Reform UK is a
right-wing populist
Right-wing populism, also called national populism and right-wing nationalism, is a political ideology that combines right-wing politics and populism, populist rhetoric and themes. Its rhetoric employs anti-Elitism, elitist sentiments, opposi ...
political party in the United Kingdom. It was founded with support from
Nigel Farage
Nigel Paul Farage (; born 3 April 1964) is a British broadcaster and former politician who was Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2006 to 2009 and 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Brexit Party (renamed Reform UK in 2021) from 201 ...
in November 2018 as the Brexit Party, advocating
hard Euroscepticism
Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies, and seek refo ...
and a
no-deal Brexit, and was briefly a significant political force in 2019. After Brexit, it was renamed to Reform UK in January 2021, and became primarily an
anti-lockdown party during the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...
.
Subsequently, in December 2022, it began campaigning on broader right-wing populist themes during the
British cost-of-living crisis. Its greatest electoral success was as the Brexit Party, which won 29 seats and the largest share of the national vote in the
2019 European Parliament election
The 2019 European Parliament election was held between 23 and 26 May 2019, the ninth parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979. A total of 751 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) represent more than 512 million peopl ...
.
Farage had been leader of
UKIP, a right-wing populist and
Eurosceptic
Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies, and seek refor ...
party, during its brief heyday as a significant political force in the first half of the 2010s. He returned to frontline politics as leader of a new Brexit Party in the context of the lengthy
Brexit process initiated by the result of the
2016 EU referendum
The United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, commonly referred to as the EU referendum or the Brexit referendum, took place on 23 June 2016 in the United Kingdom (UK) and Gibraltar to ask the electorate whether the country shoul ...
, which had been called partly in response to UKIP's influence. The Brexit Party campaigned for a
no-deal Brexit, which it described as "a clean-break Brexit". Academic observers described the party as
populist. It won high-profile defections from the right-wing
Conservative Party, one of the two main parties in the UK, including
Ann Widdecombe and
Annunziata Rees-Mogg. It also won some endorsements from
left-wing supporters of Brexit, including former
Respect Party
The Respect Party was a left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left, Socialism, socialist political party active in the United Kingdom between 2004 and 2016. At the height of its success in 2007, the party had one Member of Par ...
MP
George Galloway
George Galloway (born 16 August 1954) is a British politician, broadcaster, and writer who is currently leader of the Workers Party of Britain, serving since 2019. Between 1987 and 2010, and then between 2012 and 2015, Galloway was a Member o ...
and former members of the
Revolutionary Communist Party.
Following the election of leading Brexit campaigner
Boris Johnson
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...
as leader of the Conservative Party, Farage offered him an electoral pact in the
2019 general election; the offer was rejected, but the Brexit Party unilaterally decided not to stand candidates in constituencies won by the Conservatives in the
previous election.
On 31 January 2020, the United Kingdom withdrew from the European Union. The Brexit Party had styled itself as being focused on reform of democracy in Britain, and by May 2020, there were proposals to re-brand it as the Reform Party. The
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...
hit the UK in 2020 and the government imposed a
national lockdown
In public health, social distancing, also called physical distancing, (NB. Regula Venske is president of the PEN Centre Germany.) is a set of non-pharmaceutical interventions or measures intended to prevent the spread of a contagious dise ...
to slow the spread of the disease. Farage re-branded the party as Reform UK around the end of the year to focus on
anti-lockdown campaigning.
He stepped down as leader in March 2021 and was replaced by
Richard Tice.
History
Brexit Party

A company called The Brexit Party
Limited
Limited may refer to:
Arts and media
*''Limited Inc'', a 1988 book by Jacques Derrida
*Limited series (comics), a comic book series with predetermined length
Businesses
*Limited Brands, an American company - owners of Victoria's Secret, Bath & Bo ...
was incorporated with
Companies House
Companies House is the executive agency of the company registrars of the United Kingdom, falling under the remit of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. All forms of companies (as permitted by the Companies Act) are ...
on 23 November 2018.
It was formally announced on 20 January 2019 by former UKIP economics spokesperson
Catherine Blaiklock
Catherine Blaiklock (born April 1963) is an English financial trader and hotelier who was the founder and first leader of the Brexit Party, a political party established in January 2019 to support a no-deal Brexit. She was forced to resign as ...
, who served as the party's initial leader.
On 5 February 2019, it was registered with the United Kingdom
Electoral Commission to run candidates in any English, Scottish, Welsh and European Union elections.
[
*
*
* ]
On the day of the announcement,
Nigel Farage
Nigel Paul Farage (; born 3 April 1964) is a British broadcaster and former politician who was Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2006 to 2009 and 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Brexit Party (renamed Reform UK in 2021) from 201 ...
