![\"Nigel](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/01C-reform-explainer.jpg\")
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage. What would a Reform win mean for UK Muslims? Photograph by Oli Scarff\/Getty Images<\/p>\nReform UK leader Nigel Farage. What would a Reform win mean for UK Muslims? Photograph by Oli Scarff\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
Our guide to the party that is tipped for big wins in the 7 May 2026 local elections \u2014 what Reform says about Islam, migration and healthcare<\/p>\n
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Since winning four million votes in the 2024 general election<\/a> \u2014 performing better than any challenger party<\/a> in modern UK politics \u2014 Reform UK<\/a> has gained control of 10 local authorities and enjoyed a surge of media attention. It now poses a significant risk to the century-old duopoly held by the Conservatives and Labour.<\/p>\n The party built its support on hard-line anti-immigration rhetoric and promises of a tougher criminal justice system. Among its flagship policies is the creation of a mass deportation agency<\/a>.<\/p>\n Inflammatory rhetoric against migrants and minorities has been key to the political brand of its leader, veteran eurosceptic Nigel Farage.\u00a0<\/p>\n In his speeches and statements, Farage often singles out Islam as a particular threat to the fabric of British life, referring to Muslims as as Britain\u2019s \u201cfifth column<\/a>\u201d. He previously claimed that \u201c46% of British Muslims support Hamas<\/a>\u201d and \u201cdo not subscribe to British values\u201d, while in March he described public Eid prayer organised in Trafalgar Square by the Ramadan Tent Project as an \u201cattempt to overtake, intimidate and dominate our way of life\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n According to a poll carried out by JL Partners for the Telegraph, Reform could win control of up to 69 out of the 136 local authorities<\/a> in England facing elections<\/a> in May. Some of those, such as Birmingham<\/a>, have significant Muslim populations, meaning that for the first time large numbers of British Muslims could find themselves living under Reform-controlled governments.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what you need to know about the key policies and issues within Reform UK that could affect British Muslims in particular.<\/p>\n What is Reform\u2019s stance on immigration?<\/p>\n According to Reform, immigration is the problem at the heart of \u201cBroken Britain\u201d<\/a> that the party promises to fix<\/a>.<\/p>\n At its conference in Dover in February, Zia Yusuf, Reform\u2019s home affairs spokesperson, said the party would work to establish UK Deportation Command<\/a>, a body responsible for carrying out mass deportations of migrants entering via unregulated routes.<\/p>\n Other Reform policies aimed at reducing the number of migrants in the UK include scrapping Indefinite Leave to Remain<\/a> and rescinding the status from current holders. Instead, the party would introduce five-year visas with higher salary thresholds, mandatory fluency in English and stricter \u201cgood character\u201d requirements.<\/p>\n This would affect between 622,000 and 820,000<\/a> non-EU passport holders currently living in the UK, as well as up to four million EU citizens.<\/p>\n Census data shows that nationals of Muslim-majority countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Afghanistan made up at least 12.4% of the UK migrant population as of 2021, while nationals from Nigeria and India \u2014\u00a0both countries with large Muslim populations \u2013 made up 11.7% of UK migrants. Some 24% of Muslims in the UK do not hold a British passport<\/a>.<\/p>\n Reform has also pledged to deport more than half a million people<\/a> who crossed the border on small boats, under its drafted mass deportation bill<\/a>. The move would likely affect many Muslims, as 85% of asylum seekers<\/a> who crossed the UK border on small boats since 2018 came from Muslim-majority countries.<\/p>\n Focus on immigration and the criminal justice system has allowed the party to gain both former Conservative and Labour voters, said Tahir Abbas, criminology and global justice professor at Aston University.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThese are narrower areas of focus that appeal to certain Reform voters who want hard-line policies and have given up on the mainstream parties,\u201d Abbas said.\u00a0<\/p>\n However, beneath Reform\u2019s \u201cmuch harsher public policy regime\u201d, Abbas sees the policy proposals as a continuation of \u201cthe underlying themes of deregulation and neoliberalism\u201d that underpin both the Labour<\/a> and Conservative<\/a> parties.\u00a0<\/p>\n What is Reform\u2019s policy on healthcare?<\/p>\n Polling for Hyphen found that healthcare was a top priority<\/a> for Muslim voters in 2024. Research by the National Aids Trust in 2017 found that more than 24% of Muslims over 50<\/a> reported poor or very poor health. A large proportion of the Muslim population also lives in deprived areas<\/a>, which are disproportionately affected by cuts to public health funding.<\/p>\n Reform\u2019s 2024 manifesto pledged that the NHS would remain \u201cfree at the point of delivery<\/a>\u201d. But according to the party\u2019s plans, it wants to funnel billions of pounds of public funding towards private healthcare providers<\/a>, continuing on the path set by previous governments but taking it further.\u00a0<\/p>\n Throughout his career, Farage has said that the funding model for the NHS \u2014 general taxation and national insurance contributions \u2014 has to be re-examined<\/a>. At a recent party conference, he did not rule out moving to a US-style health insurance system<\/a>.<\/p>\n Recently, the issue of potential privatisation of the NHS has caused splits in the party. Reform\u2019s Welsh leader, Dan Thomas, said that any type of privatisation would be off the table in Wales<\/a>, while London MP Andrew Rosindell told the BBC in January he would be \u201copen to anything\u201d including \u201can insurance-based model\u201d.