It aims to democratise the party, poach Tory politicians, and learn from the successes of far-right parties in France and Germany.
Reform’s new chair, businessman Zia Yusuf, was brought in by Mr Farage to reorganise the party after what Mr Yusuf admits was “a scrappy start-up” election beset with scandals over candidates and serious questions over the party’s policies.
In an interview with The Independent he also said:
Reform will allow members to ditch their own leader in a new constitution
It has been inspired by French far-right leader Marine Le Pen doubling her vote in France
People who work for the Conservatives have been in talks about coming over
After Mr Farage declared himself leader of Reform again at the start of the election he publicly ditched elements of policy agreed by former leader (and now fellow MP) Richard Tice on air during an interview with the Today programme. Now it seems he plans to go further.
When the “contract with the people” – so-called because Mr Farage claimed manifestos were considered to be lies – was launched it was lampooned for being “Liz Truss economics on steroids”.
The party promised £140bn in tax cuts including raising the threshold of income tax to £20,000, claiming it could find £156bn in spending cuts. At the time the Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank said Reform’s plans were based on “extremely optimist assumptions” about growth and the sums “do not add up”; the manifesto as a whole was “problematic”.
This story is from the September 02, 2024 edition of The Independent.
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This story is from the September 02, 2024 edition of The Independent.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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