders.Catherine Blaiklock was its first leader, in early 2019.[360]Nigel Farage was leader from March 2019 until March 2021, when he resigned andRichard Tice took on the role.[361] On 3 June 2024 it was announced that Tice had invited Farage to return as leader, an offer Farage accepted.
| Leader (Birth–Death) | Portrait | Took office | Left office | Tenure length | Deputy Leader(s) | Chair | Vice-Chair | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Catherine Blaiklock (born 1963) |  | 20 January 2019 | 20 March 2019 | 60 days | Vacant | Vacant | Vacant |
| 2 | Nigel Farage (born 1964) | | 22 March 2019[362] | 6 March 2021 | 1 year and 350 days | Richard Tice(2019–2021) | Vacant | |
| 3 | Richard Tice (born 1964) | | 6 March 2021 | 3 June 2024 | 3 years and 90 days | David Bull(2021–2023) Ben Habib(2023–2024) | Vacant | Vacant |
| (2) | Nigel Farage (born 1964) | | 3 June 2024[362] | Incumbent | 1 year and 256 days | Richard Tice | Richard Tice(2024) Zia Yusuf(2024–2025) David Bull(2025–present) | Paul Nuttall(2025–present) |
In early 2026, after prolonged vacancies,Malcolm Offord was appointed leader in Scotland andDan Thomas was appointed leader in Wales.
The Brexit Party stood candidates in Great Britain at the2019 European Parliament election, including the former Conservative PartyMinister of State,Ann Widdecombe,[363] the journalist,Annunziata Rees-Mogg (a former Conservative general election candidate and the sister of the Conservative MP and Brexit advocate,Jacob Rees-Mogg), theLeave Means Leave co-founder,Richard Tice,[331] the writers,Claire Fox andJames Heartfield (both once part of theRevolutionary Communist Party and later writers forSpiked),[364][365]Stuart Waiton (a fellowSpiked contributor)[366][367]James Glancy, a former member of theRoyal Marines and theSpecial Boat Service who was awarded theConspicuous Gallantry Cross,[368]Martin Daubney, a journalist and commentator,[369]David Bull, author and television presenter,[370][371]Brian Monteith, a former Conservative PartyMSP,Rupert Lowe, a businessman[372] and retired Rear AdmiralRoger Lane-Nott.[373]John Longworth, the former director-general of the British Chambers of Commerce, announced he would be standing as a candidate for the party on 15 April 2019.[374] The party was not registered in Northern Ireland and did not field candidates there.[375]
A survey of 781 Conservative Party councillors found that 40% planned to vote for the Brexit Party.[376] On 17 April 2019, the former Labour andRespect Party MPGeorge Galloway announced his support for the Brexit Party "for one-time only" in the 2019 European Parliament election.[377] On 24 April, the political columnistTim Montgomerie announced that he would vote for the party and endorsed Widdecombe's candidature,[378] and the Conservative MPLucy Allan described the candidates of the party as "fantastic".[379] On 2 May, one of the party's candidates for the North West constituency, Sally Bate, resigned from the party in response to previous comments made by Claire Fox, the lead candidate in the constituency, on theWarrington bombings.[380]
In May 2019, several polls forecast the party polling first for the European elections,[381] though earlier polls had suggested it would come third to Labour and the Conservatives.[382] The party held 14 seats, acquired through defections, going into the elections, and saw an increase of 15. It won five more seats than UKIP, had at theprevious election, under Farage's leadership.
The party won 29 seats in theelection, becoming the biggest single party in the9th European Parliament. TheCDU/CSU Union also won 29 seats inGermany, but it was an alliance and not a party. Three of the 29 resigned the whip in December 2019 to support theConservative Party at the2019 general election, while a fourth,John Longworth, was expelled for "repeatedly undermining" the party's election strategy.[383]
| Year | Leader | Share of votes | Seats | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Nigel Farage | 30.52% | 29 / 73 | 1st |
The 29 MEPs elected were as follows:
On 19 April, Farage said that the party intended to stand candidates at the2019 general election,[384] but would not stand candidates against the 28 Eurosceptic Conservative MPs who opposed theBrexit withdrawal agreement.[385] In thePeterborough by-election in June, the Brexit Party came second with 28% of the vote, 7% ahead of the Conservatives and 2% behind Labour.
