No mention of NI in Nigel Farage's manifesto speech - despite Reform UK pledge to scrap Windsor Framework within 100 days

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage launches 'Our Contract with You' in Merthyr Tydfil while on the General Election campaign trail. Photo: Ben Birchall/PA Wire

The new Reform boss also said that his endorsement of two DUP candidates was “personal” and not in his role as leader of the party.

The party’s manifesto – which he described himself as a “Johnny come lately” to – says Reform would “abandon the Windsor Framework” within its first 100 days in office, describing it is “worse than the original Northern Ireland Protocol”.

It says the UK “has been partitioned down the Irish Sea. Northern Ireland is still in the EU’s single market for goods. It is unacceptable that British citizens in Northern Ireland are being ruled by EU laws”. Yet in his speech, the Reform UK leader – whose party is in an arrangement with the TUV over opposition to the Protocol – said business owners and sole traders had not benefitted from Brexit.

He also criticised the failure of Rishi Sunak to remove EU laws retained after Brexit – but made no mention of the situation in Northern Ireland which is subject to ‘dynamic alignment’ with Brussels laws in hundreds of areas.

There was even a mention of reforming the electoral system and the House of Lords – but nothing on the Irish Sea border.

His predecessor Richard Tice has said in the past that the Protocol was one of the three major failures of the UK government’s Brexit policy, calling it “completely unacceptable”.

Both Labour and the Tories have committed to keeping the Irish Sea border arrangements in place, with Sir Keir Starmer’s party committing to implement the Windsor Framework in good faith.

Locally, the DUP recently hardened their position on the deal, saying that they want to remove EU law from Northern Ireland, and by extension the Irish Sea border. However, it is unclear how the party intends to go about that.

Last week the News Letter asked the DUP if the party’s leadership would commit to pursuing mutual enforcement as an alternative to the Windsor Framework – a suggestion made by Sammy Wilson recently – and if not, what is the strategy to get rid of EU law.

In a statement from Sammy Wilson the DUP said “unlike the TUV we have a strategy to remove barriers between us and the rest of the UK” but did not elaborate further on the nature of the plan.

When asked if the strategy is to back mutual enforcement or is a continuation / extension of Safeguarding the Union, the DUP did not respond.

Nigel Farage recently endorsed two DUP MPs – including Sammy Wilson – over the TUV, who his party is in an electoral alliance with.

On Monday when asked if he would be endorsing DUP party leader Gavin Robinson, Mr Farage said: “(Mr Paisley and Mr Wilson) are two friends of mine who I’ve endorsed previously, that’s a personal thing not a party thing.”He added: “I came into this party as leader very recently, after a different arrangement had been done. I didn’t do it as leader of Reform UK, I did it on a personal basis.”

In his speech, Mr Farage repeated his assertion that this should be an immigration election – saying the country has “never seen anything like” the current levels of immigration, pledging an overall freeze on net migration.

"The first duty of a British government is to its own people – not anyone else”, Mr Farage claimed, saying that benefits for migrants should be paused for five years and that the UK should follow the approach taken in countries such as Australia.

He said mass migration helps multi-national corporations, not workers, making everyone poorer.

Acknowledging he was a “Johnny-come-lately” to the party’s pledges – he thanked his predecessor Richard Tice for his work on the document.

Mr Tice had been leader until recently before Mr Farage announced his return of the party he is a majority shareholder of.

He also criticised net zero policies he described as self-destructive and damaging to industry.

He highlighted a gap between the political classes and the general population – claiming Reform UK believe in family, community and country.

Fear of knife crime, shoplifting, benefits and a “radical rethink” of how the NHS operates and delivers for the public.