Reform confident for elections while Farage attacks universities in controversial national conference

Reform UK’s 2025 national conference last week saw leader Farage declare higher education is “poisoning” young minds while Warwickshire council leader Finch spoke confidently about the party’s status in the region.

The conference was held at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham on September 5 and 6 and was attended by party leader Nigel Farage and Warwickshire County Council leader George Finch.

Reform took control of Warwickshire County Council earlier this year and 19-year-old leader Finch declared the Party was confident about gaining more seats in the region next year.

When questioned about Reform’s ability to govern, he claimed: “We’re already doing it in Warwickshire.”

He also expressed excitement for the upcoming elections in Nuneaton and Bedworth. “We’re going to wipe the floor with the lot,” Finch said – taking aim at Labour, who currently control both authorities.

Jackie Gardner, who defected from the Conservatives in June and currently serves as the leader of the Reform group in Coventry City Council, echoed Finch’s confidence.

“Without a shadow of a doubt, it’s possible for us to win … If the people of Coventry want change, it is possible.”

The MP for Clacton suggested universities teach a ‘twisted interpretation of history’ and encouraged a need for a greater vocational approach to education

Recent polling data appears to reinforce Reform’s optimism. The most recent general election prediction by Electoral Calculus forecasts a 48% chance of a Reform majority, with an 86% chance that they are the largest party. While local elections are distinct, such polling showcases the electoral high on which Reform currently rides.

Reform’s leader Nigel Farage also took the opportunity of the national conference’s platform to speak against university institutions.

He took aim at the higher education sector, criticising them for “poisoning student minds”. The MP for Clacton suggested universities teach a “twisted interpretation of history” and encouraged a need for a greater vocational approach to education. He indicated that vocational jobs ought to be encouraged as they are more secure against the growing threat that AI poses to the job market.

Finch, a former politics student at University of Leicester, told Times Higher Education that universities are a “conveyor belt of communism.” He referred to them as a “complete joke”, alleging that they infringe free speech and instead tell students “what to think” and “what to say”.

Reform has already attacked the rise of what it calls “woke ideology” in education, with Reform UK’s 2024 General Election manifesto, entitled ‘Our Contract With You’, denouncing the state of the system.

The manifesto’s education page is headed: “Too many children and young people are being badly let down.” It calls for two-year university courses, regular auditing of the curriculum, and the withdrawal of funding from institutions undermining free speech. The array of divisive proposals has clear potential ramifications for the entire university sector.