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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 populist rhetoric and themes. Its rhetoric employs anti-elitist sentiments, opposition to the Establi ...
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 2 ...
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 identi ...
. 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 peop ...
. Farage had been leader of
UKIP The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest p ...
, 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 Between 2017 and 2019, representatives of the United Kingdom and the European Union negotiated the terms for Brexit, the planned withdrawal of the UK from the EU. These negotiations arose following the decision of the Parliament of the Uni ...
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 Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against " the elite". It is frequently associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment. The term develop ...
. It won high-profile defections from the right-wing
Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...
, one of the two main parties in the UK, including
Ann Widdecombe Ann Noreen Widdecombe (born 4 October 1947) is a British politician, author and television personality. She was Member of Parliament (MP) for Maidstone and The Weald, and the former Maidstone constituency, from 1987 to 2010 and Member of the ...
and
Annunziata Rees-Mogg Annunziata Mary Rees-Mogg (; born 25 March 1979) is a freelance journalist whose focus is finance, economics, and European politics and has been a British Brexit Party then Conservative politician during 2019 and into early 2020. She has be ...
. It also won some endorsements from left-wing supporters of Brexit, including former
Respect Party The Respect Party was a left-wing to far-left, 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 Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons and nineteen ...
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 ...
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 identi ...
hit the UK in 2020 and the government imposed a national lockdown 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 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 in ...
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 le ...
, 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 2 ...
, 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 Mark Adrian Collett (; born October 1980) is a British neo-Nazi, anti-semitic conspiracy theorist and political activist. He was formerly chairman of the Young BNP, the youth division of the British National Party (BNP), and was director of pu ...
, 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. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...
'' 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 COVID-19 pandemic, a number of non-pharmaceutical interventions colloquially known as lockdowns (encompassing stay-at-home orders, curfews, quarantines, and similar societal restrictions) have been implemented in numerous count ...
(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 identi ...
) 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 sinc ...
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 The Renew Party was a minor centrist political party in the United Kingdom. It was set up in 2017 to provide an alternative for moderate voters in the wake of the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum. The party described it ...
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, Pàrlamaid 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 Holyr ...
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 The 2021 Scottish Parliament election took place on 6 May 2021, under the provisions of the Scotland Act 1998. All 129 Members of the Scottish Parliament were elected in the sixth election since the parliament was re-established in 1999. The e ...
. 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 and () in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, it makes laws for Wales, agrees certain taxes and scrutinises the Welsh Gov ...
,
Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( gd, Pàrlamaid 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 Holyr ...
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 reject ...
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 Laurence Paul Fox (born 1978) is a political activist and former actor, most well-known for playing the supporting role of DS James Hathaway in the British TV drama series '' Lewis'' from 2006 to 2015. A grandson of the actors Robin and Ange ...
. 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 Scotland has elections to several bodies: the Scottish Parliament, the United Kingdom Parliament, local councils and community councils. Before the United Kingdom left the European Union, Scotland elected members to the European Parliament. Sco ...
, 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 The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...
(SDP) announced an electoral pact. In December 2022, David White, a Conservative member of
Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council is the local authority of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley in South Yorkshire, England. It is a metropolitan district council, one of four in South Yorkshire and one of 36 in the metropolitan counties of ...
, and Richard Langridge, a Conservative member of
West Oxfordshire District Council West Oxfordshire is a local government district in northwest Oxfordshire, England, including towns such as Woodstock, Burford, Chipping Norton, Charlbury, Carterton and Witney, where the council is based. Area The area is mainly rural downlan ...
