The biggest direct beneficiaries of such a change would be the high-income taxpayers who currently pay substantially more in income tax than in the rest of the UK
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But this does not properly confront the challenges they would face in finding £2 billion or more of spending cuts in the coming parliament.
Here is a list of the councillors which Reform has shed from the May 2025 local elections. The latest updates are the addition of three more defections in Cornwall, reinforcing Reform’s loss of largest party status on the council, plus also another three expulsions in Kent. Plus bonus news from Grantham…
Labour are attempting to take the fight to Reform UK, with Keir Starmer describing the rival party’s proposal to scrap indefinite leave to remain as “racist”, while home secretary Shabana Mahmood has branded Nigel Farage of “worse than racist” dog-whistle politics.
A new YouGov survey conducted for ITV Peston finds that more than four in ten Britons consider the Reform UK party (47%), policies (46%) and voters (43%) to be “generally racist”. This compares to 35-36% in each case who disagree, believing them to generally not be racist.
Analysis of polling data shows party competes directly with Labour in poorer heartlands
Support for Reform UK has surged in areas with higher rates of child poverty, underlining the rightwing populist party’s potential to connect with disillusioned voters in Labour’s heartlands.
A Financial Times analysis of election projections by pollster More in Common shows the vast majority of constituencies where Reform is expected to perform well have higher than average child poverty rates.
Low donations reflect leader Nigel Farage’s difficulty in capitalising on party’s political momentum and polling lead
Reform UK secured less than £1mn in new funding in the first quarter of this year, a smaller figure than previously known, as the party struggles to expand its donor base beyond a handful of longtime backers.
Headline figures for political donations suggested Reform pulled in close to £1.5mn in the first three months of 2025, but £613,000 of that figure reflected the conversion of historic loans into donations, the party said.
The loans were from Tisun Investments Limited, a company owned by Richard Tice, Reform’s deputy leader and one of its five MPs, who has for years been a primary funding source for the rightwing populist party.
Nigel Farage says his party is a break from the political establishment. That claim doesn’t match up with its donors
Reform has received almost £5m from wealthy donors since 2023, including those with links to fossil fuels, the financial services industry and tax havens, openDemocracy can reveal.
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But what does the £4.8m of donations tell us about Reform’s aims, especially if it were to win office at the next general election? openDemocracy analysed the past 18 months of donations data to shed light on who is donating to the party – and where their interests lie.
Our findings reveal that, despite claiming to represent a break with the current political establishment, Reform is largely funded by ex-Tory donors, who account for around a quarter of the £4.8m it has received in large donations (only those who give £11,180 or more in a year need to be declared to the Electoral Commission) since 2023.
We also found that Reform has an unusually high number of overseas backers with links to tax havens, which the party has publicly stated is part of its fundraising strategy.
Exposing Farage and the far-right political party he leads
Nigel Farage claims he wants to take back control for working people. But Reform UK is a far-right political party run by City traders and fuelled by millionaires. We’re shining a light on their shadowy practices.
Nigel Farage’s Reform refuses to tell people whether it has their data and doesn’t delete it when they ask. We’re challenging Reform so it respects data law.
When we gave people tools to find out what data political parties were holding on them in the run-up to the general election, Nigel Farage’s Reform UK was by far the worst, ignoring the vast majority of requests.
Not only did Reform fail to respond to requests for the data that they hold on individuals – as all organisations that hold data on individuals are required to do by law – but they also refused to delete that data.
No organisation, especially a political party, should be allowed to ignore fundamental data rights.
