[Epoch Times September 25, 2024](Reported by Epoch Times reporter Xu Jian) This is a rare scene in the serious and old-fashioned British political arena: music accompaniment, balloons falling, fireworks spraying… This is the first large-scale annual meeting of the up-and-coming Reform UK (hereinafter referred to as the “Reform Party”) in Birmingham.
At its annual conference on September 20-21, Reform Party leader Nigel Farage said his party had passed its adolescence and was now “adulthood”.
The party’s goals are clear: to reform its organizational structure, absorb a large number of party members, win multiple seats in local elections next year, and send Farage to 10 Downing Street in 2029 to become the next British Prime Minister.
The predecessor of the Reform Party was the Brexit Party, which was founded by Farage in 2019. The Brexit Party rose rapidly that year and won 29 of the 73 seats in the European Parliament elections in May 2019, becoming the largest political party in the European Parliament.
In 2020, the Brexit Party changed its name to the Reform Party. However, the party has never become an important political force in the UK, and Farage himself has lost seven elections as a Member of the British Parliament (MP).
Finally, in the general election in July, the Reform Party broke through and won 14% of the votes, becoming the third largest party in the UK with the most votes. Farage himself was elected as a member of Parliament.
But due to the UK’s “winner-takes-all” electoral system, the Reform Party only won five seats, but this also broke the previous record.
“Seriously considering becoming the next ruling party”
In its early days as a limited company, Farage overhauled the party’s structure as it moved toward becoming a professional party, returning ownership to members, passing a constitution that made it a non-profit organization and empowering members to participate in politics.
The party said it already has about 200 local branches and is training local leaders to open more, which will focus on campaigning in targeted areas ahead of local elections in May next year.
“We are seriously considering becoming the next ruling party. The new constitution and structure will take on this mission,” Reform Party chairman Zia Yusuf told the BBC.
Zia Yusuf, chairman of the Reform Party, speaks at its annual conference in Birmingham on September 20. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
Yusuf is a young entrepreneur who sold his tech start-up for more than £200m last year and is a major financial backer of the Reform Party.
He also revealed that some members of the Conservative Party have expressed interest in joining the Reform Party, and said he is still in talks with potential donors.
According to the party’s report, the Reform Party received £2.6m in donations between April and June this year, far behind Labour (£28.7m) and the Conservatives (£16.3m).
Controversial political ideas
The party’s important policies include immigration, tax cuts and reform of the UK National Health Service. Among them, curbing immigration is the party’s main card, proposing a temporary halt to “non-essential immigration.”
A senior party insider said opposition to “net zero” emissions is likely to be an important position for the party at the next general election.
Although the Reform Party portrays itself as a mainstream party and plans to win the next general election, many of its conservative values have been portrayed as “extremist” by some media.
For example, at the annual conference, Reform Party Chief Whip Lee Anderson said in his speech, “I want to take back my country,” and he accused the mainstream media of biased reporting.
He also criticised school education in his speech, saying that schools misled children about gender transition, and that immigrants arriving in the UK on small boats were “breaking into our country”.
Meanwhile, MP Rupert Lowe took aim at the transgender issue, saying it was a mental health issue for young people.
The Reform Party’s first day of events was packed, with the five MPs and other speakers receiving warm applause from the audience.
According to a recent poll by JL Partners, a quarter of Labour voters are considering supporting the Reform Party.
The next general election is still a long way off, there are many variables, and nothing is set in stone.
Editor in charge: Lin Yan#