, who had been an independent 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.
In a 24 January 2019 interview, Blaiklock said: "I won't run it without Nigel
arage I'm a nobody and I haven't got any ego to say that I am an anybody", and that: "I'm happy to facilitate Nigel and do the donkey work and work for him, but I don't have any illusions as to myself". On 8 February 2019, Farage stated he would stand as a candidate for the party in any potential
future European Parliament elections contested in the United Kingdom. MEPs
Steven Woolfe and
Nathan Gill
Nathan Lee Gill (born 6 July 1973) is a British politician, who was the Leader of Reform UK Wales from March to May 2021, when he resigned from the party. He previously served as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Wales from 2014 to J ...
, also formerly of UKIP, stated that they would also stand for the party.
On 1 February 2019, Blaiklock told ''
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was f ...
'' the party had raised
£1 million in donations, and that over 200 people had come forward offering to stand for the Brexit Party at the
May 2019 European Parliament election, if the United Kingdom had not left the European Union by then.
After announcing the party's formation, Blaiklock attracted criticism for Islamophobic comments on social media, made between 2017 and 2019.
She resigned as party leader on 20 March 2019 over since-deleted anti-Islam messages on Twitter, including re-tweeting messages by far-right figures including
Mark Collett,
Tommy Robinson and
Joe Walsh
Joseph Fidler Walsh (born November 20, 1947) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. In a career spanning over five decades, he has been a member of three successful rock bands: the James Gang, Eagles, and Ringo Starr & His All-Starr ...
.
Farage said that he would take over as leader, that Blaiklock was "never intended to be the long-term leader" and that the party "is at the moment a virtual party – it's a website". On the party's launch on 12 April, asked about issues with Blaiklock, Farage said: "I set the party up, she was the administrator that got it set up. We had a couple of teething problems, yes, but are we going to be deeply intolerant of all forms of intolerance? Yes."
In April 2019, the party's treasurer Michael McGough was removed from his position after ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper
A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.
Newspapers can cover a wide ...
'' uncovered antisemitic and homophobic social media comments he had posted in 2017.
On 22 November 2019, the Brexit Party set out its proposals for the
2019 UK general election
The 2019 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 12 December 2019. It resulted in the Conservative Party receiving a landslide majority of 80 seats. The Conservatives made a net gain of 48 seats and won 43.6% of the popular vote †...
. They included a wide range of policy areas including taxation, reforming politics, immigration and the environment.
The party received two percent of the vote in the election, with none of its 273 candidates winning a seat.
Transition into Reform UK
Before the
general election
A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
on 8 December 2019, the party's leader Nigel 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.
In July 2020
Italexit, a Eurosceptic party inspired by the Brexit Party, was founded in Italy.
In November 2020, Farage and Tice announced that they had applied to the Electoral Commission to re-name the Brexit Party to 'Reform UK', and stated that the party would campaign on a platform that was opposed to further
COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns (due to the ongoing
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...
) and that it would seek to reform aspects of UK Governance, including the BBC and House of Lords.
The group supports the
Great Barrington Declaration
The Great Barrington Declaration was an open letter published in October 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns. It claimed harmful COVID-19 lockdowns could be avoided via the fringe notion of "focused protection", by which t ...
.
An analysis by the pollster
YouGov
YouGov is a British international Internet-based market research and data analytics firm, headquartered in the UK, with operations in Europe, North America, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific. In 2007, it acquired US company Polimetrix, and since ...
cast doubt on the prospective appeal of the rebranded party, stating that the overlap of voters with a positive opinion of Nigel Farage and those with a negative opinion of COVID-19 lockdowns was small, at an estimated 7% of the electorate. The charity
Reform
Reform ( lat, reformo) means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement ...
, which holds the domain name reform.uk, had complained to the Electoral Commission regarding the name change, claiming that it risks damaging its goodwill through name confusion. The
Renew Party also logged a complaint with the Electoral Commission on the grounds that the rebrand would mislead voters on the grounds that it was easy to confuse 'Reform' and 'Renew'.
On 4 January 2021, the party's name change to Reform UK was approved by the Electoral Commission.
In 2021, Reform UK gained representation in the
Scottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament ( gd, PÃ rlamaid na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Pairlament) is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the capital city, Edinburgh, it is frequently referred to by the metonym Holy ...
when former Conservative and then independent MSP
Michelle Ballantyne joined the party and was named Reform UK's leader in Holyrood by Nigel Farage. She lost her and the party's only seat in Scotland in the
2021 Scottish Parliament election.
She quit as the party's leader in Scotland in February 2022.
Farage stepped down as leader in March 2021, being replaced by party chairman
Richard Tice. Former
North West England
North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, administrative counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of ...
