As reported by Reform Exposed, Nigel Farage‘s party is struggling to attract women candidates:
Just 16 out of 74 in Scotland.#ScottishElections pic.twitter.com/wIEr4xSGWd
— Reform Party UK Exposed 🇬🇧 (@reformexposed) March 29, 2026
Given Reform’s politics, this is entirely unsurprising.
Reform’s Victorian mindset
On 25 February, we reported that Reform have been talking about ending no-fault divorce. This would mean people can only get divorced if they’re able to cross the right government tick box. Obviously this would leave many — mostly women — vulnerable to abusive partners.
This is what Andrew Marr said to Reform’s Richard Tice:
Danny Kruger, you’ll have seen his speech today, and he wants to find government measures to oblige women or persuade women to have more children. And he’s also interested in getting rid of no-fault divorces. A lot of female voters around the country will look at this and say, there’s a lot of kind of quite posh white men telling us what to do, and we won’t like it.
Tice failed to provide any sort of answer:
‘We need more prosperous families which lead to a more prosperous country.’
Reform’s Richard Tice dodges @AndrewMarr9‘s question over whether reversing no-fault divorces is his party’s policy. pic.twitter.com/9RpwHoFxU5
— LBC (@LBC) February 24, 2026
There was also the case of the councillor who reposted that a female Labour MP ‘should be shot’:
It’s additionally the case that Nigel Farage was accused of using grooming gang victims for political capital (accused by the victims themselves, in fact).
As we reported at the time:
On 28 October, we reported that Nigel Farage had inserted himself into the latest UK grooming gangs inquiry. In that piece, we covered that a former employee had accused him of opportunism. We also highlighted that Farage may not be the best person to speak out on this topic given his support for convicted rapist Donald Trump, or the fact that he refused to clearly condemn the alleged human trafficker Andrew Tate:
A man is judged by the company he keeps. pic.twitter.com/vOZLwzKTje
— Reform Party UK Exposed 🇬🇧 (@reformexposed) October 28, 2025
Since then, Farage’s involvement has further toxified the potential inquiry, with several abuse victims demanding an apology from the Reform leader:
EXCL: Five women have asked for an apology from Nigel Farage after he suggested they weren’t victims of grooming gangs.
They said that, while they had been abused by Asian men, they were “aware the inquiry is not just about us” and the comments were “degrading and humiliating”.
— Pippa Crerar (@PippaCrerar) October 29, 2025
Reporting on the party’s “problem with women”, Alexandra Topping wrote in the Guardian:
When Nigel Farage told a journalist this week she should “write some silly story … and we won’t bother to read it”, it provoked an instant – and divided – reaction. For some it was a “masterclass” in dealing with mainstream media, but for others it was “rude, dismissive, misogynistic, arrogant”.
Behind the scenes, Farage’s treatment of the Financial Times’s Anna Gross – which was met with mirth and applause among Reform diehards in the room – provoked disquiet and anger among lobby journalists across the political spectrum.
As the Reform UK leader was leaving the event, a Guardian political reporter suggested he had been rude and had upset the journalist. “Good,” Farage responded.
It is not the first time Farage has been accused of patronising a female journalist. When the former BBC Radio 4 Today presenter Mishal Husain asked him about the potential consequences of shooting down Russian planes last October, Farage responded: “Listen love, you’re trying ever so hard.” A month later he accused the Telegraph’s Camilla Tominey of playing a “silly little game” when she asked who his chancellor would be.
Unsurprising
Because of the above, it’s unsurprising to see Reform are doing significantly less well with women:
It’s also unsurprising to learn that they are struggling to attract female candidates.
Going forwards, it will be interesting to see if Reform try to appeal to women, or if they simply hope that legions of new, resentful men magically appear out of nowhere.
Featured image via Estitxcu Carton (Wikimedia)