FollowingBoris Johnson's election as Prime Minister, Farage unveiled the names of 635 general election candidates for the Brexit Party, including himself.[386] On 8 September 2019, Farage wrote an article in theSunday Telegraph and the party took out advertisements in Sunday newspapers offering an electoral pact with the Conservative Party in the forthcoming general election, whereby the Brexit Party would not be opposed by the Conservatives in traditional Labour Party seats in the north of England, the Midlands and Wales, and the Brexit Party would not contest seats in which they could split the Leave vote. Farage wrote that Boris Johnson should ask himself "does he want to sign a non-aggression pact with me and return to Downing Street?"[387]
Farage's proposition was rejected by Johnson.[388] On 11 November, Farage said that his party would not stand in any of the 317 seats won by the Conservatives at the last election. Conservative Party chairmanJames Cleverly welcomed this, although he stated that the parties had not been in contact.[389]Newsnight reported that conversations between members of the Brexit Party and the pro-Brexit Conservative group, theEuropean Research Group (ERG) had led to this decision.[390]
The Brexit Party is reported to have requested that Boris Johnson publicly state he would not extend the Brexit transition period beyond the planned date of 31 December 2020 and that he wished for a Canada-style free-trade agreement with the EU. Johnson did make a statement covering these two issues, something which Farage referenced as key when announcing he was standing down some candidates, but both the Brexit Party and the Conservatives denied that any deal was done between them.[390][391][392] The decision to not run in those seats met with criticism by some Brexit Party supporters and candidates, and some candidates who had been selected to run forConservative seats opted to run asindependent candidates on aPro-Brexit platform.[393]
The party failed to win any seats in the general election.[36] Its best second places were inBarnsley Central, where Victoria Felton won 30.4% of the vote,[394] andBarnsley East, where Jim Ferguson won 29.2%.[395] High third places were inHartlepool, where Richard Tice won 25.8% of the vote,[396] andHull West and Hessle, whereMichelle Dewberry won 18%.[396]
| Election | Leader | Votes | Seats | Outcome | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Share | Seats won | ± | |||
| 2019 | Nigel Farage | 644,257 | 2.01 | 0 / 650 | 0% | Extra-parliamentary |
On 22 May 2024, Prime MinisterRishi Sunak announced the date of thegeneral election as 4 July. The next day, leader Richard Tice launched the Reform UK campaign, promising to field candidates in 630 seats including himself inBoston and Skegness.[397] He said that the party wanted to make this the "immigration election".[59] Nigel Farage initially ruled out standing, saying that it was "not the right time" but promised to "do my bit to help".[71] In the first week of the campaign, Reform UK's average predicted vote in opinion polls rose from 11% to 13%, although many commentators predicted their vote share would be squeezed[398] and the Conservatives announced policies targeted at Reform voters, such asnational service.[399]
On 3 June, Farage became the leader of Reform UK. Following this, opinion pollsters reported an increase in support for the party, in two cases polling within 2% of the Conservative Party.[400] BBC political analyst Peter Barnes commented on 9 June that the change in leadership "has clearly had a positive impact on the party's performance in the polls", and that this "has come at the expense of the Conservatives".[401] A poll of 1,000 viewers conducted after the BBC's seven-party debate held on 7 June found Farage to be the winner with 25% support, his closest rival being Labour Party deputy leaderAngela Rayner, on 19%. The debate majored on theNormandy landings, war veterans, immigration and theNational Health Service (NHS).[402]
Farage said that his aim was to make Reform theOfficial Opposition party in Parliament.[403] Reform would be standing in 609 out of 650 constituencies (all in Great Britain).[404] As part of an electoral pact with theSocial Democratic Party, the two parties stood aside from each other in six constituencies and over a dozen candidates stood under a joint Reform-SDP banner.[405]
On 10 June, the Reform UK candidate forBexhill and Battle, Ian Gribbin, was reported as having said in 2022 that: "Britain would be in a far better state today had we taken Hitler up on his offer of neutrality." Following these reports, Gribbin stated that he apologised without reservation for the comment and any upset caused.[406] A party spokesman defended Gribbin by saying that "his historical perspective of what the UK could have done in the 30s was shared by the vast majority of the British establishment including the BBC of its day, and is probably true" that the comments made by Gribbin were not endorsements of the stances and that the party would continue to support him.[407][408]The Times reported on 13 June that 41 of the Reform UK candidates for the 2024 general election wereFacebook friends with the Britishneo-fascist leaderGary Raikes.[409]
After a number of revelations about the party's prospective parliamentary candidates,[410] Farage said on 18 June that the party had hired a vetting company, but had been "stitched up" by them. The company, vetting.com, responded that there had not been sufficient time to complete their work, the election having been called earlier than expected.[410]