MEP
David Bull was appointed as deputy leader of the party on 11 March 2021.
On 26 March 2021, it was announced that former Brexit Party MEP
Nathan Gill
Nathan Lee Gill (born 6 July 1973) is a British politician, who was the Leader of Reform UK Wales from March to May 2021, when he resigned from the party. He previously served as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Wales from 2014 to J ...
had become the Leader of Reform UK Wales.
In 2021, Reform UK announced its intention to field a full slate of candidates in the
Senedd
The Senedd (; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English language, English and () in Welsh language, Welsh, is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, it makes ...
,
Scottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament ( gd, PÃ rlamaid na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Pairlament) is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the capital city, Edinburgh, it is frequently referred to by the metonym Holy ...
and
London Assembly
The London Assembly is a 25-member elected body, part of the Greater London Authority, that scrutinises the activities of the Mayor of London and has the power, with a two-thirds super-majority, to amend the Mayor's annual budget and to rejec ...
elections with leader Richard Tice standing for election in the latter. However, the party did not nominate a candidate for London Mayor after making a pact with
Reclaim Party leader and actor
Laurence Fox. Fox finished sixth in the mayoral election with less than 2% of the votes. The party failed to win any seats above local level in the 2021 elections in May, as well as losing their deposit in the
Hartlepool by-election. In the
Senedd election, the party fielded a full slate of candidates in every constituency and on the regional lists, but picked up just 1.6% of the constituency vote (7th place) and 1.1% of the regional list votes (8th place). In the
Scottish Parliament election, no constituency candidates were fielded and the party received just 5,793 list votes across the whole country despite standing in every region in Scotland. In the
London Assembly election, none of their constituency candidates were elected and the party finished tenth on the London-wide list with 25,009 votes.
In October 2022, Reform UK and the
Social Democratic Party (SDP) announced an electoral pact. In December 2022, David White, a Conservative member of
Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council, and Richard Langridge, a Conservative member of
West Oxfordshire District Council, both defected to Reform UK in order to stand as
prospective parliamentary candidates for the party.
The press gave renewed attention to Reform UK in December 2022—during the
cost-of-living crisis—after Farage announced it would stand a full slate of candidates at the next general election. Tice remains leader of the party. After some opinion polls indicated a modest increase in support for Reform UK, ''
The Telegraph'' described the party as a "threat on the Right" to the Conservative government of Prime Minister
Rishi Sunak
Rishi Sunak (; born 12 May 1980) is a British politician who has served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party since October 2022. He previously held two cabinet positions under Boris Johnson, lastly as ...
.
Representation
European Parliament
In February 2019, nine MEPs who had left UKIP joined the party:
Tim Aker,
Jonathan Bullock
Jonathan Bullock (born 3 March 1963) is an English politician. He was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the East Midlands constituency until the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the EU on 31 January 2020. He was third on the UKIP ...
,
David Coburn,
Bill Etheridge,
Nigel Farage
Nigel Paul Farage (; born 3 April 1964) is a British broadcaster and former politician who was Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2006 to 2009 and 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Brexit Party (renamed Reform UK in 2021) from 201 ...
,
Nathan Gill
Nathan Lee Gill (born 6 July 1973) is a British politician, who was the Leader of Reform UK Wales from March to May 2021, when he resigned from the party. He previously served as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Wales from 2014 to J ...
,
Diane James,
Paul Nuttall and
Julia Reid. All were originally elected as UKIP candidates, but all had previously left the party in opposition to
Gerard Batten's leadership, mostly in December 2018. MEP and former UKIP member
Steven Woolfe also indicated his support for the party in February.
In mid-April 2019,
Jane Collins,
Ray Finch,
Jill Seymour
Jill Seymour (born 8 May 1958) is a British politician who served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the West Midlands from 2014 to 2019. Elected for the UK Independence Party (UKIP) in 2014, in April 2019 she defected to the ...
, and
Margot Parker left UKIP to join the Brexit Party.
[ Jonathan Arnott, who had resigned from UKIP three months earlier, also joined the party then, thus bringing the total number of Brexit Party MEPs to 14. Thus, 14 of the 24 UKIP MEPs who had been elected in 2014 were now in the party. They all were members of the ]Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy
Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy (EFDD or EFD²) was a Eurosceptic and populist political group in the European Parliament. The EFDD group was a continuation for the Eighth European Parliament of the Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD ...
(EFDD) group.
Only three of the incumbent MEPs − Farage, Gill and Bullock − were selected to stand for the Brexit Party in the 2019 election.
On 23 May 2019, 29 Brexit Party MEPs were newly elected to the European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adop ...