, 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 ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...
'' 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 Timür Mark "Tim" Aker (born 23 May 1985) is a British politician who was a Member of the European Parliament for the East of England region. He was elected as a UK Independence Party (UKIP) candidate in 2014. He was head of UKIP's Policy Unit f ...
, Jonathan Bullock, David Coburn,
Bill Etheridge William Milroy Etheridge (born 18 March 1970) is an English politician who was previously a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the West Midlands region. He was elected in 2014 as a UK Independence Party (UKIP) candidate, but left the ...
,
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 2 ...
,
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 Julia Reid (née Rudman; born 16 July 1952) is a British politician and a former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the South West England region. Education and early career She was educated at Bentley Grammar School, Calne, and t ...
. All were originally elected as UKIP candidates, but all had previously left the party in opposition to
Gerard Batten Gerard Joseph Batten (born 27 March 1954) is a British politician who served as the Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2018 to 2019. He was a founding member of the party in 1993, and served as a Member of the European Parliament ( ...
'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 Raymond Finch (born 2 June 1963) is a British politician who served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South East England between 2014 and 2019. The fourth named candidate on the UK Independence Party (UKIP) list for the Sout ...
,
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 B ...
, and
Margot Parker Margaret Lucille Jeanne Parker (born 24 July 1943) is an English politician who served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the East Midlands region between 2014 and 2019. She was born in Grantham and educated at Kesteven and Granth ...
left UKIP to join the Brexit Party.
Jonathan Arnott Jonathan William Arnott (born 12 January 1981) is a British politician and former schoolteacher. After the 2014 European Parliament election, he served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the North East England region. Originally s ...
, 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 Legislature, legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven Institutions of the European Union, institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and in ...
, including Richard Tice and former Conservative MP
Ann Widdecombe Ann Noreen Widdecombe (born 4 October 1947) is a British politician, author and television personality. She was Member of Parliament (MP) for Maidstone and The Weald, and the former Maidstone constituency, from 1987 to 2010 and Member of the ...
, while Jonathan Bullock,
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 2 ...
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 Euro ...
, 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 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,
Mandy Jones Amanda Ellen "Mandy" Jones is a British former racing cyclist born in 1962 who won the women's world road race championship in 1982. Biography Jones joined the West Pennine Road Club to ride on Sunday outings. She rode her first race in 1974 ...
,
Mark Reckless Mark John Reckless (born 6 December 1970) is a British politician who served as a Member of the Senedd (MS) for South Wales East from 2016 until 2021, having previously served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Rochester and Strood from 2010 to ...
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 Michelle Margaret Freda Brown (born 30 December 1969) is a British politician who was a Member of the Senedd (MS) for North Wales from 2016 to 2021. In March 2019 she resigned from the UK Independence Party (UKIP) to become an independent. Edu ...
, 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 h ...
, the party is known as . The Brexit Party Wales was to campaign in
2021 Senedd election 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length&nb ...
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 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 Amanda Ellen "Mandy" Jones is a British former racing cyclist born in 1962 who won the women's world road race championship in 1982. Biography Jones joined the West Pennine Road Club to ride on Sunday outings. She rode her first race in 1974 ...
and David Rowlands left the party's group in the Senedd to form a new Independent members group jointly with Caroline Jones. The group, The
Independent Alliance for Reform The Independent Alliance for Reform ( cy, Y Gynghrair Annibynnol dros Ddiwygio) was a political group in the Senedd. It was founded in October 2020, and had three members. The party was dissolved in 2021 when all three of its Senedd Members lost ...
, 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 Mark John Reckless (born 6 December 1970) is a British politician who served as a Member of the Senedd (MS) for South Wales East from 2016 until 2021, having previously served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Rochester and Strood from 2010 to ...
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 ...
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 quick ...
