UKIP
Anti-EU party founded 1993; predecessor to the Brexit Party and Reform UK
Analysts twice reached for UKIP's own 2013-2015 rise and collapse in 2026 as the precedent for reading Reform UK's councillor losses and its poll ceiling, most recently on 6 July.
Last refreshed: 24 July 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
What happened to the party that forced Brexit after Brexit actually happened?
Timeline for UKIP
Mentioned in: Reform gains Harraby South from Labour
UK Local Elections 2026Mentioned in: Farage wins Clacton back by 12,784 votes
UK Local Elections 2026Mentioned in: Lib Dems take Almondbury off Reform
UK Local Elections 2026Mentioned in: Reform sheds 56 councillors since May
UK Local Elections 2026Mentioned in: Reform loses Old Catton to the Tories
UK Local Elections 2026Background
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, 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. Caroline Jones, later a Welsh Senedd member for Reform UK, began her career as a UKIP MS before quitting Reform UK Wales in April 2026.
UKIP's historical significance lies in forcing the referendum that reshaped British politics for a generation. As an active organisation it is now marginal, its populist-right Coalition absorbed by Reform UK, and its main current relevance is as the historical case study analysts cite when reading Reform's own rise and attrition.
UKIP's history warns Reform's future
UKIP's own record has become the reference point analysts use to size up Reform UK's 2026 troubles. When Reform's cumulative councillor departures reached roughly 40 by 2 July, commentary noted the same slowdown pattern had hit UKIP after its 2013 council surge, once the weakest recruits had left.
Days later, with Reform holding a steady 25% in YouGov's 5-6 July poll, analysts pointed out that UKIP led similar poll shares in 2015 yet converted them into just one MP under first-past-the-post, a reminder that UKIP's own electoral ceiling was set by the voting system rather than its vote share.