, including Richard Tice and former Conservative MP Ann Widdecombe, while Jonathan Bullock
Jonathan Bullock (born 3 March 1963) is an English politician. He was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the East Midlands constituency until the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the EU on 31 January 2020. He was third on the UKIP ...
, Nigel Farage
Nigel Paul Farage (; born 3 April 1964) is a British broadcaster and former politician who was Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2006 to 2009 and 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Brexit Party (renamed Reform UK in 2021) from 201 ...
and Nathan Gill
Nathan Lee Gill (born 6 July 1973) is a British politician, who was the Leader of Reform UK Wales from March to May 2021, when he resigned from the party. He previously served as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Wales from 2014 to J ...
kept their seats. The Brexit Party MEPs were Non-Inscrits
Non-Inscrits (; abbreviated NI; also non-attached members, abbreviated NA) are Members of the European Parliament (MEP) who do not belong to one of the recognised political groups.
These MEPs may be members of a national party, or of a Europ ...
, not members of a group in the Parliament.
MEP Andrew 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." MEP Louis Stedman-Bryce
Louis Stedman-Bryce (born December 1974) is a British care home director, property investor and former politician. He served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Scotland from 2019 to 2020. He was elected as a Brexit Party candidate ...
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".
With Brexit on 31 January 2020, all UK MEP positions ceased to exist.
Senedd
On 15 May 2019, four Members originally elected or co-opted for UKIP (Caroline Jones
Caroline Jones (born June 30, 1990) is an American country music singer, songwriter and radio host. Jones has released a number of albums, the most successful one being ''Bare Feet''. Her most recent album, ''Antipodes'', was released on Novemb ...
, Mandy Jones, Mark Reckless and David Rowlands) joined the Brexit Party. Reckless was appointed as Leader of their group. One Member, elected as UKIP but by this time sitting as an independent, Michelle Brown, was told she would not be welcome in the party. In the Welsh language
Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic language of the Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales, by some in England, and in Y Wladfa (the Welsh colony in Chubut Province, Argentina). Historically, it has ...
, the party is known as . The Brexit Party Wales was to campaign in 2021 Senedd election
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number
A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The original examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words ...
to scrap the current system of devolution, and replace it with a directly-elected first minister accountable to Welsh MPs. The leader of the party in Wales, Mark Reckless, said in the interview on 15 May 2020 that Nigel Farage is "consulted over key decisions... but he doesn't micro-manage us here". On 18 August 2020, Caroline Jones
Caroline Jones (born June 30, 1990) is an American country music singer, songwriter and radio host. Jones has released a number of albums, the most successful one being ''Bare Feet''. Her most recent album, ''Antipodes'', was released on Novemb ...
released a statement stating that she had quit the Brexit Party Welsh Parliament Group to sit as an Independent member due to the newly-adopted anti-devolution stance the Brexit Party had adopted.
On 16 October 2020, Mandy Jones and David Rowlands left the party's group in the Senedd to form a new Independent members group jointly with Caroline Jones
Caroline Jones (born June 30, 1990) is an American country music singer, songwriter and radio host. Jones has released a number of albums, the most successful one being ''Bare Feet''. Her most recent album, ''Antipodes'', was released on Novemb ...
. The group, The Independent Alliance for Reform, sought to reform the Senedd rather than abolish. Mandy Jones and Rowlands remained members of the Brexit Party, and are still members of Reform UK.
On 19 October 2020, the final remaining Brexit Party Senedd group member, Mark Reckless left the party to join the Abolish the Welsh Assembly Party.
The party did not hold any MS seats after the 2021 Senedd election
Scottish Parliament
On 11 January 2021, independent MSP Michelle Ballantyne joined Reform UK. Ballantyne became an MSP for the 16-member district of South Scotland
South Scotland is one of the eight electoral regions of the Scottish Parliament. Nine of the parliament's 73 first past the post constituencies are sub-divisions of the region and it elects seven of the 56 additional-member Members of the S ...
in 2017 when incumbent Rachael Hamilton resigned to stand in a by-election for a single-member seat. Ballantyne first sat as a Conservative but left the party in 2020 over opposition to COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickl ...
lockdown restrictions. Ballantyne continued to sit as an independent until January 2021 when she joined Reform UK and was appointed leader of the Scottish party. She continued to sit with the party until the 2021 Scottish Parliament election, where she lost her regional seat to a candidate from the Scottish Conservatives. She quit as the party's leader in Scotland in February 2022.