In the campaign, the party used the slogan "Britain Needs Reform".[411] Its party election video, broadcast nationally on 13 June, showed silently and continuously for 4 minutes and 40 seconds the six words "Britain is Broken. Britain Needs Reform".[412] On 13 June,YouGov polling put Reform at 19% and the Conservatives 18%. Farage declared "We are now the opposition to Labour."[413]
On 15 June, the BBC'sLaura Kuenssberg said that "the most optimistic Reform politicians can't name more than five or six seats where they reckon they could win."[414] On the same day, opinion pollsters Survation published the results of a survey of 42,269 voters employingmultilevel regression with poststratification (MRP) which predicted that Reform would win seven seats and YouGov's MRP survey predicted five seat wins.[415]
On 20 June, the BBC reported that while Farage has been criticised by some Muslim organisations for saying that a growing number of young Muslims do not subscribe to British values, Muslim entrepreneurZia Yusuf had just given the party a donation amounting to hundreds of thousands of pounds and said that the country has lost control of its borders. He said that it was his "patriotic duty" to fund Farage and Reform UK.[416]
Farage was criticised during the campaign for suggesting that the West had provoked Russia's invasion of Ukraine by expanding the European Union andNATO military alliance eastwards. Farage also said that "of course" the war was the fault of Vladimir Putin.[417]
On 27 June,Channel 4 News revealed alleged homophobic, racist and Islamophobic comments made by some party campaigners inClacton,[418][419] including an individual calling Rishi Sunak a "Paki" (a racist slur against those of South Asian heritage in the UK),[420] and suggesting the army should shoot atsmall boats bringing illegal migrants to the UK,[419] and another campaigner calling theLGBT flag "degenerate". Sunak responded that hearing the racist slur against him "hurts and it makes me angry".[421][422][423] Farage described the anti-gay comments as "vulgar, drunk and wrong"[424] and condemned the other individual's racist comments, before suggesting that the programme was a "set up" by Channel 4, as the individual who made the racist slur against Sunak, Andrew Parker, was an actor and that it alluded to foul play.[421] The party later said it had made a complaint against Channel 4 for "electoral interference" over the broadcast,[425] although reports on 28 June suggested theElectoral Commission had not received such a complaint from Reform.[426] Channel 4 commented: "We met Mr Parker for the first time at Reform UK party headquarters, where he was a Reform party canvasser. We did not pay the Reform UK canvasser or anyone else in this report. Mr Parker was not known to Channel 4 News and was filmed covertly via the undercover operation."[427] Following the report, Reform UK dropped its support for three election candidates because of past racist comments,[426] and on 30 June, one candidate defected to the Conservatives over a perceived lack of leadership from Reform on the issue.[428][429]
Less than 20% of Reform UK candidates in the 2024 general election were women and the five Reform UK candidates who were elected were all men and had a median age of 60 at the time of the election.[430][failed verification]
At the election, the party won five seats (Ashfield,Clacton,Boston and Skegness,Great Yarmouth, andSouth Basildon and East Thurrock) and came second in a further 98.[431] Reform UK's presence split the right-wing vote, allowing Labour to win seats on small margins includingSouth West Norfolk,Poole,South Dorset andRother Valley. The party won 14.3 per cent of the vote in total.[72] It became the third-largest party by popular vote, gaining 4,117,610 votes.[432]
According to theBritish Election Study Internet Panel, almost 80% of people who voted for Reform in the 2024 general elections had voted for the Conservatives in the previous elections in 2019. This means that over 25% of the people who voted for the Conservatives in 2019 switched their vote to Reform in 2024.[433]: 92–93
| Election | Leader | Votes | Seats | Outcome | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Share | Seats won | ± | |||
| 2024 | Nigel Farage | 4,117,610 | 14.3% | 5 / 650 |  5 | Opposition |
The party first stood at local government level in two by-elections inGloucester on 25 July 2019.[434] They did not win either.[435]
A councillor elected toRochdale defected to the party in July 2019 from Labour, making for the first councillor;[436][437] shortly after aLiberal Democrat councillor there also defected.[438] All 12 ofRotherham's then UKIP councillors defected to the Brexit Party in July 2019, as did all 5 ofDerby's UKIP councillors.[439][440] On 13 September 2019, ten independent councillors onHartlepool Borough Council defected to the Brexit Party. They then formed a pact with the three Conservatives to hold 13 of the 33 seats.[441] In September 2019, a Conservative councillor forSurrey (county) andElmbridge (borough) defected to the party, after his party decided he would not be reselected.[442]
The 13 councillors of the Hartlepool council group left the party in 2020.[443] The Rotherham group left to form the Rotherham Democratic Party.[444][445] The party won two seats in the2021 United Kingdom local elections, both inDerby, one a hold from a previous defection and the other a gain. These were the first council seats won at election by the party, as all their previous ones had been via defections.[446][447] This left them with eight councillors in total; six in Derby and two more from defections, one inRedbridge from the Conservatives, and one inSwale from UKIP, both in April 2021.[448][449] Councillors in the Derby City group are members of an affiliate party named "Reform Derby", in alignment with Reform UK.[450][451]
