Reform UK to ban postal voting and ensure only British citizens can vote in British elections

Writing in today's Sunday Telegraph and Mail on Sunday, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has declared that a Reform government will immediately ensure only British citizens can vote in parliamentary elections and ban wholesale postal voting in UK elections upon taking office.

Under Reform's plan, only naturalised British citizens would be permitted to vote in British Parliamentary elections. The current rules allow Commonwealth citizens – including those from Pakistan, India, and other nations – to register and vote in UK elections, provided they meet residents or leave-to-remain conditions. The Reform leader has insisted that this undermines national sovereignty and leads to elections being fought on international issues rather than domestic ones.

Reform would also impose a strict ban on wholesale postal voting, with tightly defined exemptions retained only for the elderly, the disabled, serving armed forces personnel, and those working overseas during an election.

This change would align the UK with longstanding practices in allied nations such as France, which outlawed widespread postal voting in 1975 due to fears of voter fraud.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage MP said:

“For too long, postal voting has allowed our elections to be turned into a laughing stock, riddled with fraud, intimidation and outright cheating. It's been allowed to go on for years and has poisoned trust in our democracy.

“Meanwhile, allowing non-Brits – people with zero connection to this country – vote on our future is absurd. It is right that only British citizens should be able to vote in British parliamentary elections.

“That's why a Reform government will immediately ban wholesale postal voting and ensure only British citizens can vote in elections in order to bring back trust to British democracy."

The announcement comes after Reform UK's formal report to Greater Manchester Police and the Electoral Commission of serious concerns over potential electoral fraud in Thursday's Gorton and Denton by-election.

Independent observers from Democracy Volunteers documented illegal ‘family voting' occurring in 68 per cent of the polling stations they monitored, marking the highest levels recorded in the group's 10-year history of observing UK elections.