Rupert Lowe, who leads a political party called Restore Britain, has asked Nigel Farage to work together. In a video posted on X, Lowe said the two should put "personalities and our past disagreements aside for the good of the country" and join forces to form what he called a "patriotic government" at the next general election (The Guardian; The Telegraph).

The request came right after a local election in Greater Manchester, where voters were choosing a new mayor. Restore Britain's candidate, Marlon West, came fourth with 8.7% of the vote. Farage's party, Reform UK, did better — its candidate Sian Astley came second with 21%, behind Labour's Bev Craig (The Guardian). Lowe posted a video on his Facebook page saying the result showed what his party could do.

But Lowe did not just ask for cooperation. He listed five things Reform UK would have to agree to first. These included deporting large numbers of people who are in the country illegally, which he said should include "women and children," making it harder to move to the UK legally, holding a public vote on whether to bring back the death penalty, cutting welfare payments, and banning former Conservative Party ministers from joining any future government. He said he would only work with Farage if these terms were accepted (Financial Times; The Guardian). He pointed out that the two parties already work together on one local council in Norfolk as evidence that they could do the same nationally.

The relationship between Lowe and Farage is not a friendly one. Lowe was one of five Reform UK lawmakers elected to parliament in 2024, representing the town of Great Yarmouth. In March 2025, he was kicked out of Reform UK after people accused him of bullying staff and threatening the party's chairman, Zia Yusuf. Lowe said the claims were not true. He then started Restore Britain in February 2026, reportedly with financial help from Elon Musk (The Guardian). Lowe, who used to be chairman of Southampton Football Club according to his X profile, has set up Restore Britain as a tougher, more uncompromising alternative to Reform UK. Al Jazeera reported in July 2026 that the new party was cutting into Reform UK's lead in opinion polls, while France24 reported in June 2026 that it could stop Farage's party from beating Labour (Al Jazeera; France24).

Reform UK does not seem interested in the idea. Zia Yusuf, the party's home affairs spokesperson and the same person Lowe was accused of threatening, told BBC Radio 4 that Reform UK would not form a coalition — an agreement where parties join forces to run the government — in order to take power (The Guardian). Farage himself wrote on X that his party needed support from people across other parties and from millions of people who have never voted before. He called it "the broad coalition I am building," but he did not say yes to working with Lowe.

Farage is currently running in a special local election after stepping down as the member of parliament for Clacton. None of the major parties have put up a candidate to run against him, which means he is almost certain to win back his seat. The bigger question for both parties is whether they can stop splitting the same group of voters. If two parties on the same side of politics both appeal to the same people, neither may get enough votes to beat Labour.

The broader context here is that the British political right is divided at a moment when the Labour government looks vulnerable. Two parties chasing the same voters makes that problem worse. The Greater Manchester result shows this clearly: Reform UK's 21% and Restore Britain's 8.7% added together still would not have beaten Labour, but the combined number shows how many votes are being spread across two parties instead of one. It is a bit like two restaurants on the same street serving the same food — they split the same hungry customers, and neither gets a full house.

Lowe's five conditions, especially deportations "including women and children" and a death penalty vote, seem designed to make Restore Britain look like the party that will not compromise. That puts Farage in a difficult spot. If he says no, he may look like he is going soft. If he says yes, he risks losing the wider range of voters he says he is trying to attract. Either way, Lowe benefits. But Yusuf's quick rejection suggests that Reform UK's leaders think partnering with Lowe, given his demands and his history with the party, is more trouble than it is worth.

What is still uncertain is whether Restore Britain, with its outside backing and growing visibility in local elections, will put enough pressure on Reform UK to change its mind — or whether the two parties will keep dividing a group of voters that is not large enough to sustain them both.