Since 2025, Nigel Farage’s Reform UK has begun putting down roots in university campuses in the UK. Students for Reform societies have sprung up in many universities in recent months, under the leadership of recently elected Jack Eccles. It is fair to say that their arrival on campus has been far from smooth, as they have faced significant backlash from the student body.
In October, political societies at the University of Edinburgh boycotted the arrival of Reform UK on campus in a joint statement, expressing concern that the rhetoric from the party would “only increase the levels of discrimination and violence that our members already experience every day.” In February, students at the University of Lancaster signed an open letter against the presence of Reform UK groups on campus to show solidarity towards “community groups demonised by Reform UK.”
In accordance with the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023, the Office for Students’ existing free speech guidance states that restrictions on speech should be an absolute last resort, which explains why no Student for Reform society has been banned despite protests from students.
University politics can be considered a microcosm of national politics, where students learn, debate and discover their own political opinions. Arguably, in the current climate of deeply polarised politics, it is more important than ever that we use universities as spaces to discuss and engage with views that differ from our own.
Yet many students fear that by platforming voices such as those of Reform, harmful ideas and views will be given a space to fester and reproduce. According to a recent poll conducted in November 2025 by the Higher Education Policy Institute, 35% of full-time undergraduate students say that Reform UK “should be banned from speaking at events held at higher education institutions.”
At the beginning of this year, a Students for Reform society surfaced at the University of Manchester under the leadership of Blake Cooper, a previous member of the Conservative Society. We sat down with him to discuss the challenge of balancing freedom of speech and freedom from harm on campus.
From Conservatives to Reform
We began our interview with Blake by asking him about his political journey and what has enticed him to become a Reform member.
“I joined the Conservative Party when I was about 14,” he tells us. “I was deputy chair of Warrington for a while, and then last year I switched up to the Reform party.”
He explains that he had switched from the Conservative Party to Reform UK because of the “complete betrayal of conservative values” by MPs who “cheat on their wives” and “commit all sorts of illegal crimes.” The abolishment of the indefinite leave to remain and the expansion of the personal allowance are the “two big” policies by Reform UK , which appeal to him.
He also adds that Reform UK is particularly appealing to young men such as himself, who view many of the other parties as “anti-masculinity” and “anti-traditional values.” When we ask what he means by “traditional male values,” he describes these as “stoicism,” “responsibility,” and “personal strengths.”
He follows this up by arguing that by bringing back traditional male values, there would be “less issues towards women.” He believes that “if you are a good man who has a strong moral compass, you’re not going to sit by and watch a woman be sexually assaulted.” “If you do restore male values and restore a lot of chivalry, you would see a decline in what we’ve seen nowadays, where you have figures like Andrew Tate who preach negativity towards women rather than traditional values.”
We also ask Blake to express his thoughts on the result of the Gorton and Denton by-election on the 26th of February, when Reform UK’s candidate Matt Goodwin lost to the Green Party candidate, Hannah Spencer. “I was actually quite surprised. I was expecting the Greens to win, but I was not expecting such a massive majority,” he says. He believes that “sectarianism” was a significant reason for Reform UK’s loss in the constituency. “I do think we were in a way demographically destined to lose the seat,” he elaborates. “We’ve seen a lot of appeal to the Muslim community by the Greens, and it’s not something that Reform can match because we can’t go down the same route of partaking in a lot of Islamic values in the same way.”
The establishment of Reform UK on campus and the response by the student body
In response to our question about why he had set up Reform Society, Blake states that “it’s a place for free speech and socially conservative thought.” He describes how many students agree with Reform’s values but don’t feel like they can speak up in lectures or seminars, so the society gives people who share their views “a place to go to and feel that they belong.”
He describes the reaction on campus to the emergence of the party as “very mixed,” receiving support from the other political parties that “aren’t openly right-wing.” Still, it had generally been negative due to the “sheer number of students who are left-wing on campus”.
We ask Blake to respond to the University of Manchester’s Student Executive Officer Team’s statement, stating that “Reform is a far-right organisation that spreads fascistic rhetoric and disinformation. We do not share their beliefs and are strongly against discrimination, including xenophobia and racism.”
Blake does not agree with the Exec Officers’ characterisation of Reform, arguing that fascism has a “very restrictive definition based around a 20th century ideology that was ultra-militarist, designed on conquering other lands” which he believes does not apply to Reform.
The debate over whether Reform UK should be labelled as fascist is a highly contested one. Nevertheless, its leader, Nigel Farage, has not held back from openly advocating for or associating with views that echo fascist tropes.
Most recently, in an investigation by the Guardian, Farage was found to have sold videos on the platform Cameo endorsing an event by a Canadian neo-Nazi group, describing it as “the best thing that ever happened,” as well as referring to antisemitic conspiracy theories.
Given these revelations, one can appreciate why the Student Union Exec Officers worry that the presence of Students for Reform on campus may impact the well-being and safety of students, especially those belonging to minority groups who would be most negatively impacted by some of Reform’s policies, such as the abolition of indefinite leave to remain.
The limits of free speech on campus
When we raise with Blake the alleged harm that Reform’s rhetoric could have on the student body, he claims emphatically that he does not believe “you can harm someone with words.”
He follows this up by asserting that he “believes in absolute freedom of speech” and that “you should be arguing against them” (the ideas that you disagree with) as this will do “a lot better than just trying to force them off campus.”
He adds that “if you are unhappy with the ideas being expressed, you don’t have to listen. You can put your headphones in; you don’t have to be in the room where those ideas are being expressed … there are plenty of options available to you, and I don’t think you should be trying to silence other people.”
The student voice
We ask three students whether they think the Reform Society should be banned, and each offers us a slightly different angle.
Rosie explains that she “fundamentally disagrees with the Reform Party”, but that “they’re a major political party and if students want to represent that in the University, then they technically have that right to do that”.
We then ask them how they feel about Blake’s view that words cannot be harmful. Finn disagrees and responds that words “originate from some sort of real-life aspect. So, as much as something might just be words, there is some meaning behind it, and so to be offended by words is to be offended by something in the real world”. Rosie adds that “words carry so much power. Anyone who says you can’t be hurt by words is them saying words have no meaning.”
Another student, Ethan, expresses disagreement with Reform’s policies and Nigel Farage, but is adamant that “you have to let people exist as far as you can”. We also ask him to respond to Blake’s belief that words can’t produce harm. According to Ethan, “words certainly can be harmful, but it depends whether you believe people have the right to live their life free from harm ever.”
Ultimately, the debate over whether Reform Society should be banned reflects a wider problem within democracies. One side fears the erosion of free speech if controversial rhetoric is suppressed, while the other fears the consequences of giving harmful ideas a platform. Universities, usually depicted as marketplaces of ideas, now find themselves at the centre of this unresolved conflict.
