Right-wing populist politician Nigel Farage believes the Reform Party is capable of transforming the UK's party spectrum in the coming years and competing for the space currently occupied by the Conservative Party.
Speaking to Lusa, Farage pointed this out He has a six-year plan to promote “right-wing reorganization” in the countrycurrently dominated by the “Conservatives” (Conservatives) led by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Farage resigned, after the victory of the Labor Party (the main force of the British opposition) in the legislative elections on July 4, taking into account its lead of 20 percentage points in the opinion polls. The honorary president of the British Reform Party (Reform UK, (former Brexit Party), is planning steps. next.
In the short term, the politician hopes that Reform UK can meet expectations, electing and increasing representation in the House of Commons (the lower house of parliament) behind Lee Anderson, who defected from the Conservative Party. He told Lusa: “I don’t know how many there are, but we will elect representatives.” However, Opinion polls are not favourable. The percentage of voting intentions currently stands at about 12%, which is insufficient, according to analysts, to elect representatives.
More recently, in May's legislative by-election, the Reformists absorbed some votes from the Conservatives and finished third in the Blackpool South constituency.
Right-wing populist anti-immigration and environmental policies attract a large number of voters in northern and central England. The main challenge is the simple electoral majority system, which favors the major parties. The UK reform calls for a move to a proportional representation system, which gives more opportunities to small parties.
Another major hurdle is convincing voters not to listen to Rishi Sunak's argument that voting for parties other than the Conservatives would help elect Labor leader Keir Starmer as prime minister.
Nigel Farage believes that as the election approaches, “when they realize that the Conservatives have no chance of winning,” they will seize the opportunity on the reformists.
Assuming that there are still a large number of dissatisfied supporters of Brexit, then Farage hopes that the UK Reform Party will become “the voice of opposition to the Labor government over the next five years.”.
The former MEP, considered one of the masterminds behind the UK's exit from the European Union, intends to take advantage of instability within the Conservative Party to assert himself as the right-wing opposition in Parliament.
How Brussels is experiencing the UK's departure (and the visit to Farage's crowded office)
“After Brexit, I decided to change the name of the party [do Brexit] “Reform is inspired by the Reform Party of Canada,” he told Losa.
Canadian reformers played an important role in the creation of the Canadian Alliance in 2000, and the demise of the Progressive Conservative Party. The latter two parties merged in 2003 into the current Conservative Party of Canada, which came to power three years later, in 2006, and did not lose to the Liberals led by current Prime Minister Justin Trudeau until 2015.
after He admitted he was open to “talking” to conservatives In statements to the newspaper the sun This week, Nigel Farage recoil He claimed he was being sarcastic.
In the UK's legislative elections on July 4, called by Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, on May 22, 650 seats in the House of Commons will be at stake. The Conservative Party has been in power since 2010.
