Reform UK

Not to be confused with Reform (think tank).

Reform UK
LeaderNigel Farage
Deputy LeaderRichard Tice
Chief WhipLee Anderson (Commons)
ChairmanMuhammad Ziauddin Yusuf
Founders
Founded23 November 2018; 5 years ago (2018-11-23) as the Brexit Party
Split fromUK Independence Party
Headquarters124 City Road, London, EC1V 2NX[1]
Devolved branchesReform UK Scotland
Reform UK Wales
Membership (November 2024)Increase 95,000+[2]
Ideology
Political positionRight-wing[3]
AffiliatesReform Derby[4]
Bolton for Change[5]
Northern Irish affiliationReform UK–TUV alliance
Colours    Turquoise and white
SloganFamily, Community, Country[6]
House of Commons
5 / 650
House of Lords
0 / 789
London Assembly
1 / 25
Councillors[7]
38 / 18,725
Election symbol
Website
reformparty.uk

Reform UK is a right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. Nigel Farage has served as the party's leader since June 2024 and Richard Tice has served as the party's deputy leader since July 2024. The party currently has five members of Parliament (MPs) in the House of Commons and one member of the London Assembly. Following Farage's resumption of the leadership during the 2024 general election, there was a sharp increase in support for the party. In the election it was the third largest party by popular vote, with 14.3 per cent of the vote.[8]

Founded in November 2018 as the Brexit Party, advocating a no-deal Brexit, it won the most seats at the 2019 European Parliament election in the UK, but did not win any seats at the 2019 general election. The UK withdrew from the European Union (EU) in January 2020. A year later, in January 2021, the party was renamed Reform UK.[9] During the COVID-19 pandemic the party advocated against further lockdowns. Since 2022, it has campaigned on a broader platform, in particular pledging to reduce immigration to the UK, supporting low taxation, and opposing net zero emissions.[10][11][12]

Farage, who owns 60% of Reform UK Party Ltd, had been the leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP), a right-wing populist and Eurosceptic party, in the first half of the 2010s, and returned to frontline politics as leader of the Brexit Party during the Brexit process after the 2016 EU membership referendum, which had been called partly in response to UKIP's influence.[13][14] The party won 29 seats at the May 2019 European Parliament election, which was the best result for any single party in the 9th European Parliament. The Brexit Party campaigned for a no-deal Brexit and there were high-profile defections to it from the Conservative Party, including Ann Widdecombe and Annunziata Rees-Mogg.[15] Following Boris Johnson's election as leader of the Conservative Party, Farage offered him an electoral pact at the 2019 general election, which Johnson rejected. The Brexit Party decided unilaterally not to stand candidates against sitting Conservative MPs.

By May 2020, the British exit from the EU having taken place, the party focused on the reformation of British democracy and a name change from Brexit Party to Reform Party was proposed.[16][17][18] The COVID-19 pandemic began in the UK in 2020, and the Conservative government imposed a series of national lockdowns. Farage rebranded the party as Reform UK around the end of the year and focused on anti-lockdown campaigning.[19][20] Farage stepped down as leader in March 2021 and was succeeded by Richard Tice. In March 2024 Lee Anderson, who was elected in 2019 as a Conservative MP, defected to Reform UK, becoming the party's first MP.[21] On 3 June 2024, Tice announced that Farage would become leader once more, with Tice continuing as chairman.[22] The party won 5 seats in the 2024 general election – the first time that Reform UK had MPs elected to the House of Commons.

  1. ^ "Reform UK Registration". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
  2. ^ Dedman, Simon (24 October 2024). "Politics latest: Big name comeback in Tory shadow cabinet - and what each pick tells us about new leader". Sky News . Retrieved 25 October 2024.
  3. ^ Boscia, Stefan (27 April 2023). "Trump who? Farage's party cozies up to DeSantis as White House hopeful lands in UK". Politico. Retrieved 27 April 2023.
  4. ^ "Reform Derby – Change Politics for Good".
  5. ^ "View registration – the Electoral Commission".
  6. ^ Harris, Nicholas (23 September 2024). "The world according to Reform". New Statesman. Retrieved 20 October 2024.
  7. ^ "Open Council Data UK". 11 September 2024. Archived from the original on 11 September 2024. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
  8. ^ Chen, Cathy (5 July 2024). "Meet Reform UK's five new MPs". inews.co.uk. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  9. ^ "Party registration decisions". electoralcommission.org.uk. Archived from the original on 16 March 2021. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
  10. ^ "All of Farage's Reform UK pledges on immigration – and how the Tories compare". i (newspaper). 14 June 2024.
  11. ^ Curtice, John (16 February 2024). "John Curtice: By-election results leave Tories with mountain to climb". BBC News. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  12. ^ Scott, Geraldine. "Tories fear Nigel Farage and Reform UK could deliver a red wall rout". The Times. Archived from the original on 14 December 2022. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  13. ^ Matthew Goodwin and Caitlin Milazzo (2015), UKIP: Inside the Campaign to Redraw the Map of British Politics, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 126.
  14. ^ Matt Reed (2016), "'This Loopy Idea': An Analysis of UKIP's Social Media Discourse in Relation to Rurality and Climate Change", Space and Polity, 20(2), pp. 226–241.
  15. ^ "Rees-Mogg elected Brexit Party MEP". BBC News. 27 May 2019. Archived from the original on 31 January 2021. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
  16. ^ "Could Farage's 'Reform Party' carve him a new role in post-Brexit British politics". ConservativeHome. 25 November 2019. Archived from the original on 19 May 2021. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  17. ^ "General election 2019: Farage promises Reform Party after Brexit". BBC News. 8 December 2019. Archived from the original on 22 August 2021. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  18. ^ "Nigel Farage planning to launch new political party". The New European. 6 March 2020. Archived from the original on 10 August 2020. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  19. ^ Skopeliti, Clea (2 November 2020). "Reform UK: Brexit party to rebrand as anti-lockdown voice". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 18 April 2021. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
  20. ^ "Nigel Farage: Brexit Party to focus on fighting lockdown". BBC News. 2 November 2020. Archived from the original on 6 May 2021. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
  21. ^ "Lee Anderson: Ex-Tory MP defects to Reform UK". BBC News. 11 March 2024. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
  22. ^ "Nigel Farage confirms he WILL stand for Reform in election as he becomes party leader". The National. 3 June 2024.