Policies and ideology
The party's lead aim was for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union, now achieved, and then trade with countries on World Trade Organization terms. On 12 April 2019, Farage said that there was "no difference between the Brexit party and UKIP in terms of policy, utin 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 "across the board", including from former UKIP voters and from Conservative and Labour voters who supported Brexit. Later in April, Farage said that the party would not publish a manifesto until after the European elections had taken place. Farage said the party would have a policy platform instead of a manifesto. Farage has described his admiration for how fellow Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy
Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy (EFDD or EFD²) was a Eurosceptic and populist political group in the European Parliament. The EFDD group was a continuation for the Eighth European Parliament of the Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD ...
members, Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
's Five Star Movement, have managed to grow from a protest group into the country's largest political party in both houses of the Italian Parliament
The Italian Parliament ( it, Parlamento italiano) is the national parliament of the Italian Republic. It is the representative body of Italian citizens and is the successor to the Parliament of the Kingdom of Italy (1861–1943), the transitio ...
. He has described the Brexit Party as 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.
The British politics professor Matthew Goodwin describes the party as national populists, while Goodwin and others have also described the Brexit Party as populist, right-wing populist
Right-wing populism, also called national populism and right-wing nationalism, is a political ideology that combines right-wing politics and populism, populist rhetoric and themes. Its rhetoric employs anti-Elitism, elitist sentiments, opposi ...
, right-wing neoliberal and right-wing nationalist.
The party's constitution was published by the Electoral Commission as a result of a freedom of information request in May 2019. It describes 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." SDP politician Patrick 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 following classical liberalism
Classical liberalism is a political tradition and a branch of liberalism that advocates free market and laissez-faire economics; civil liberties under the rule of law with especial emphasis on individual autonomy, limited government, e ...
and described them as having a Thatcherite ideological core. James Glancy, one of the party's MEPs, has compared the party to the Referendum Party
The Referendum Party was a Eurosceptic, single-issue political party that was active in the United Kingdom from 1994 to 1997. The party's sole objective was for a referendum to be held on the nature of the UK's membership of the European Union ...
, being a "united and diverse group of people from different political backgrounds".
The party's first non-Brexit-related policy was announced on 4 June 2019: a proposition to transform British Steel into a partly worker-owned
A worker cooperative is a cooperative owned and Workers' self-management, self-managed by its workers. This control may mean a firm where every worker-owner participates in decision-making in a democratic fashion, or it may refer to one in which ...
company, in what has been described as "a hybrid of Conservative and Labour policy". The party also supports cutting Britain's foreign aid budget, scrapping the proposed HS2 project and introducing free WiFi on all British public transport. Furthermore, the party has said it will scrap all interest paid on student tuition fees, has suggested reimbursing graduates for historic interest payments made on their loans, and has pledged to abolish inheritance tax
An inheritance tax is a tax paid by a person who inherits money or property of a person who has died, whereas an estate tax is a levy on the estate (money and property) of a person who has died.
International tax law distinguishes between an e ...
.
The party has signed a cross-party declaration alongside the Liberal Democrats, Green Party of England and Wales
The Green Party of England and Wales (GPEW; cy, Plaid Werdd Cymru a Lloegr, kw, Party Gwer Pow an Sowson ha Kembra, often simply the Green Party or Greens) is a green, left-wing political party in England and Wales. Since October 2021, Ca ...
, and the Scottish National Party
The Scottish National Party (SNP; sco, Scots National Pairty, gd, PÃ rtaidh NÃ iseanta na h-Alba ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic political party in Scotland. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence from ...
, calling for first-past-the-post voting
In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...
to be replaced by a proportional system for Westminster elections.
On 22 November 2019, the Brexit Party set out its policy proposals for the 2019 UK general election
The 2019 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 12 December 2019. It resulted in the Conservative Party receiving a landslide majority of 80 seats. The Conservatives made a net gain of 48 seats and won 43.6% of the popular vote †...
. Its key policies for the election included:
*No extension to the Brexit transition period
*No privatisation of the NHS
*Reducing immigration
*Cutting VAT on domestic fuel
*Banning the UK exporting its waste
*Providing free broadband
In telecommunications, broadband is wide bandwidth data transmission which transports multiple signals at a wide range of frequencies and Internet traffic types, that enables messages to be sent simultaneously, used in fast internet connections. ...
in deprived regions
*Scrapping the television licence
A television licence or broadcast receiving licence is a payment required in many countries for the reception of television broadcasts, or the possession of a television set where some broadcasts are funded in full or in part by the licence ...
fee
*Abolishing inheritance tax
An inheritance tax is a tax paid by a person who inherits money or property of a person who has died, whereas an estate tax is a levy on the estate (money and property) of a person who has died.
International tax law distinguishes between an e ...
*Scrapping High Speed 2
High Speed 2 (HS2) is a planned high-speed railway line in England, the first phase of which is under construction in stages and due for completion between 2029 and 2033, depending on approval for later stages. The new line will run from its m ...
