Advance UK is a splinter group of Reform UK, formed in 2025 after Ben Habib – previously Reform’s deputy leader and before that an MEP – acrimoniously parted ways with Nigel Farage. Habib, who has previously claimed that Britain should let some migrants drown in the Channel, applied for registration with the Electoral Commission in September 2025, having met his self-imposed membership requirement of 30,000 for party status.

Initially named the “Integrity Party”, Advance positions itself as a more hard line alternative to Reform and the party is largely made up of those who have either left the older party or been expelled. Farage has dismissed the group as “a vanity project for those who can’t take discipline”.

There is a similar dynamic in the support base of Rupert Lowe MP and his Restore Britain movement. Habib appears to have wanted Lowe to join and possibly lead Advance, and a merger has been much discussed since Restore launched as a political party in February 2026. However, at time of writing, the two remain separate parties.

The party has received endorsements from high-profile figures. In August, Elon Musk posted: “Advance UK will actually drive change. Farage is weak sauce who will do nothing.” The details of any financial support are not publicly known. 

The same month, the serial criminal Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (AKA Tommy Robinson) – who has long been shunned by Farage –  joined Advance, which in return sponsored Lennon’s huge “Unite the Kingdom” rally in September. The association has caused the party difficulties, however, with its launch event in Newcastle the same month cancelled by the venue “on health and safety grounds”. 

The party has a number of town/parish councillors, especially in Amber Valley, who resigned from Reform en masse in January 2025, citing opposition to Farage’s leadership style. The move was likely prompted by an internal disciplinary process involving the group’s leader, Alex Stevenson. Reform claimed that the defecting councillors were a “rogue branch” and had not been approved by the party, but this is somewhat undermined by the fact that deputy leader Richard Tice publicly congratulated at least two of the councillors on their election. Earlier last year, six members of Heanor & Loscoe Town Council in Derbyshire joined Advance after quitting Reform.

Advance appears intent on bridging the gulf between Reform’s electioneering and the street protest movement over which Lennon presides. Its electoral prospects appear dim, but the party may cost Reform in marginal seats.