Nigel Farage’s party Reform UK has just unveiled its election pledges to voters for the first time, but it has not landed well online.
The right-wing party has attracted plenty of press attention ever since Farage performed a major U-turn and announced he was taking over as leader and would be standing to be MP in Clacton.
Set up in 2018, Reform, formerly the Brexit Party, secured zero seats in the 2019 general election, and its only MP in the last parliament was Tory defector Lee Anderson.
Since announcing he was standing for parliament for the eighth time, Farage has had objects thrown at him twice – first in Clacton, where he was splashed with a McDonald’s milkshake, and then in northern England while on the campaign trail.
However, his party – which is actually a privately owned company – has recently surged in the polls, even gaining a one point lead over the Conservatives according to one survey from YouGov.
As the party appear to be splitting the traditional Conservative vote, Reform’s supposed “contract” to the public – also known as an election manifesto – has faced heightened publicity.
It included plans to massively increase spending while also cutting taxes, as well as pulling the UK out of the European Convention on Human Rights and freezing all “non-essential” immigration.
That hasn’t really worked out in Reform’s favour though, judging from the social media response.
Many users criticised the party for not having a core message, and suggested it was a childish piece of work.
Others unpicked some policies in the “contract” – and were less than impressed with what they found.
While some thought the entire presentation was far from a joke..