By Elizabeth Piper and Andrew MacAskill
LONDON (Reuters) -Nigel Farage’s populist Reform UK kicks off a conference on Friday the Brexit veteran hopes will underline the growing popularity and sway of a party enjoying a double-digit poll lead over the Labour government.
The two-day, sold-out conference in the English city of Birmingham, headlined “The Next Step”, will see more than 10,000 attendees take part in an event Farage says shows Reform is “on the march, and the sky is the limit for this movement”, ready to take power at an election due in 2029.
Despite having only four lawmakers in the 650-strong British parliament, Farage is becoming increasingly confident that a party that was on the fringes for three years until last year can beat both Labour and the Conservatives, taking the initiative over Britain’s two main parties on every issue from immigration to free speech.
Membership numbers have grown to almost 240,000, at least 10 former Conservative lawmakers have defected to Reform and his right-wing party has nudged the Labour government to become more strident in its efforts to control illegal immigration.
“Make no mistake, Reform UK has all the momentum in British politics,” Farage said in the forward to his party’s conference agenda. “It’s time for us to take the next step as a party.”
Since the 61-year-old former commodities trader became leader in June last year, Reform has seen its influence rise, taking control of 12 local councils and creating the machinery to professionalise a party once better known for candidates making reported racist or offensive remarks.
Loved or loathed after being instrumental in winning the 2016 Brexit referendum to get Britain out of the European Union, Farage knows how to campaign and says by bolstering his team of officials, the party will be a fighting force well before 2029.
IMMIGRATION, FREE SPEECH
Farage has led the running against Britain’s traditional two mainstream parties on immigration, unveiling – when Prime Minister Keir Starmer was on holiday – a plan to repeal human rights laws to allow for mass deportations of asylum seekers.
Despite analysts questioning the legality of those plans, they seemingly prodded the government into beefing up its own plans to tackle the high numbers of arrivals by promising to toughen the rules for family members to join refugees.
Farage has also orchestrated a debate about freedom of speech in Britain, criticising arrests of people for making comments on social media deemed to incite violence.
A friend of Donald Trump, Farage went to Washington this week to urge U.S. politicians to persuade Britain to put an end to what he called a North Korea-style clampdown on free speech, before visiting the U.S. leader in his Oval Office.
Starmer called out Farage for going to Washington to criticise Britain, calling this “unpatriotic”.
Reform UK has yet to command the high level of political donations the two main parties do and, apart from a housebuilding company featured on the conference agenda, it was not clear how many business representatives would attend.
Reform officials say they get much of their revenue from the high number of members. But in terms of donations, the party received 2.8 million pounds ($3.78 million) in the first six months of this year, compared with more than 5 million to Labour and more than 6 million raised by the Conservatives.
Yet by headlining the conference “The Next Step”, Reform leaders suggest there is more to be done to broaden Reform’s appeal.
“Looking forward to seeing you all as we take THE NEXT STEP to government,” David Bull, Reform chairman, said on X. “This is the moment we build to being the Party of Government.”
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(Reporting by Elizabeth Piper and Andrew MacAskill; editing by Mark Heinrich)
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