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 The 2021 Scottish Parliament election took place on 6 May 2021, under the provisions of the Scotland Act 1998. All 129 Members of the Scottish Parliament were elected in the sixth election since the parliament was re-established in 1999. The e ...
, where she lost her regional seat to a candidate from the
Scottish Conservatives The Scottish Conservative & Unionist Party ( gd, Pàrtaidh Tòraidheach na h-Alba, sco, Scots Tory an Unionist Pairty), often known simply as the Scottish Conservatives and colloquially as the Scottish Tories, is a centre-right political par ...
. 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 The Five Star Movement ( it, Movimento 5 Stelle , M5S) is a political party in Italy. Its leader and president is Giuseppe Conte, Prime Minister of Italy from 2018 until 2021. The M5S was founded on 4 October 2009 by Beppe Grillo, a comedian an ...
, 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 Matthew James Goodwin (born 17 December 1981) is a British academic who is Professor of Politics in the School of Politics and International Relations at the University of Kent. he is a commisioner of the Social Mobility Commission. Early life ...
describes the party as national populists, while Goodwin and others have also described the Brexit Party as
populist Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against " the elite". It is frequently associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment. The term develop ...
,
right-wing populist Right-wing populism, also called national populism and right-wing nationalism, is a political ideology that combines right-wing politics and populist rhetoric and themes. Its rhetoric employs anti-elitist sentiments, opposition to the Establi ...
, right-wing
neoliberal Neoliberalism (also neo-liberalism) is a term used to signify the late 20th century political reappearance of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism after it fell into decline following the Second World War. A prominent f ...
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 James Alexander Glancy, (born August 1982) is a British television presenter and conservationist. He formerly served as a member of the Royal Marine Commandos and was a Brexit Party Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South West England ...
, 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 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 management is elected by ...
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, Carla ...
, and the
Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; sco, Scots National Pairty, gd, Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic political party in Scotland. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence from th ...
, 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 the ...
to be replaced by a
proportional system Proportionality, proportion or proportional may refer to: Mathematics * Proportionality (mathematics), the property of two variables being in a multiplicative relation to a constant * Ratio, of one quantity to another, especially of a part compar ...
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 post-secondary education and the associated fees, such as tuition, books and supplies, and living expenses. It may differ from other types of loans in the fact that the interest r ...
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 Westminst ...
*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 Salford to the west. The ...
. 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 The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...
. 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 helpe ...
. Farage personally faced questions during the 2019 electoral campaign after ''
Channel 4 News ''Channel 4 News'' is the main news programme on British television broadcaster Channel 4. It is produced by ITN, and has been in operation since Channel 4's launch in November 1982. Current productions ''Channel 4 News'' ''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. Two days before the
2019 European 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 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 in ...
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 The Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer in the British Parliamentary system is the member of the Shadow Cabinet who is responsible for shadowing the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The title is given at the gift of the Leader of the Opposition and ...
John McDonnell John Martin McDonnell (born 8 September 1951) is a British politician who served as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2015 to 2020. A member of the Labour Party, he has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Hayes and Harlington since 1997. ...
called for "a full and open and transparent, independent inquiry into the funding of Mr Farage". On
Sky News Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel and organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of Comcast. John Ryley is the he ...
in May 2019, a
Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; sco, Scots National Pairty, gd, Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic political party in Scotland. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence from th ...
MEP,
Alyn Smith Alyn Edward Smith (born 15 September 1973) is a Scottish politician. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), he was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Stirling at the 2019 general election. He also served as a Member of the ...
, 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 le ...
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 2 ...
.


