Reform UK’s internal structure has changed substantially, which means some of the criticism still circulating online is now out of date.
The party is unquestionably a registered political party. The Electoral Commission lists Reform UK as an authorised Great Britain political party, registered since 2019, with Nigel Farage as leader.
There is also a company behind the party’s current organisation: Reform UK Party Limited, company number 16260766. But that does not make the accurate description “a company rather than a political party”. Political parties can use corporate legal structures while also being registered and regulated as political parties.
What changed in 2025?
The older Brexit Party/Reform corporate vehicle was shareholder-controlled. Companies House records show that Nigel Farage and Richard Tice ceased to be persons with significant control of that historic company in February 2025.
The current Reform UK Party Limited was incorporated separately on 18 February 2025. It is a private company limited by guarantee without share capital, and Companies House records no registrable person or legal entity as having significant control over it.
Reform also changed its constitution. Members gained elected representation on the Party Board and a vote in contested leadership elections.
Those are real democratic changes.
So the old shorthand that Reform is simply “a company owned by Nigel Farage” is no longer an accurate description of its present structure.
Does that mean members control the party?
Not in the ordinary sense of a member-sovereign political party.
Mark Sawyer’s review of Reform’s constitution identifies a hybrid structure: members have genuine democratic rights, but the leader and central board retain extensive authority.
The constitution gives the leader substantial appointment and political powers. Sawyer’s analysis also highlights Article 6.20, under which Board powers are delegated to the Party Leader between Board meetings, subject to later ratification.
Member votes therefore exist alongside a strongly centralised executive structure.
That distinction matters. Two opposite slogans are both too crude:
“Reform has no internal democracy.” — inaccurate.
“Reform is now controlled by its members.” — also too simple.
The better description is that Reform became materially more democratic in 2025 while retaining a strongly leader-centred constitution.
Why does this matter?
Internal party rules are not just administrative trivia when a party is asking voters to trust it with government.
They tell us how leaders are chosen, who can challenge decisions, how policy is approved, how disputes are handled and where power sits when the organisation is under pressure.
The useful question is therefore no longer “is Reform a company?”
It is:
How accountable and resilient is a rapidly growing party whose formal structure still concentrates considerable authority at the centre?