Reform UK and the Mainstreaming of Far-Right Discourse

Mirroring trends in the United States, the UK has become increasingly polarised along lines of culture and politics. Far right movements have gained significant ground as the Overton window has shifted away from the political centre, normalising rhetoric that was once considered extreme. In the UK, the Reform Party is at the heart of this shift as they continue to campaign on issues such as immigration, national sovereignty and opposition to what they term as “woke” politics. With their ideas being platformed by the mainstream media they have been able to shape political discourse and stamp influence on the Labour Government’s policy agenda. 

With the Reform Party leading both the Conservatives and Labour in the polls, there is a strong possibility of them forming the next government. Concerns continue to grow about what this would mean for the UK, because the Reform party and the far right have become increasingly synonymous with the kind of divisive politics that defines Trump’s America. Nigel Farage has adopted a political strategy that strongly ascribes to Trumpism, and the wider far right in the UK has mobilised around issues imported from American culture wars. Discourse around ‘wokeness’, free speech, immigration and religion has become increasingly American in character.

The Americanisation of the far right in the UK, therefore, is an ongoing process whose influence is becoming more apparent as there has been an erosion of the boundaries between extreme and mainstream politics by normalising imported culture-war rhetoric. This has been driven by a variety of forces in the political and media landscape. The Reform Party is one of the key driving forces, particularly when it comes to the issue of immigration. The climate crisis, global conflicts and global inequality mean that immigration will always be at the forefront of political discourse. There are many arguments on both sides of the immigration debate and it is not inherently wrong to advocate for less or more controlled levels of immigration. But it is how these arguments are framed that matters. When presented through fear, cultural grievance, and criminality, exclusionary narratives are reinforced, which sows even more division.

Trump’s Immigration Agenda and Its Political Impact

Central to Donald Trump’s electoral success in the 2016 Presidential election was his pledge to build a barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border and to enforce stricter controls on immigration. ”Build the wall” became a prominent slogan of the 2016 Presidential election. His first Presidential term saw travel bans on predominantly Muslim countries and anti immigrant rhetoric that framed all illegal immigrants as criminals. During his second term he has intensified this rhetoric and has implemented even more extreme measures, further reflecting the shifting Overton window. In March 2025, the Trump administration invoked the U.S. Alien Enemies Act to deport dozens of Venezuelan immigrants to El Salvador. They were detained in a notorious mega-prison used for the country’s most dangerous criminals. In 2025 immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) significantly intensified its enforcement operations, with large-scale workplace raids and neighborhood sweeps becoming a regular occurrence. This has perpetuated a culture of fear in America.

These policies and actions have become a model for Nigel Farage and his party who also advocate for hardline immigration policies, frequently using similar rhetoric regarding mass deportations and border control. In some instances Farage is outright copying Trump’s policies. For example, in July last year, he announced that any future Reform UK government would try to send prisoners overseas to complete their sentences- including to El Salvador. Given the UK’s lack of geographical and political ties to El Salvador, Farage’s proposal appears symbolic, designed to emulate Trump’s, spectacle-driven immigration policies rather than reflect a practical plan. This can also be seen through his party’s pledge to deport up to 600,000 people over a five-year parliamentary term, which has been dubbed as Operation Restoring Justice. This plan feels strikingly similar to Trump’s ICE raids as it includes detaining anyone who arrives illegally (including children) in disused military bases.

The significant rise of Farage’s party has seen the Conservative Party also adopting a Trump style policy agenda as they confront the reality that, as in the U.S., the center appears to have disappeared. During the Conservative Party conference last year, Kemi Badenoch pledged to deploy a new “removals force” with powers to detain and remove 150,000 undocumented migrants, with her top team crediting the U.S. president’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency as their inspiration. This clearly demonstrates that American style approaches to key political issues are growing in influence. Given the recent events surrounding ICE this is a serious cause for concern. 

On 7 January 2026, 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent in Minneapolis. Despite video footage clearly suggesting otherwise, the Trump administration has justified the actions of the agent by saying that Good tried to run over the officer. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem claimed that as she drove away from ICE officers, she “weaponised her car” in a “domestic terror attack”. This brutal campaign of intimidating immigrants also has severe consequences for American citizens. If a campaign with similar aims were to happen here under a Conservative or Reform government  it would raise serious concerns about the expansion of state power, the erosion of civil liberties.

Importing US Culture-War Debates into the UK

Another policy debate that has been imported from America by the Reform Party is DEI. American culture war narratives around ‘wokeness’ and diversity are beginning to frame debates and policies about equality and inclusion in the UK. In the early stages of Trump’s second Presidential term there was significant backlash against DEI programmes in government and the private sector, with executive actions aimed at restricting diversity and equity initiatives across federal agencies and contractors. Trump even went as far as blaming DEI on a deadly plane crash in Washington DC early last year. It was not too long after this that the Reform Party started to attack DEI, despite it not technically existing in the UK. What was previously discussed under the UK legal term EDI (equality, diversity, and inclusion) has increasingly been framed in the American-imported language of DEI and culture-war critique.

Other far right figures in the UK like Tommy Robinson who held a “Unite the Kingdom” rally are also becoming more American in their tactics and discourse. Despite this rally supposedly being about English patriotism and national identity, Robinson used it to honour US right-wing activist Charlie Kirk and the South African billionaire Elon Musk joined via video link encouraging violence and further division. Tommy Robinson was also supportive of “Operation Raise the Colours“, a campaign that encouraged the public display of the UK’s national flags, particularly the St. George’s Cross and the Union Jack. The campaign saw activists tying flags to lampposts and street furniture, and in some cases, painting red crosses on roundabouts and zebra crossings. This campaign borrows directly from American tactics and symbolism. 

The UK is heading further away from the centre towards the right and is on a similar trajectory to America. Nonetheless, the fundamental differences in political structures between the UK and the US places limits on how far this trajectory can be replicated.