Common Questions

What happened to UKIP?

The UK Independence Party was rebranded as the Brexit Party in 2018 after achieving its core aim of leaving the EU, then became Reform UK in 2021 under Nigel Farage's leadership.

Is UKIP the same as Reform UK?

Not exactly. UKIP still technically exists as a separate registered party, but its political base, leadership, and donor network migrated first to the Brexit Party and then to Reform UK.

Does UKIP still have any elected representatives?

UKIP has no current elected representatives in any UK Parliament or assembly. Former UKIP members now sit for other parties, most commonly Reform UK.

Background

The UK Independence Party was founded in 1993 by London School of Economics academic Alan Sked, initially as an anti-EU pressure group advocating British withdrawal from the European Community. Under Nigel Farage's leadership from 2006, UKIP transformed into a mass-membership populist party, winning the 2014 European Parliament elections with 27.5% of the vote and becoming the first party other than Labour or the Conservatives to win a UK-wide election in over a century.

Following the 2016 Brexit referendum victory, UKIP's core purpose was achieved and the party rapidly fragmented. Farage launched the Brexit Party in 2018 to contest European elections, effectively absorbing UKIP's support base; the Brexit Party rebranded as Reform UK in 2021. UKIP continued as a separate organisation under successive leaders but shed members, funding, and electoral credibility throughout this period. Caroline Jones, now a Welsh Senedd member for Reform UK, began her career as a UKIP MS. She quit Reform UK Wales in April 2026 over allegations of racism and parachute selections within the Welsh Reform group.

UKIP's historical significance lies in forcing the 2016 referendum that reshaped British politics for a generation. As an active organisation it is now marginal; Reform UK has absorbed its populist-right electoral Coalition and Restore Britain has emerged as a further splinter. The party's trajectory illustrates how single-issue movements can achieve their objective and then face irrelevance, while the broader political energy they generate finds new institutional homes.