<\/p>\n What role does Islamophobia play for Reform?<\/p>\n Farage and other party figures have not shied away from painting British Muslims as an existential threat to the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n During the 2024 election, several Reform candidates were found to hold racist and Islamophobic views, including one candidate who self-identified as \u201ca proud Islamophobe\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n Several councillors elected last year were also found to have shared Islamophobic content<\/a>, including posts by the far-right Britain First party.\u00a0<\/p>\n Reform\u2019s vetting system has again come under scrutiny this year as several councillor candidates<\/a> were found to have made racist and Islamophobic posts, including calling Islam a \u201ccancer\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n Last year, Farage told American lawmakers<\/a> that Britain had become an \u201cawful authoritarian state\u201d comparable to North Korea and said that the new non-statutory Islamophobia definition<\/a> would lead to a \u201ctwo-tier justice system\u201d.<\/p>\n During the 2024 riots, when several mosques were attacked, Farage\u2019s name was chanted by demonstrators<\/a>. While Farage refused to endorse the riots, he complained of the same thing \u2014\u00a0\u201ctwo-tier justice\u201d \u2014\u00a0in the aftermath of arrests.\u00a0<\/p>\n Islam is singled out among Reform\u2019s key policies with a proposal to ban the conversion of disused church buildings into mosques<\/a>, a practice Yusuf has called \u201cincedenery\u201d. Hyphen understands<\/a> that only two Church of England properties have been converted into other places of worship since the late 1960s, both into gurdwaras, and that there are no confirmed records of any Anglican churches in that time being converted into mosques.<\/p>\n However, Abbas points out that the party leadership may not view Islamophobia as particularly important either way.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cFarage has evoked some classic Islamophobic tropes in the past \u2014 but rarely goes overboard like many others on the far right and radical right,\u201d he said. \u201cHe is very careful to stay within certain limits, but he is operating in a political landscape where there is already quite a degree of hyper-normalised Islamophobia.\u201d<\/p>\n When Farage cut ties with the UK Independence Party (Ukip), he cited the leadership\u2019s \u201cfixation\u201d on Muslims and Islam <\/a>as well as its closeness to the far-right activist Tommy Robinson.\u00a0<\/p>\n Is Reform trying to soften its image?<\/p>\n Several Muslims and people of colour have taken prominent positions within the party, including Yusuf himself as well as Laila Cunningham, who has been announced as the party\u2019s candidate<\/a> for the London mayoral election in 2028. The party has also benefited from the defections of high-profile Conservative MPs, including former chancellor Nadhim Zahawi.\u00a0<\/p>\n Yusuf, a millionaire businessman born to Muslim Sri Lankan parents, has been credited with \u201cprofessionalising\u201d the party<\/a> during his year as chair, strengthening its disciplinary procedures and moving it away from a racist rabble-rousing image. He briefly quit in 2025 days after criticising<\/a> Reform MP Sarah Pochin for calling for a burqa ban.<\/p>\n The visibility of figures like Yusuf and Cunningham \u201chelps Farage rebut accusations that Reform is an anti-Muslim or racist party\u201d, Abbas wrote with co-author Parveen Akhtar<\/a>, a politics lecturer at Aston University.<\/p>\n Reform has also been performing better with non-white voters than Farage\u2019s previous party, Ukip, with more than 8% of its 2024 voters<\/a> not identifying as \u201cwhite British\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is clear that there are classically racist people in Reform, especially among its base and in some of those seeking representation,\u201d Abbas said. \u201cThe appointment of former Tories of note, of colour, reflects the need to bridge a certain demographic.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Reform\u2019s ambition is to increase its share of ethnic minority voters as well as appeal to wavering white voters who might be put off by overt racism, said Abbas.\u00a0<\/p>\n However, the move has resulted in tensions within the movement. Yusuf\u2019s appointment led to denunciation<\/a> by disgraced<\/a> former actor and far-right activist Laurence Fox, who said: \u201cA Britain-focused party cannot have a Mohammedan as the chair. Islam is not your friend if you believe in free speech, family and British culture. You cannot buy us.\u201d Other Reform voters took to social media to say they were cancelling their membership<\/a> in protest at Yusuf\u2019s appointment.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Farage himself blamed Yusuf\u2019s resignation as leader<\/a> on \u201ca tirade of racist attacks<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n Will the local elections matter?\u00a0<\/p>\n Like every local election, the upcoming vote will affect the daily lives of millions of Britons. Local authorities are responsible for a number of public services, including schools, libraries and waste management.\u00a0<\/p>\n It is also projected to result in unprecedented losses<\/a> for both Labour and the Conservatives, with some commentators suggesting that the poor result could spell the end of Keir Starmer\u2019s premiership<\/a>.<\/p>\n Conversely, a good result for Reform could signal the party\u2019s strength and political viability, although Abbas advises caution.<\/p>\n![\"Nigel](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/02-reform-explainer.jpg\")
Nigel Farage poses in front of a fake passenger departures board to announce Reform UK\u2019s policy of mass deportations. Photograph by Leon Neal\/Getty Images<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/03-reform-explainer.jpg\")
Laila Cunningham in London. Photograph by Leon Neal\/Getty Images<\/p>\n