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EXPERT COMMENT

Although a focus on migration has delivered political momentum for Reform, the party needs clearer answers on the UK’s new security challenges.

Britain’s Reform UK party held its party conference last week. Founded as the Brexit Party in 2018, Reform has moved on from its early focus on the UK–EU relationship to set out a wider right-wing populist policy platform and seeks to present itself as a future party of government.

Prior to last year’s election, that seemed a distant prospect. But the party now has four MPs – on par with the left-wing Green Party but still far behind the Liberal Democrats. Over the summer, Reform had significant wins in local elections and has climbed in polls on voting intention – hitting 31 per cent in some polling aggregates in September. Much could change in the four years before the next election – but the prospect of Reform forming a government, or being part of one, is more likely than it was 18 months ago before the July 2024 election.

Reform’s main focus is migration, which has led UK headlines over the summer. But the first year of the current UK Labour government has been dominated by broader foreign affairs issues, including the Trump administration’s reluctance to underwrite European security, the war in Ukraine, and the challenge of spending more on defence (and more effectively). The pillars of UK foreign policy have also changed – particularly as the US becomes a less reliable security partner.  A future Reform government would need answers to these challenges. The question is, does it have them?

Click here to continue reading the full version of this Expert Comment on the Chatham House website.