(HS2)
*Abolishing interest on student loan
A student loan is a type of loan designed to help students pay for Higher education, post-secondary education and the associated fees, such as Tuition payments, tuition, books and supplies, and living expenses. It may differ from other types of l ...
s
*Changing planning to help house building
*Reforming the Supreme Court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
* Reform the voting system to make it more representative
*Abolish the House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster ...
*Making MPs who switch parties subject to recall petitions
*Reform the postal voting system to combat fraud
*Introduce Citizens’ Initiatives to allow people to call referendums, subject to a 5 million threshold of registered voter signatures and time limitations on repeat votes
Following the UK's departure from the European Union on 31 January 2020, that is "Brexit", Farage has sought a new right-wing populist project for the party under its new name of Reform UK by opposing COVID-19 restrictions, paralleling right-wing populist anti-lockdown sentiments in other countries.
On 3 October 2021, the party's leader, Richard Tice, criticised the Conservative Party as a party of "high tax" at Reform UK's party conference in Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...
. He pledged to offer a lower-tax vision at the next election, saying 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 exempt the smallest businesses from corporation tax. He also criticised the Conservative Party's plans to decarbonise the economy, saying that the UK should instead focus on exploiting reserves of shale gas. He also said that energy companies should be owned by the government or British pension funds to stop profits going abroad.
Funding and structure
The Brexit Party officially has three members, as the Electoral Commission requires at least two named members to be registered as a political party. The three members are currently Richard Tice, Nominating Officer Tracy Knowles and Treasurer Mehrtash A’Zami. The party structure has been criticised for not providing the party's over 115,000 paying registered supporters with any voting power to influence party policy; Farage retains a high level of control over decision-making, including hand-picking candidates himself.
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, such as £200,000 donated by Jeremy Hosking
Jeremy John Hosking (born 20 July 1958) is a British businessman and political donor. Ranked number 351 in the Sunday Times Rich List 2019, with a net worth of £375 million, he is a shareholder in Crystal Palace F.C. and a noted railway e ...
, a former donor to the Conservative Party. He further said that the party would not be taking money from the key former UKIP funder Arron Banks
Arron Fraser Andrew Banks (born 1966) is a British businessman and political donor. He is the co-founder (with Richard Tice) of the Leave.EU campaign. Banks was previously one of the largest donors to the UK Independence Party (UKIP) and helped ...
. Farage personally faced questions during the 2019 electoral campaign after '' Channel 4 News'' revealed undeclared 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. In response to the reporting, the Brexit Party banned ''Channel 4 News'' from its events.
Later in 2019, £6.4m was donated to the party by Christopher Harborne
Christopher Charles Sherriff Harborne (born December 1962) is a British businessman and technology investor based in Thailand. A University of Cambridge and INSEAD graduate, his donations have enabled the founding of INSEAD San Francisco and the ...
.
Two days before the 2019 European election, Farage accused the Electoral Commission of "interfering in the electoral process" after the independent watchdog visited the Brexit Party headquarters for "active oversight and regulation" of party funding. 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 at Companies House
Companies House is the executive agency of the company registrars of the United Kingdom, falling under the remit of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. All forms of companies (as permitted by the Companies Act) are ...
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 Chancellor John McDonnell called for "a full and open and transparent, independent inquiry into the funding of Mr Farage". On Sky News in May 2019, a Scottish National Party
The Scottish National Party (SNP; sco, Scots National Pairty, gd, PÃ rtaidh NÃ iseanta na h-Alba ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic political party in Scotland. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence from ...
MEP, Alyn Smith, claimed that the Brexit Party is "a shell company that's a money laundering front". The Brexit Party threatened legal action unless Smith retracted the claim. Smith apologised unreservedly and admitted that he had no evidence for his allegation, and made a donation to the party's legal costs as well as to the charity Help for Heroes.
As of February 2020, and probably since May 2020, Farage holds 8 of the 15 shares in The Brexit Party Ltd.
As well as the leader and chairman, other leadership roles were assigned to Brian Monteith as Chief Whip in the European Parliament (before Brexit) and David Bull as health spokesperson during the 2019 election.
In January 2021, former Conservative and then independent MSP Michelle Ballantyne joined the party and assumed the role of Leader of Reform UK Scotland.
Leaders
Reform UK has had three leaders. Catherine Blaiklock
Catherine Blaiklock (born April 1963) is an English financial trader and hotelier who was the founder and first leader of the Brexit Party, a political party established in January 2019 to support a no-deal Brexit. She was forced to resign as ...
was its first leader and served from 20 January 2019 to 20 March 2019, before resigning as party leader due to anti-Islam messages she posted on her Twitter account before she took on the role. Richard Tice, the party's current leader, took on the role following the resignation of Nigel Farage
Nigel Paul Farage (; born 3 April 1964) is a British broadcaster and former politician who was Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2006 to 2009 and 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Brexit Party (renamed Reform UK in 2021) from 201 ...
