Nigel Farage and Reform hold significant devolved power

As Reform UK arrives in Birmingham on Friday for its annual conference, thousands of members – and a notably large press pack – will be following Nigel Farage’s every move. The party’s small cohort of MPs will be the focus of attention, while visitors from other parties like Michael Gove and Jacob Rees-Mogg, and any potential defectors, will make headlines.

But beyond Farage and his parliamentary colleagues, Reform UK now has a growing cohort of other representatives to whom the Institute for Government will be paying particular attention.

Since the party last held an annual conference it has secured outright majorities in 10 local authorities and won two regional mayor contests. In many parts of the country, Reform UK has moved from being a party of opposition to a party of government, with many candidates making the transition to local leadership having made a virtue of their lack of previous political experience.

Reform UK won outright majorities in Kent, Durham, Lancashire, Doncaster, Derbyshire, Staffordshire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. In other parts of the country the party is attempting to govern as a minority – including at Warwickshire County Council where George Finch has taken the helm at just 19 years old. Luke Campbell, a former boxer, is now Reform UK’s metro mayor in Hull and East Yorkshire, while former Conservative MP Andrea Jenkyns won in Lincolnshire.

How can Reform UK transition from a party of opposition to government?

Across the country, Reform UK politicians now have the opportunity to take decisions on local services – like planning, housing, waste collection and local taxation administration – for millions of English voters. So how can they make a success of the transition to power? How can they use devolved powers to improve economic and social outcomes in their regions? And how should Reform UK’s local leaders work with the Labour government in Westminster?

These are the questions the Institute will be asking at our fringe event at the Reform UK conference on Friday morning. Our panel, which will feature Linden Kemkaran, the leader of Kent County Council, and Gawain Towler, the party’s former head of press, will explore how Reform’s local leaders can govern most effectively, and how the party plans to use its newly-acquired council and mayoral platforms. Does the party believe the mayoral model can succeed? Where does it stand on Labour’s ambitious Local Government Reorganisation plans? And how will the public's voting intentions at the next general election be shaped by its experience of Reform UK in government?

Our fringe discussion will be informed by our research and thinking about devolution and local government. For nearly two decades, the IfG has produced analysis and recommendations designed to support places to make a success of sub-national government. We have provided advice to mayoral authorities on how to set themselves up to meet the expectations of voters. And since the general election in 2024, we have looked closely at how local areas can handle the parallel processes of local government reorganisation while also taking on more devolved powers and trying to deliver services in the face of tight budgets.

Running a mayoral office or leading a council are jobs that come without a training manual. That is why sharing experience of what works, and having frank conversations about what doesn't is so essential for local leaders determined to deliver the public services, build the houses, and provide the jobs their voters need.