Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary

Video interview and excerpts

So, Alex, tell us about Reform UK

“There has always been an entity a bit like Reform. Back in the day I was UKIP's head of media.

“Then essentially the forces had to recalibrate back, after we'd been successful in winning the Referendum, to make sure that it was delivered. And I was then part of the Brexit Party. I was elected to the European Parliament after we successfully left the EU and thought that we could leave the political playing field.

“The Brexit Party was essentially put on ice, changed again, rebranded into Reform UK, and it's been quietly behind the scenes building and growing and starting to develop.”

“I'm delighted to say the party is already polling around 10% and that's with limited outputs. We're nipping at the heels of the Liberal Democrats who have been around for a very long time.”

Does Reform UK see itself on the left-right political spectrum?

“It does not, and I think the mistake is always made when an entity such as Reform pops up is that it must therefore be on the right - it must therefore split the conservative vote.

“But tracing that lineage all the way back to the early 2010s, when you look at UKIP and where they garnered their vote, 1/3 was from the Labour Party, 1/3 from the Conservatives and 1/3, crucially, was from disenchanted voters who had never voted before.”

Where does Reform stand on tax, law and order, immigration, defence?

“We have the highest levels of tax since World War Two and there isn't really much of an agenda for growth economics.”

“Reform wants to massively simplify the taxation system and make it far more competitive so we attract the brightest and the best.”

“We have a commitment to growth economics which no other party is really proposing.”

The government is proposing to increase corporation tax from its current level of 19% to 25%. Does Reform have a policy on that?

“It was announced just recently that AstraZeneca, which is an Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company, who everyone is very familiar with for the vaccine rollout in the UK, has decided to headquarter their operation in Ireland. Why? Because Ireland has a hugely competitive corporation tax.

“It's utterly vital we cut corporation tax… critically and crucially for small and medium sized enterprises out there who have been constantly overlooked.”

“We're definitely not going to go up to 25%. We want to bring it back down to 19% and further again still, because I think that we need to start looking at how we can undercut some of the big competitors on our doorsteps, and as a sovereign nation show that we're able to come out with strategies to attract businesses here and retain them.”

Freedom of expression, cancel culture, wokery - where does the Reform Party stand?

“The culture wars are becoming a huge part of political debates now… Reform has the benefit of not being beholden to any sort of embedded political correctness. It's not going to tie itself in knots like the Labour Party, who essentially exorcise and excommunicate any daring soul in their party.”

“It's not just about these big top line debates that we see echoed in the press and echoed on Twitter. But what's happening fundamentally in schools as well, where children are essentially being brainwashed and indoctrinated at an early age.”

“You're hearing plenty of stories about children who come home from school and their parents find out that their teachers have been labelling them with a different name and gender the whole time without consultation.”

“Teachers feel completely at liberty to impose their personal political viewpoints on children and tell them that Brexit's wrong… Children are being told there's white privilege and colonialism is all evil, and the British Empire was nothing but bad. And so there really has to be a concerted approach to getting hold of what is being taught in class.”

What does the Reform Party propose to do about this?

“I think we've got to start leaning towards a position where there is nothing taught to children in schools without parental consent, that parents get to look at the curriculum when it comes to personal education, sex education and so forth, and get to have a say on whether they want their children involved in those sorts of lessons.”

“You then have schools in parts of Yorkshire, for example, or Lancashire, where essentially religious indoctrination and extremism from minor religions is taking hold.”

“It’s quite clear that schools have become a law unto themselves.”

Does Reform have any views about the cancel culture going on?

“All of our policy, like most parties, is still in development. So I don't want to say anything that isn't then going to be completely different in the manifesto next year.”

“I think it's fair to say that when you've got publicly funded bodies, whether it's museums, art galleries, theatres, then it's only right that the government should play a hand in saying that we do not want to see cancel culture in these spaces.”

“The government does have a a role and a responsibility to make sure that our national heritage and our cultures, values and social worries are fundamentally protected.”