.
Elections
2019 European Parliament elections
The party stood candidates in Great Britain at the 2019 European elections, including the former Conservative Minister of State
Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In ...
Ann Widdecombe, the journalist Annunziata Rees-Mogg (a former Conservative general election candidate and the sister of the Conservative MP and Brexit advocate Jacob Rees-Mogg), the Leave Means Leave
Leave Means Leave was a pro-Brexit, Eurosceptic political pressure group organisation that campaigned and lobbied for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union following the 'Leave' result of the EU referendum on 23 June 2016. The campa ...
co-founder Richard Tice, the writers Claire Fox and James Heartfield (both once part of the Revolutionary Communist Party and later writers for ''Spiked
Spiked may refer to:
* A drink to which alcohol, recreational drugs, or a date rape drug has been added
** Spiked seltzer, seltzer with alcohol
**Mickey Finn (drugs) In slang, a Mickey Finn (or simply a Mickey) is a drink laced with an incapacitati ...
''), Stuart Waiton
Stuart Waiton is a senior sociology and criminology lecturer at Abertay University. He teaches on matters relating to anti-social behaviour, moral panics, hate crimes, and politics. Ewan Gurr of the ''Evening Standard'' describes Waiton's politi ...
(a fellow ''Spiked'' contributor) James Glancy, a former member of the Royal Marine
The Corps of Royal Marines (RM), also known as the Royal Marines Commandos, are the UK's special operations capable commando force, amphibious light infantry and also one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy. The Corps of Royal Marin ...
s and the Special Boat Service who was awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross
The Conspicuous Gallantry Cross (CGC) is a second level military decoration of the British Armed Forces. Created in 1993 and first awarded in 1995, it was instituted after a review of the British honours system to remove distinctions of rank in ...
, Martin Daubney, a journalist and commentator, David Bull, author and television presenter, Brian Monteith, a former Conservative Party MSP, Rupert Lowe, a businessman and retired Rear Admiral Roger Lane-Nott. 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. The party was not registered in Northern Ireland and did not field candidates there.
A survey of 781 Conservative Party councillors found that 40% planned to vote for the Brexit Party. On 17 April 2019, the former Labour and Respect Party
The Respect Party was a left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left, Socialism, socialist political party active in the United Kingdom between 2004 and 2016. At the height of its success in 2007, the party had one Member of Par ...
MP George Galloway
George Galloway (born 16 August 1954) is a British politician, broadcaster, and writer who is currently leader of the Workers Party of Britain, serving since 2019. Between 1987 and 2010, and then between 2012 and 2015, Galloway was a Member o ...
announced his support for the Brexit Party "for one-time only" in the 2019 European Parliament election. On 24 April, the political columnist Tim Montgomerie announced that he would vote for the party and endorsed Widdecombe's candidature, and the Conservative MP Lucy Allan described the candidates of the party as "fantastic".
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 the Warrington bomb attacks.
In May 2019, several polls forecast the party polling first for the European elections, though earlier polls had suggested it would come third to Labour and the Conservatives.
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, at the time under Farage's leadership, had at the previous election.
The party won 29 seats in the election
An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...
, becoming the biggest single party in the 9th European Parliament. The CDU/CSU Union also won 29 seats in Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...
, but it was an alliance and not a party.
Three of the MEPs resigned the whip in December 2019 in order to support the Conservative Party at the 2019 general election, A fourth, John Longworth, was also expelled for "repeatedly undermining" the party's election strategy.
The 29 MEPs originally elected were as follows:
House of Commons
Farage said the party intended to stand candidates at the 2019 general election. In April 2019 he promised not to stand candidates against the 28 Eurosceptic Conservative MPs who opposed the Brexit withdrawal agreement
The Brexit withdrawal agreement, officially titled Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community, is a treaty between the European Uni ...
. In the Peterborough by-election in June, the Brexit Party came second with 28% of the vote, 7% ahead of the Conservatives and 2% behind Labour.
Following Boris Johnson
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...
's election as Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...
, Farage unveiled the names of 635 general election candidates for the Brexit Party, including himself. On 8 September 2019, Farage wrote an article in the '' Sunday Telegraph'' and the Brexit Party took out advertisements in Sunday newspapers offering an electoral pact with the Conservative Party in the forthcoming general election, in which 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?"
