PA
Reform UK has kicked off its party conference with suggestions that it could win the next general election.
The party, which secured five seats at this year’s general election, is set to begin its two-day conference in Birmingham with speeches from party leader Nigel Farage, deputy leader Richard Tice, chairman Zia Yousuf and MPs Lee Anderson, Rupert Lowe and James McMurdock.
Mr Anderson, Reform’s chief whip, is expected to target significant gains at next year’s local elections and general election victory in 2029 in his conference address on Friday afternoon.
He will say: “We have five MPs and we are growing our membership and support every day. Next year we will win hundreds of council seats across the UK.
“We must take this fight to Parliament so we can take back control of our country and in 2029 win the general election.”
It’s a message Farage has echoed too.
Mr Anderson was Reform’s first MP after he joined the party in March following his suspension from the Conservatives over “Islamophobic” comments about London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
James McMurdock, whose victory in South Basildon and East Thurrock was an unexpected gain for Reform, will also talk up the party’s prospects in five years, saying the 2029 conference will be “ready to welcome prime minister Nigel Farage”.
Mr Farage will also address the conference on Friday, issuing “a clarion call for change”.
The conference comes a day after he announced he was giving up ownership of Reform UK.
Unlike other political parties, Reform is a limited company of which Mr Farage is the majority shareholder.
But on Thursday, he announced he was changing the ownership structure so the party was owned by its members, saying: “I no longer need to control this party.”
He also found himself embroiled in a row after claiming parliamentary security had told him not to hold in-person surgeries in his Clacton constituency due to safety concerns.
The PA news agency understands there is no record of this advice being given to Mr Farage by either the Speaker’s Office or Parliament’s security team, while sources denied such advice had been given as it would interfere with an MP’s democratic duties.
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