Reform UK’s conference has concluded in Birmingham, with Nigel Farage laying out plans to win the next general election saying “the sky is the limit.”
The leader of Reform wants to democratise the party and have strength at local levels. Farage, who owns 60 per cent of the party, wants to get rid of the limited status and run it as a traditional political party, saying in a video on X: “I am relinquishing control of the company, and indeed of the overall control of the party, it’s now going to be the members, and that, I think, is the right thing, and it’s the right thing because this conference marks the coming of age of Reform UK, and that’s something that I’m very, very excited about.”
Yesterday, the party’s chairman, Zia Yusuf, put the motion to a vote, subsequently changing the party’s structure to a non-profit. This means members now have the power to hold a vote of no-confidence in the leader. To trigger such a vote, over 50 per cent of members have to write to the chairman requesting a ballot, or 50 Reform MPs must do the same. As the party only has five MPs, Farage doesn’t have to worry about the latter for now.
The 60-year-old leader reflected on the recent election, stating that “extremist” candidates had jeopardised their overall chances. Farage emphasised the need for better vetting, as “extremely racist candidates” caused “enormous” damage.
However, with the ambition to unlock the doors to Downing Street in the next election, Farage has outlined steps to convince the public that his party is a real electoral vehicle. He has claimed the party has to be more like the Liberal Democrats in “everything except policy.”
“I never thought I’d say this, but we have to model ourselves on the Liberal Democrats. That doesn’t mean that you’ll see me cascading down waterfalls and I won’t behave in a way that I think is particularly stupid even if others think I do.
“But the Liberal Democrats build branches, the Liberal Democrats win seats at district, county and unitary levels”, he added.
“The Liberal Democrats build on that strength, the Liberal Democrats put literature and leaflets through doors repeatedly in their target areas.
“And despite the fact they haven’t got any policies at all – in fact the whole thing’s really rather vacuous isn’t it – they managed with a vote much lower than ours to win 72 seats in Parliament.”
Farage called on audience members to help build these local groups, even advertising area manager job vacancies, in an effort to become electorally viable. Doncaster, for example, was a location he pinpointed. Reform secured second place in 10 seats across Yorkshire in July’s election and is now targeting areas with coalfield communities.
Reform UK is set to hold events in Wales, Scotland, and across the English regions as it aims for representation in the Senedd and local councils. The North East and South West regions were within Reform’s eye as it concluded their party conference.