In December 2021, days before theNorth Shropshire by-election, local councillor and Deputy Mayor ofMarket Drayton Town Council, Mark Whittle, defected to the party from the Conservatives.[452] It was reported that all of Reform UK's candidates in the2022 United Kingdom local elections "will campaign on the benefits offracking and restarting exploration in the North Sea".[300] Three of the eight council seats held by the party were up for re-election in 2022, all of which had arisen from defections. BothDerby seats were held, but a seat in Redbridge was lost. No new seats were gained.[453]
In December 2022, two former Conservative councillors – one inBarnsley and the other inWest Oxfordshire – defected to the party.[454] Another Conservative councillor, Barry Gwilt, of the Fazeley ward ofLichfield District Council, defected to Reform UK in January 2023.[455] In the2023 United Kingdom local elections, Reform UK won six seats out of the 8,519 up for election[456] and averaged 6% of the vote in the wards where it stood.[457] The six seats won were all in the City of Derby, whose new council proceeded to elect Reform Derby leader Alan Graves to the position of Mayor for 2023/24.[458]
In March 2024,East Riding of Yorkshire councillor Maria Bowtell defected from the Conservatives and joined the party.[459] In the2024 English local elections, Reform UK took approximately 11% of the vote where it stood candidates,[460] and won two seats onHavant Borough Council[461] and one on the London Assembly.[70] Richard Tice said that his party was becoming the real opposition to Labour.[462] On 18 June, four Conservatives from theTendring District Council defected to Reform, with Jeff Bray becoming leader of the council group.[463]
Since the 2024 general election, Reform UK has won a number of council by-elections. Thirty-two councils now have at least one Reform UK councillor,[464] with the party winning by-elections inBlackpool,[465]Dartford,[466]East Riding of Yorkshire,[467]Kent,[468]St Helens,[469]Swale,[470]Wolverhampton,[471] andWyre.[472] On 10 January 2025, ten Reform councillors resigned from the party, saying that the party is being run in an "increasingly autocratic manner" since Farage's return as the party's leader.[473] On 14 February 2025, Stuart Keyte became the first elected councillor for Reform UK in Wales, joining three other Reform councillors at Torfaen Council, who had defected to the party after previously sitting as independents.[474]
In March 2025, Reform UK gained defecting councillors in Scotland. John Gray fromRenfrewshire Council and Ross Lambie fromSouth Lanarkshire Council both defected from the Conservative Party.[475] On 11 March 2025,Falkirk councillor Claire Mackie-Brown also joined Reform UK from the Conservative Party.[476] Farage welcomed 29 defecting councillors at a press conference inWestminster. Of Reform UK's 113 council seats, 98 have come about via defections from politicians that were elected for another party – the majority, 66 from the Conservative Party – while 15 have been won through elections.[103] Amid this the Councillor Maria Bowtell left the party.[477]
At the2025 United Kingdom local elections, Reform stood 1,706 candidates[478] representing 97.5% of all wards up for election. It went on to win 677 seats and a majority of seats on 10 councils. The party also won 2 of the 6 mayoral elections taking place,Greater Lincolnshire andHull and East Yorkshire. A projected national vote share collated by theBBC put Reform on 30% of the vote slightly ahead of its position in opinion polls conducted immediately prior to the local elections.[479] After four of Reform's new councillors stepped down, the party were unable to retain three of those seats in the subsequent by-elections, losing two to the Conservatives and the other to the Liberal Democrats.[203][202][205]
In August 2025, Reform gained their firstPolice and crime commissioner afterRupert Matthews, theLeicestershire Police and Crime Commissioner, defected from theConservatives.[480]
Data has shown that most of Reform UK's representation comes from those who have defected from the Conservative Party.[430]
| Year | Regional vote | Constituency vote | Overall seats | Change | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 11,730 votes | 1.1% | 0 / 20 | 17,405 votes | 1.6% | 0 / 40 | 0 / 60 | New party |
| Year | Regional vote | Constituency vote | Overall seats | Change | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 5,793 votes | 0.2% | 0 / 56 | – | – | 0 / 73 | 0 / 129 | New party |
| Year | Regional vote | Constituency vote | Overall seats | ± | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 25,009 votes | 1.0% | 0 / 11 | 62,263 votes | 2.4% | 0 / 14 | 0 / 25 | New party |
| 2024 | 145,409 votes | 5.9% | 1 / 11 | 188,420 votes | 7.4% | 0 / 14 | 1 / 25 | 1 |
[..] former UKIP economics spokeswoman Catherine Blaiklock applied to register the new party last week and she sounded out Mr. Farage for a role in the organisation. He told the paper: "This was Catherine's idea entirely – but she has done this with my full knowledge and my full support.
A new political party backed by Nigel Farage has been launched in an attempt to attract hardline Conservative activists unhappy with Theresa May's attempt to forge a compromise Brexit plan.
A filing by the Electoral Commission showed the Brexit Party had been approved this week to field candidates across England, Scotland and Wales.
Our party of Reform is the only political party that supports the Great Barrington Declaration.
Zia Yusuf, Reform's new chairman, a multimillionaire entrepreneur ...
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