Is Reform ready to take The Next Step? 

Michael Dowsett, Associate Director 
10/09/2025

Over 10,000 delegates gathered in Birmingham for Reform’s party conference last Friday and Saturday, capping off a remarkable year for the party in which it won the English local elections, gained a seemingly safe Labour seat in a by-election, tripled its membership, and has now led in over 100 consecutive opinion polls.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Reform members and newly minted councillors in attendance at the NEC were in a celebratory mood. The event was, unusually for those used to attending Labour and Conservative party conferences, a member-dominated affair, with many businesses opting to send a limited delegation to ‘sniff the air’ and try and find out – following a year of dominating the headlines – who the key players are and what the growing influence of Reform could mean for them.

There were only a smattering of organisations manning an exhibition stand, and the fringe was dominated by Reform-adjacent think tanks and campaign groups, as well as a decent representation of pollsters reading the runes on what might happen at the next general election. Yet, Reform will be pleased they bagged Heathrow as their business lounge sponsor; another successful electoral cycle next May will surely see a more visible corporate presence this time next year.

Taking place under the banner ‘The Next Step’, it was clear from Nigel Farage’s speeches (of which there were three on the main stage across the two days) what this headline means in practice: ensuring the party is ready to fight devolved and local elections again next spring (including recruiting around 5,000 candidates), and getting the policies and personnel in place so that Reform is ready to fight a general election which Farage believes could now come as early as 2027.

Reform wants Parliamentary candidates in place next year – a timetable which will focus the minds of any Conservative MPs considering defecting – and it was announced that Zia Yusuf will take up a new role as Head of Policy. Despite having only four MPs, there are also signs that a Reform frontbench is starting to take shape, helping provide points of focus for organisations wishing to support policy development. Lee Anderson is now the party’s work and welfare spokesman, and expect prominent voices in the party’s ‘Britain is Lawless’ campaign over the summer, including Sarah Pochin MP and Westminster councillor Laila Cunningham, to continue to be front and centre on issues such as crime and immigration.

Farage’s commitment to bring in outside talent to help fill a Reform Cabinet also raises the prospect of organisations having to engage with frontbench spokespeople who, in the interim at least, are outside of Parliament all together.

At an Atticus roundtable event held on Monday, Deputy Leader Richard Tice MP called on the group of cross-sector representatives in attendance to provide their own ideas on what the barriers are to growth in their industry, and the accompanying policy solutions, with a focus on cutting red tape and unnecessary regulation. This is indicative of that fact that, in a whole range of areas, from transport to skills, policy development is currently confined to a few headline pledges. Even in areas where more detail has been offered, such as the flagship ‘detain and deport’ policy on illegal immigration, questions around implementation remain.

Whether it’s the Conservatives before 2010, or Labour in the 2022-4 period, we’ve been used over recent decades to parties likely to enter government having a clear direction of travel, and clear policy proposals, across a range of areas, drawn on established ideological preferences, experience in government, and a depth of talent in Parliament. It is a sign of the volatile nature of the current political climate that Reform is – albeit at this early stage of the Parliament – in the same position without any of these advantages.

Yet this also offers a once in a political generation opportunity for those with expertise to shape thinking. Organisations who make the most of this will be those who don’t wait for another year to pass before dipping their toes in the water next time conference season rolls around, but who start to engage intently and consistently with those in Reform who are driving policy development – and where relevant already holding power in Mayoralties and councils – in the coming months.