Reform Derby is a British

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

based in

Derby, Derbyshire Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area on the River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original county town. As a unitary authority, Derby is administratively independent from Derbyshire Coun ...

. It was founded in 2020 by a group of five Brexit Party councillors on

Derby City Council Derby City Council is the Local government in England, local authority for the City status in the United Kingdom, city of Derby, in the ceremonial county of Derbyshire in the East Midlands region of England. Derby has had a council from medieval ...

. Although it serves as the local affiliate of

Reform UK Reform UK is a right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. Nigel Farage has been Leader of Reform UK and Richard Tice deputy leader since 2024. It has five members of Parliament (MPs) in the House of Commons and one membe ...

, it is a separate entity.

History

2023 elections

In the lead up to the

2023 Derby City Council election The 2023 Derby City Council election took place on 4 May 2023 to elect all 51 members of Derby City Council in Derbyshire, England. This was on the same day as other local elections across England. New ward boundaries were drawn up for this el ...

one of the party's 51 candidates Russell Armstrong gave an interview to ''Derby News'' outlining party positions. Armstrong claimed that the Derby city council was not operating within "common sense" for supporting high density housing projects in city's downtown despite the development being an entirely private venture as well as praising that there was no local Reform

whip A whip is a blunt weapon or implement used in a striking motion to create sound or pain. Whips can be used for flagellation against humans or animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain, or be used as an audible cue thro ...

, meaning each elected Reform Derby member is free to express their own opinions and vote their conscience. ''Derby News'', however, criticized the party's 2023 "contract" for not being a typical

manifesto A manifesto is a written declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party, or government. A manifesto can accept a previously published opinion or public consensus, but many prominent ...

, and for largely overlapping with the 2018

UKIP The UK Independence Party (UKIP, ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), member ...

manifesto and for including a statement criticizing that housing was "now unavailable to Derby born residents" which Armstrong denied, as he wasn't born in Derby, as well as refusing to differentiate illegal immigrants and asylum seekers. ''Derby News'' claimed that Reform Derby advocating for "Derby Born" residents constituted "hate speech." In the election the party elected six councillors: *Alan Graves *John Evans *Kirk Kus *Alan Lindsey *Stephen Fowke *Timothy Prosser Its candidates were the only Reform councillors to be elected in the entire country in that years local elections. In May 2023, the party's leader, Alan Graves, was elected

Mayor of Derby Names of the Mayors for the Borough of Derby from the first that was chosen on 3 July 1638 by the king's charter then granted to the town. The two last bailiffs were the two first mayors, Mr Mellor being proclaimed 3 July 1638 to be the mayor u ...

, beating the Labour Party candidate by 1 vote. That party's councillors, 23 of the total of 51, walked out of the council chamber in protest.

References

{{Reform UK Locally based political parties in England Right-wing parties in the United Kingdom Reform UK Politics of Derby