Farage had suggested that the Brexit and Conservative parties could form an electoral pact to maximise the seats taken by Brexit-supporting MPs, but this was rejected by Johnson. On 11 November, Farage then said his party would not stand in any of the 317 seats won by the Conservatives at the last election. Conservative Party chairman James Cleverly welcomed this, although he stated that the parties had not been in contact. ''Newsnight
''Newsnight'' (or ''BBC Newsnight'') is BBC Two's news and current affairs programme, providing in-depth investigation and analysis of the stories behind the day's headlines. The programme is broadcast on weekdays at 22:30. and is also avail ...
'' reported that conversations between members of the Brexit Party and the pro-Brexit Conservative group, the European Research Group (ERG) had led to this decision.[''Newsnight'', BBC Two, 11 November 2019 https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000b8x8/newsnight-11112019] 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. Both the Brexit Party and the Conservatives denied any deal was done between the two. The decision to not run in those seats met with criticism by some Brexit Party supporters and candidates; some candidates who had been selected to vie for Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
seats opted to run as independent candidates
An independent or non-partisan politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent.
Some politicians have political views t ...
on a Pro-Brexit platform.
The Brexit Party failed to win any seats in the general election.[ Its best second places were in Barnsley Central, where Victoria Felton won 30.4% of the vote, and ]Barnsley East
Barnsley East is a List of United Kingdom Parliament constituencies, constituency in South Yorkshire, represented since 2017 by Stephanie Peacock of the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party.
Constituency profile
The seat covers the south-east sub ...
, where Jim Ferguson won 29.2%. High third places were in Hartlepool
Hartlepool () is a seaside and port town in County Durham, England. It is the largest settlement and administrative centre of the Borough of Hartlepool. With an estimated population of 90,123, it is the second-largest settlement in County ...
, where Richard Tice won 25.8% of the vote,[ and ]Hull West and Hessle
Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle is a borough constituency for the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) at least once every five years by the first-past-the-post electoral system. T ...
, where Michelle Dewberry won 18%.[Hull West & Hessle]
Retrieved 20 December 2019.
Local government
The party first stood at local government level in two by-elections in Gloucester
Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east of t ...
on 25 July 2019. They did not win either.
A councillor elected to Rochdale
Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...
defected to the party in July 2019 from Labour, making for the first councillor; shortly after a Liberal Democrat councillor there also defected. All 12 of Rotherham's then UKIP councillors defected to the Brexit Party in July 2019, as did all 5 of Derby
Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gain ...
's UKIP councillors. On 13 September 2019, ten independent councillors on Hartlepool Borough Council defected to the Brexit Party. They then formed a pact with the three Conservatives to hold 13 of the 33 seats. In September 2019, a Conservative councillor for Surrey (county) and Elmbridge (borough) defected to the party, after his party decided he would not be reselected.
The 13 councillors of the Hartlepool council group left the party in 2020. The Rotherham group left to form the Rotherham Democratic Party. The party won two seats in the 2021 United Kingdom local elections, both in Derby
Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gain ...
, 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. This left them with eight councillors in total; six in Derby and two more from defections, one in Redbridge from the Conservatives, and one in Swale from UKIP, both in April 2021.
In December 2021, days before the North Shropshire by-election, local councillor and Deputy Mayor of Market Drayton Town Council, Mark Whittle, defected to the party from the Conservatives.
It was reported that all of Reform UK's candidates in the 2022 United Kingdom local elections "will campaign on the benefits of fracking
Fracking (also known as hydraulic fracturing, hydrofracturing, or hydrofracking) is a well stimulation technique involving the fracturing of bedrock formations by a pressurized liquid. The process involves the high-pressure injection of "frac ...
and restarting exploration in the North Sea". Three of the eight council seats held by the party were up for re-election in 2022, all of which had arisen from defections. Both Derby seats were held, but a seat in Redbridge was lost. No new seats were gained.
In December 2022, two former Conservative councillors - one in Barnsley and the other in West Oxfordshire - defected to the party.
Electoral performance
=Senedd elections
=
=Scottish Parliament elections
=
=London Assembly elections
=
See also
* Euroscepticism in the United Kingdom
*Brexit Party election results
This article lists the election results of the Brexit Party, known since 2021 as Reform UK, in UK parliamentary elections and in elections to the European Parliament.
European elections, 2019
The Brexit Party stood in the 2019 European Parl ...
* Opinion polling for 2019 European Parliament election in the UK
* Opinion polling for the 2019 United Kingdom general election
References
Further reading
* James Dennison. 2020. " How Niche Parties React to Losing Their Niche: The Cases of the Brexit Party, the Green Party and Change UK." ''Parliamentary Affairs'', Volume 73, Pages 125–141
External links
*
{{Authority control
2018 establishments in the United Kingdom
Eurosceptic parties in the United Kingdom
Nigel Farage
Political parties established in 2018
Right-wing parties in the United Kingdom
Right-wing populist parties
UK Independence Party breakaway groups
Brexit
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom on politics