Reform UK votes to give members more control

Reform UK’s conference has voted to give members more control over the party’s policies and leadership.

A resolution to approve Reform UK’s new constitution was passed by a show of hands at the party’s conference in Birmingham.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage signed the document on stage after the vote.

“We have come of age and we are a properly constituted party,” Farage said.

Reform won 14% of the vote at July’s general election and has a foothold in Parliament with five MPs, including Farage.

Reform was founded as a private limited company, with Farage holding the majority of shares.

But two months after its first MPs were elected, Reform UK is overhauling how it is run, with Farage claiming he is “giving ownership of the party and the big decisions over to the members”.

For the first time at its conference, members voted on a policy motion to adopt a new constitution, which sets out party rules and the responsibilities of the leadership.

In his conference speech on Friday, Farage said the party needed to be more “professional”.

The party’s chairman Zia Yusuf put the new constitution to a vote on the conference floor on Saturday.

He said the party would become a not-for-profit organisation governed by the party’s new rulebook, with no shareholders.

Only a few people in the crowd raised their hands to vote against the party rulebook.

Under the new constitution, the party’s board and the leader are responsible for setting policy, with input from members at conferences.

But members will be able to remove Farage – or any other party leader – in a no-confidence vote.

A vote can be triggered if 50% of all members write to the chairman requesting a motion of no confidence.

Reform MPs can also force a vote if 50 of them, or 50% of them, write to the chairman requesting one. But this only applies if there are more than 100 Reform MPs in Parliament – a high bar.