Rupert Lowe confirms Nation.Cymru story about Reform MSs wanting to defect to his Restore Britain party

Martin Shipton

Rupert Lowe has confirmed that recently elected Reform UK Senedd Members have already been in touch about defecting to his Restore Britain party.

Minutes after Nation.Cymru published an article on the evening of June 9 quoting sources saying that disgruntled Reform MSs could form a Restore group if five of them defected, Lowe posted a message to X that said: “Contact has already been made to our party, but we are not just accepting anyone who tries it. Not worth it. They need to back our agenda.”

Lowe’s confirmation that an unspecified number of Reform MSs have enquired about defecting to Restore less than five weeks after being elected to the Senedd indicates that predictions of conflict within the Reform group made before the election were accurate.

An individual – not an MS – who has left Reform to join Restore told us: “As I understand it, a number of MSs elected for Reform are unhappy and are looking to leave the party. In some cases it’s because they have been passed over for promotion to the Shadow Cabinet, which would of course entitle them to higher salaries.

“Reform is a cult. Some members worship Nigel Farage as a god. They even dress like him. It is incredibly unhealthy, with loads of people with big egos all vying for position.

“I can honestly say that Restore Britain is nothing like that at all. The people in the party don’t have big egos and unlike in Reform I’ve seen no backstabbing. I think Rupert Lowe genuinely cares in a way Farage doesn’t. And having Elon Musk backing the party helps, obviously.”

Musk, who owns the social media channel X, formerly known as Twitter, fell out with Farage last year and switched his allegiance to Lowe after the MP for Great Yarmouth left Reform after being accused of bullying its then party chairman Zia Yusuf – an allegation strongly denied by Lowe and which the police took no action over.

While much of Lowe’s rupture with Farage appears to stem from a personality clash, Restore Britain takes an even stronger line on immigration than Reform. It advocates mass deportation of all illegal immigrants, claiming the removal of all of them could be achieved within three years.

There have been bitter fallings-out between supporters of the two far-right parties, focussed in recent weeks on the Makerfield by-election, due to take place on June 18. Labour’s candidate Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, has said he intends to challenge Keir Starmer for the party leadership if he becomes the MP for Makerfield. Winning the party leadership would lead to Burnham becoming Prime Minister.

‘Treachery’

Both Reform and Restore are fielding candidates in the by-election. A recent Survation poll put Burnham on 49% of the vote, with Reform’s candidate on 39% and Restore’s on 8%. Reform’s supporters accuse Lowe of “treachery” by not standing his candidate aside to give Reform a clear run against Burnham, but Lowe’s supporters claim to be making headway in the seat and claim that their man is “the real deal”.

On social media, Farage and Lowe supporters are reserving their greatest vitriol for each other. Meanwhile Burnham’s campaign team are becoming increasingly confident of victory.

In our June 9 article we explained what was likely to happen if a number of MSs left the 34-strong Reform group, which forms the Senedd’s official opposition to Plaid Cymru’s minority government, which holds 43 seats.

We checked the rules governing political groups to see whether it would be technically feasible for Restore UK to form a group of its own if some Reform MSs defected to it.

In the expanded Senedd, party groups can only be officially formed when at least five MSs join them. However, there is an expectation that groups should be formed by parties that have won at least one seat in the last Senedd election.

The Senedd’s standing orders state: “For the purposes of the Act [which increased the number of MSs from 60 to 96], a political group is: a group of at least five Members belonging to the same registered political party that won at least one seat at the previous Senedd election; or five or more Members not satisfying the criteria in Standing Order 1.3(i), who have notified the Presiding Officer of their wish to be regarded as a political group, and satisfied the Presiding Officer that exceptional circumstances apply.”

The standing order continues: “The Presiding Officer must issue guidance to Members under Standing Order 6.17 on the interpretation and application of Standing Order 1.3(ii). The Presiding Officer must decide any question as to whether any Member belongs to a political group or as to which political group he or she belongs.”

We asked the Senedd Commission about the latest guidance relating to when “exceptional circumstances” would apply, and whether it would be possible for a group composed of Members who did not stand for election under its banner to be formed.

A spokesperson for the Senedd Commission told us: “Examples of exceptional circumstances include, but are not limited to, a split in a registered political party, a national crisis, or a major event that changes political affiliations.”

Funding

This guidance was issued by the previous Presiding Officer Elin Jones in April 2026, and strongly suggests that a Restore group would be allowed, if at least five Reform MSs defected to it.

As well as speaking rights, the formation of a group leads to additional funding. A group of five MSs would be entitled to claim £300,000 per year to employ group support staff.

What happens next is unclear. While Lowe has confirmed that approaches have been made to his party by Reform MSs who would like to defect to it, he hasn’t explicitly stated whether any or all of those who have been in touch about defecting will be allowed to do so.

Regardless of that, Lowe’s confirmation of our story will send shockwaves through Reform in Wales.