Some think Britain's 'broken', and they are looking to Australia for inspiration

Some people believe Britain is 'broken', and they are looking to Australia for populist inspiration Sun 14 Jun 2026 at 5:09am For most of his life, Nigel Farage was known in Britain for being a fervent right-wing activist, perched at the political fringes. When he started the Reform party (originally the Brexit party) in 2018, he had unsuccessfully run for the national parliament seven times over 30 years. These days, however, he heads a genuine political force. Reform UK's support is rising — a point underscored at last month's local elections, which they dominated. Not only did the party win 1,453 council seats in England, it also rose to become the opposition in the Welsh Parliament (known as the Senedd) and performed strongly in Scottland, too. Reform UK is positioning itself as a sophisticated outfit capable of smashing the status quo in British politics, but its influence is not limited to one country. In Australia, Pauline Hanson sees Mr Farage's success as a blueprint for her own party, One Nation, which has seen surging support in opinion polls. Indeed, the two rising forces are keeping a close eye on each other. Joe Martin is one of Reform UK's 32 freshly elected MPs in the Senedd, and told the ABC the similarities between Mr Farage and Ms Hanson were "striking". "The forces that are sort of pushing reform are global forces as well which you see with the likes of One Nation in Australia," he said. "In Nigel Farage and Pauline Hanson, you've got two people who have stood by the same principles for decades and then only in the last couple of years they've seen their support surge." Mr Martin, 28, previously worked in finance, but left that world behind to become a politician. He, like most populists, speaks a lot about immigration, and claims it is responsible for many of Britain's issues today. "That's what the electorate wants to see from their politicians is a willingness to talk about difficult issues like immigration," Mr Martin said. Reform UK will have the opportunity to make a statement when a by-election is held in the seat of Makerfield, near Manchester, on June 18. Despite dominating opinion polls and enjoying strong results at the local elections, winning prized seats in the UK's national parliament has been tough going for Reform. At a by-election in a nearby constituency in February, Reform UK was humbled by the Green Party candidate Hannah Spencer, who won the seat with more than 40 per cent of the vote. While Reform UK is expected to poll well in Makerfield, it is up against a formidable Labour candidate, Andy Burnham, who is seen by many as a future prime minister. Reform UK's increasing influence has sparked questions about whether it will be able to deliver on its manifesto if it formed government in what many of its members describe as "Broken Britain" — although there does not need to be another general election until July 2029. Like One Nation, Reform's policy platform is heavily focused on immigration. Mr Farage has pledged to deport up to 600,000 migrants living in Britain, end migrants' right to apply for permanent residency after five years and refuse visas to anyone who uses the services of people smugglers to arrive in Britain on small boats form continental Europe. Jane Green, a professor in politics at Oxford University, said Mr Farage continually claimed most of Britain's issues were linked to immigration. This is despite the fact net migration to the UK last year dropped to its lowest level since 2012. "I mean, if you look at the way Reform has been campaigning for years, they're very much linking people's experiences of austerity, of the cost of living, of problems in public services to the rise in immigration," she said. "Now that is a very contested link, but nevertheless I think that's very much very clear in their political rhetoric." Professor Green, who has been studying Reform UK's rise and seen as a world authority on the party, notes it still struggling to attract a broad spectrum of voters. "A small proportion of reform voters have come from Labour but it's a very small proportion overall," she said. She said most of Reform UK's new voters would have previously thrown their support behind the centre-right Conservative Party. "If you're a Conservative voter worried about immigration, Reform is a natural home for you," Professor Green said. "The challenge they have now is what you see populist movements or radical right movements around the world, they've talked up people's grievances, promised change, gained so much support from protest votes, from people that really feel aggrieved and worried and angry, but then they may not be able to deliver on those things." Jaymey McIvor, a local councillor for Reform UK in Epping, near London, rejects the idea his party is over promising. When pushed on how his party would decrease immigration, Mr McIvor pointed to Australia's policy of turning back boats filled with asylum seekers. "We need to do what they did in Australia because it worked," he said. "People should only be arriving to this country through legal points of entry, which is the Eurotunnel or airports or places that ferries and boats can dock where we have UK Border Force who can check people in and vet them." It's worth pointing out that the UK's current migration issues are not identical to the ones experienced in Australia last decade, when migrants were making perilous journeys from countries like Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Iran, and sometimes dying in the process. At the peak, which was experienced in 2013, just over 25,000 people arrived in Australia by boat, much less than the 41,000 boat arrivals recorded in the UK in 2025. While Reform UK is seeing an increase in support, its rhetoric is sparking concerns, too. Its politicians have been accused of stoking tensions among Brits. In an Ipsos poll conducted last year, 85 per cent of respondents believed there was a sense of division in Britain. Neville Watson was a branch leader for Reform UK, but left the party in 2025 over concerns about its immigration-centric messaging. "Reform, like many of the parties now, have tried to use, or weaponise immigration against people and I think Reform at times were using immigration in a way that I was finding uncomfortable," he said. Mr Watson, who is the son of Jamaican migrants, insists he was never subjected to racism and still believes Mr Farage is "brilliant". However, he is concerned about the direction of the public discourse. "I'm here as a result of immigration," Mr Watson said. "Why would I be raising the drawbridge after I've come in? "My family benefited from immigration. Many Brits have benefited from integration. And so we can speak about immigration. And I think immigration is a good topic, I would like to change the narrative, change the way we speak about immigration." Mr Farage has previously said his plans for Britain extend beyond immigration. He is promising tax cuts for small businesses and believes he can save money by cutting the public service and environmental programs. Mr Farage has also identified Britain's public health service as an area ripe for an overhaul and has suggested transitioning it to a model more akin to that of the United States. It is a bold plan that even the party's own MPs have warned people would need to be patient with, if Reform UK ever won government in the UK. Right now, Reform has eight seats in Britain's national parliament. They would need to win at least 326 whenever the next general election is held to form a majority government. "What we need to do as a political party is be honest about the situation that Britain's in. Britain is broken … Reform can be the party to come in and fix that," newly elected Welsh MP Mr Martin said. "Obviously it's going to take time and we don't want to over promise." Running parallel with Reform UK's rise is an undercurrent of disillusionment with politics — populism included — among British voters. At the most recent general election, in 2024, turnout was 59.7 per cent — the lowest level since 2021. It's a feeling Craig Davis knows well. He owns a pub in the working-class city of Newport in Wales — an area Reform has gained popularity in. However, Mr Davis is not among the party's fans. He has lost interest in politics, and politicians, completely. "It's like they don't know their ass from their elbow," he said. "They don't even really know what's going on and it's kind of like they make it up as they go along, some of them. "So you don't where to go to trust. They all play a good game, they tell you this, that and the other and no-one delivers on anything." A sign, perhaps, that Reform UK's message is not getting everyone excited. [Image text:] AIN NTS RETER KEFORM BRITAIN BRATAIN VOTED REFORM REFORM