Reform UK, the party led by Nigel Farage, has announced it would ban people who do not speak English from voting if it forms a government. The party has unveiled a series of radical proposals to overhaul the electoral system, which also include stripping voting rights from citizens of Commonwealth countries.
Currently, citizens of Commonwealth nations such as Canada, Australia, India, or Pakistan have the right to vote in local and parliamentary elections while living in the UK. Reform’s proposed laws would also make it illegal to publish election campaign materials in any foreign language.
Concerns over Foreign Influence
Danny Kruger, the party’s head of government preparations, said the proposals followed concerns that “foreign conflicts and sectarian interests” were playing a role in UK elections. He said: “With every election, our democracy is being systematically eroded. Britain’s electoral system, once the envy of the world, now buckles under the strain of uncontrolled immigration.”
Kruger added: “Reform UK will not stand by while our political system is undermined. Britain should be run in the interests of the British people. That’s why we are introducing these changes to save our democracy.”
Planned Legislation and Implementation
The party will attempt to introduce amendments to Labour’s Representation of the People Bill, which is set to be debated by MPs next week and would lower the voting age to 16. These amendments are not expected to be approved by Parliament, but Reform plans to introduce its own Election Integrity Bill if it wins the next general election.
Under the proposals, the English language test would be overseen by presiding officers who manage polling stations on election day. The laws, which would apply in England and Wales, state that officials “may speak to any voter to determine, in general terms, the voter’s ability to understand the voting process and the English or Welsh language”.
The plans add: “If the presiding officer or representative has concerns over the voter’s ability to understand ... the presiding officer shall place the ballot paper aside, mark it as belonging to the voter, and it shall not be counted.” Voters would have a right to appeal.
Additional Electoral Changes
It would also become an offence to produce election material in a language not “native to the British Isles”. Reform also plans to stop “family voting”, when one person influences another’s vote, by giving officials the power to demand that people arriving at polling stations together only enter one at a time. This follows claims that voters were seen entering polling booths together during the Gorton and Denton by-election in February.