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. I ...
Ann Widdecombe Ann Noreen Widdecombe (born 4 October 1947) is a British politician, author and television personality. She was Member of Parliament (MP) for Maidstone and The Weald, and the former Maidstone constituency, from 1987 to 2010 and Member of the ...
, the journalist
Annunziata Rees-Mogg Annunziata Mary Rees-Mogg (; born 25 March 1979) is a freelance journalist whose focus is finance, economics, and European politics and has been a British Brexit Party then Conservative politician during 2019 and into early 2020. She has be ...
(a former Conservative general election candidate and the sister of the Conservative MP and Brexit advocate Jacob Rees-Mogg), the Leave Means Leave co-founder Richard Tice, the writers Claire Fox and
James Heartfield James Heartfield (born 1961) is a British historian and a lecturer. Life Born in Leeds, Heartfield has written a number of books on the history of the British Empire, including ''The British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society'' (2016) and ''Th ...
(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), a drink laced with a drug * Spiked (hairstyle), hairstyles featuring spikes * ' ...
''), Stuart Waiton (a fellow ''Spiked'' contributor)
James Glancy James Alexander Glancy, (born August 1982) is a British television presenter and conservationist. He formerly served as a member of the Royal Marine Commandos and was a Brexit Party Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South West England ...
, 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 Marine ...
s and the
Special Boat Service The Special Boat Service (SBS) is the special forces unit of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. The SBS can trace its origins back to the Second World War when the Army Special Boat Section was formed in 1940. After the Second World War, the Roya ...
who was awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross, Martin Daubney, a journalist and commentator, David Bull, author and television presenter, Brian Monteith, a former Conservative Party MSP,
Rupert Lowe Rupert James Graham Lowe (born 31 October 1957) is a British politician, farmer and businessman, who served as a the Brexit Party Member of the European Parliament (MEP) in the West Midlands constituency from 2019 to 2020. Lowe was chairman ...
, 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 to far-left, 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 Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons and nineteen ...
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 Timothy Montgomerie (born 24 July 1970) is a British political activist, blogger, and columnist. He is best known as the co-founder of the Centre for Social Justice and as creator of the ConservativeHome website, which he edited from 2005 unt ...
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 The Warrington bombings were two separate bomb attacks that took place during early 1993 in Warrington, Cheshire, England. The first attack happened on 26 February, when a bomb exploded at a gas storage facility. This first explosion caused e ...
. 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 operat ...
, 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, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...
, 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 The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...
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 ...
'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 ''The Sunday Telegraph'' is a British broadsheet newspaper, founded in February 1961 and published by the Telegraph Media Group, a division of Press Holdings. It is the sister paper of ''The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily 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 James Spencer Cleverly (born 4 September 1969) is a British politician and Army Reserve officer who has served as Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs since 2022. A member of the Conservative Party, he has bee ...
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 availa ...
'' reported that conversations between members of the Brexit Party and the pro-Brexit Conservative group, the
European Research Group The European Research Group (ERG) is a research support group and caucus of Eurosceptic Conservative Members of Parliament of the United Kingdom. The journalist Sebastian Payne described it in the ''Financial Times'' as "the most influential es ...
(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 th ...
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 constituency in South Yorkshire, represented since 2017 by Stephanie Peacock of the Labour Party. Constituency profile The seat covers the south-east suburbs of Barnsley and former coal mining areas such as Hoyland, Darfi ...
, 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 D ...
, where Richard Tice won 25.8% of the vote, and Hull West and Hessle, 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 o ...
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 Bor ...
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 g ...
's UKIP councillors. On 13 September 2019, ten independent councillors on
Hartlepool Borough Council The Borough of Hartlepool is a unitary authority area in ceremonial County Durham, England. The borough's largest town is Hartlepool. It borders the County Durham district as well as the boroughs of Redcar and Cleveland and Stockton-on-Tee ...
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 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...
, 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 g ...
, 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 Local elections in the United Kingdom took place on 5 May 2022. These included elections for all London borough councils, for all local authorities in Wales and Scotland. Most seats in England were last up for election in 2018 and in Scotlan ...
"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 Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough ha ...
and the other in
West Oxfordshire West Oxfordshire is a local government district in northwest Oxfordshire, England, including towns such as Woodstock, Burford, Chipping Norton, Charlbury, Carterton and Witney, where the council is based. Area The area is mainly rural downland ...
- defected to the party.


Electoral performance


=Senedd elections

=


=Scottish Parliament elections

=


=London Assembly elections

=


See also

*
Euroscepticism in the United Kingdom Euroscepticism in the United Kingdom is a continuum of belief ranging from the opposition to certain political policies of the European Union to the complete opposition to the United Kingdom’s membership of the European Union. It has been a s ...
* Brexit Party election results * 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