Reform is losing candidates all over the show, which is going to lead to a steady stream of controversies and by-elections

Turquoise images of Farage and one red Farage Reform

Reform UK is set to dramatically increase their number of councillors in the 2026 elections. The party does have a slight problem, however – namely that its operation is a leaky bucket:

Unfortunately for Reform, a growing number of their councillors are now defecting to Restore Britain.https://t.co/UQztZu6wL9

— The London Economic (@LondonEconomic) April 26, 2026

1 in 10 Reform councillors off

For those who are unfamiliar, Restore Britain is a Reform breakaway party. The reason the party’s name is almost identical to ‘Reform UK’ is because the people involved aren’t what you’d call ‘creatives’. What they lack in imagination, however, they make up for with self-victimisation and rampant flag-shaggery:

I am proud to be English – always have been, always will be. On St George’s Day, and every other day.

Never let anyone tell you that pride in our England is shameful, or something to hide.

It is most definitely not.

It is noble. It is natural. It is necessary.

Our compass and… pic.twitter.com/Yubx8AQpNB

— Rupert Lowe MP (@RupertLowe10) April 23, 2026

Their platform is basically Reform+, in that if Farage promises to deport most migrants Lowe goes two steps further:

Just one in six failed asylum seekers have been removed from our country. Under a Restore Britain Government, those who arrived illegally and have had their asylum application rejected will be immediately deported.

But we will be fair.

We’ll deport the successful ones too.

— Rupert Lowe MP (@RupertLowe10) April 27, 2026

Lowe has also hinted at going three steps further:

Deportation is the moderate option. pic.twitter.com/vcOisPkf6v

— Rupert Lowe MP (@RupertLowe10) April 25, 2026

Reporting on the councillors Reform has lost since May 2025, London Economic have reported:

Of the 677 councillors wearing the light blue rosettes on polling day, 74 of them have either resigned, walked away, defected, been expelled, or been suspended from the party – more than 10% of their uptake. Somewhat remarkably, this has more than DOUBLED from the number reported six months ago.

Honestly, it’s not surprising Farage’s party has lost so many candidates given the sort of person whose attracted to Farage’s rhetoric. The following is just some of the Council chaos we’ve reported on:

Unvetted

Polling expert Mark Pack said:

They appear as a rather dysfunctional group of people. If it was only the occasional story, you might think it is growing pains. But the numbers suggest they’re getting something wrong in their vetting and selection process

We think we’ve identified what this vetting problem is; Reform just doesn’t seem to be vetting candidates.

As we reported on 4 April, investigators exposed candidate Brett Muscroft for having racist posts on his Facebook. This wasn’t a private or anonymous Facebook, by the way; this was his main account. And to make things worse, the account remained public even after being exposed.

It’s hard to draw any conclusion from this other than that the party did not vet Muscroft. He’s far from the only problematic candidate of this election campaign either, as we’ve reported:

Sacked, left, defected

Reform is certainly winning elections right now, but it’s bleeding support. Some of these councillors are defecting to Restore; others are too freakish to hold down a council position.

This means Farage’s party is going to constantly be fighting by-elections between now and the next general election. That’s not going to do much for its reputation – especially when these councillors keep getting booted out for liking Adolf Hitler.

Featured image via The Canary

By Willem Moore

From Canary via This RSS Feed.