Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party has applied to the Electoral Commission to change its name to Reform UK.
The party contested 275 seats and took 2 per cent of votes but did not succeed in electing an MP in the 2019 general election.
It will now broaden its agenda to include coronavirus and seek “reform” in other areas.
According to reports in The Daily Telegraph it will initially hone its focus around the government’s lockdown policies, which Farage has spoken out against today.
Talking to the paper he will declare “lockdowns don’t work” and say their new party will back a “focused protection” policy to protect only the most vulnerable to allow the rest of the population to develop herd immunity.
Reform UK hopes to stand a slate of candidates at next May’s elections – when the Tories are contesting thousands of shire seats – as well as policing and crime commissioner elections, and the next general election, expected by 2024.
“We are showing the courage needed to take on consensus thinking and vested interests on Covid. But there are so many areas of public life that can be improved to benefit ordinary people. That is why we will campaign for Reform,” Farage said.
