What does the rise of Reform UK mean for the impact sector? 6 things you need to know.

Nigel Farage’s Reform UK are on the rise.

Recent local elections saw the party gain almost exactly as many council seats as the Conservatives lost. They now control 10 councils in areas the Conservatives traditionally dominate.

What does this mean for the impact sector? This is a question we need to be asking now for the years ahead, not just when the next General Election rolls around.

Here are 6 key things you need to know:

1. Reform UK voters aren’t unique

YouGov polling shows that voters who have switched to Reform UK are not motivated solely by concerns about Brexit and immigration, but by similar priorities to other voters: the economy, winter fuel allowance, and cost of living.

Polls tell us these are voters who are worried about the state of the economy and what it means for their bills, but don’t see an answer in either of the main political parties.

2. Reform UK have set out their key priorities

As a party of opposition, Reform UK have been able to be relatively high-level about their solutions to the challenges facing the nation.

What we have heard around the local elections is:

• A focus on cost savings: Nigel Farage has said he wants to see ‘a DOGE in every county’. Referencing Elon Musk’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ cuts in the US, Reform UK sees cuts to local government spending as an opportunity to improve funding for council services.
• Cuts to local net zero and DEI initiatives: Newly elected Reform UK councillor and former GB News presenter Darren Grimes singled out cuts to net zero ‘pet projects’ and council diversity staff as key opportunities to free up funding for essential services.
• Challenges to asylum seeker hotels in Reform-led counties: The Home Office is responsible for housing adult asylum seekers, and councils have little power to stop people being housed in hotels in their area. Both Nigel Farage and Andrea Jenkyns (newly elected Mayor of Greater Lincolnshire) have said that they will resist government attempts to house asylum seekers in Reform controlled councils.
• Continuing General Election Contract pledges: Reform UK Deputy Chair Richard Tice has made it clear that the party’s priorities haven’t changed since last year’s General Election, telling lobbyists “Read our Contract from last year, then they will probably understand where we are coming from”.

3. Some organisations may find engaging with Reform-led councils more difficult

In general, echoes of the ‘anti-woke’, anti-DEI agenda that we have seen in the US have come through strongly from Reform UK. Organisations focused on these issues, as well as climate change, may find engaging with Reform-led councils more challenging than engaging with councils with other parties in charge.

What could this mean? In the context of a challenging funding environment for many organisations, the prospect of local authority funding drying up in these areas could be a serious concern.

This doesn’t just apply to those who deliver services. Funders may also face additional challenges (and additional demand), if the organisations that they support are not able to engage with councils to fulfil their role effectively.

4. The lack of flexibility in local authority budgets might limit Reform UK’s ambitions

In practice, many local authorities are facing extreme budget pressures. This means that they will likely already be prioritising statutory services like social care and homelessness support. It is not clear where Reform UK expect to make significant savings from already stretched council budgets, beyond cuts to DEI and net zero.

5. Reform UK’s success should make you think about who and how you influence

For organisations that campaign, the 2025 local election results and the press reaction to them, also highlight the potential need to engage with Reform UK.

Reform UK could now have more power to shape political narratives and to force Labour to engage with issues. Analysis of news platforms’ social media channels shows Reform UK’s outsized role in the media and social media landscape.

Reform UK had the second most mentions of any party, despite being joint 7th in terms of number of MPs at the time. And this was in February 2025, months before Reform UK dominated the news cycle surrounding the local elections.

However, Reform UK split public opinion. Recent YouGov polling found that 49% of the public would never consider voting for them. While Reform UK get cut through in the media and did well in the local elections, a large portion of the public are very opposed to them.

Organisations should therefore think about the long-term impact of aligning their cause with a party that a large proportion of the public are opposed to.

6. The impact sector should think about the opportunity to shape Labour’s response to these election results

We can expect the Labour Government to react to these election results if they are concerned about losing key voters to Reform UK. This means that there could be an opportunity to influence how Labour respond.

Many expect Labour’s response to focus on measures that will make people and communities feel better off before the next General Election. We’ve already seen Labour announce £500m to fix potholes. Things like a reboot of the Levelling Up Fund to clean up high streets are being mentioned as a response to the local election results.

Community-focused organisations that now have an opportunity to present solutions to the challenges that some see as the cause of Reform UK’s success: regional inequality, weakened communities, and visible decay in local areas.

Conclusion

In the short-term, Reform-led councils might be more challenging to engage with on certain issues, but the constraints and challenges facing local councils might mitigate this. Fundamentally, all councils are focused on meeting their statutory duties within their very tight budgets, and responding to the needs and concerns of local communities.

The impact sector needs to reflect on the changes happening in UK politics now, and what this might mean over the next few years. Organisations might find new champions for their cause in smaller parties or be able to use the pressure that smaller parties create to drive change in other parties.

More fundamentally, the rise of Reform UK is one part of a wider fragmentation of politics and a move away from a two-party system. This means that how the impact sector interacts with government and politics, at all levels, will change. Reckoning with the rise of Reform UK is just one part of that.