Dear Jack,Over the last three years, I have been out and campaigned in several by-elections with many of you, supporting some outstanding Reform UK candidates. I was even a candidate myself in one of them. I’ve always felt it was important that we participated in as many by-elections as we could, as we looked to spread our fledgling brand out across Britain and through the letter boxes of voters. But I’ve always known that making any real progress in a Westminster by-election was incredibly difficult. Almost always, we’re introducing ourselves to an area for the first time, without any data or campaigning footprint; competing with the huge, very well-funded campaign machines of the old establishment parties, who have huge databases of voter data compiled over decades. Tough however, is not the same as impossible, and yesterday, in Wellingborough and Kingswood, we proved it. Following on from two great results in Tamworth and Mid-Bedfordshire at the end of last year, last night we took another huge leap forward, when for the first time our vote share in both seats hit double figures, 13% in Wellingborough and 10.3% in Kingswood. I want to say an enormous thank you to our two candidates, Deputy
Leader, Ben Habib and Rupert Lowe for their huge commitment of time
and money. Both candidates were pivotal in securing such fantastic
results.
I also want to thank the teams around Ben and Rupert, who worked tirelessly and under enormous pressure to run such efficient and professional campaigns. And finally, to the hundreds of you who travelled from around the country to knock on doors, deliver leaflets and occasionally ride on the Reform Bus…. Our party wouldn’t be here without you. These results are a testament to our collective hard work and determination. Our job now though is to maintain the momentum that we have, and to do that, the next two weeks will be vital. After two such excellent results, it is crucial that we deliver a strong result in the Rochdale by-election taking place on Thursday 29th February, where we have a real chance of making a big impact! With the Tories drowning in their own ineptitude and the Labour Party rightly ditching their Rochdale candidate after he made appalling antisemitic remarks, the Rochdale by-election looks set to be a two horse race between Reform UK, and the pro-Gaza party led by George Galloway. Nobody wants to see a party like that get a foothold in British politics, and it’s down to us to step in on the streets of Rochdale. Our candidate for Rochdale, Simon Danczuk, used to be the Labour MP there. He took on the grooming gangs that were infesting the streets of a once proud town. Now he’s geared up ready to fight for the people of Rochdale again, this time against a candidate and a party who is far more interested in Gaza than he is local voters. Please do all you can to get to Rochdale and help. This one really does matter, for so many reasons, and we have less than two weeks left of the campaign!
Finally, we have our Spring Conference in Doncaster a week tomorrow. With over a thousand tickets already sold, it’s certain to be a fantastic day, followed by a Gala Dinner in the evening. Tickets for both are still available but we are nearing capacity, so if you want to get your ticket, please book it soon!
Yesterday was a great day for our party, but it really was just the beginning for Reform UK. The next two weeks will provide a huge opportunity for us to cement our place in British politics. I will do everything I can to take advantage of that opportunity – I hope you’ll join me. My thanks again,
Richard Tice |
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