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Reform UK will charge companies significantly less than Labour or the Conservatives to attend its first “Business Day” at its party conference in a bid to woo chief executives, chairs and donors.
Tickets to attend the inaugural event will cost £495 plus VAT on top of the £650 plus VAT cost of a commercial pass to the three-day conference in Birmingham in September.
By comparison, Labour charged £6,000 including VAT for its business day at last year’s party conference in Liverpool, up from £3,000 the year before. Tickets for the Conservatives’ business day have typically cost around £3,000 in most recent years.
Nigel Farage’s populist party is also selling tickets to a “business networking dinner” for £395 plus VAT. Booking 10 seats costs £4,995 plus VAT and a “guaranteed front-row table of 10 seats” costs £7,495 plus VAT, according to invitations seen by the FT.
Conferences provide a lucrative opportunity to boost a political party’s coffers. Reform is charging members £55 to attend; a platinum ticket, which includes a “champagne breakfast with Nigel Farage with a rolling free bar each day”, costs £3,000.
Business days have become popular at conferences recently, with Reform promising a “full day of business-focused sessions, fringe events and panel discussions bringing together senior party figures and leading voices from across the economy”.
A number of companies and business groups sent representatives to Reform’s party conference for the first time last year, although no chief executives were present. Since then Reform’s continued success in the polls and a general apathy towards government alternatives has prompted more businesses to feel they need to increase engagement with the party.
Two public affairs consultants said there had already been a strong level of interest from clients, although not from chief executive levels. One said: “£495 for a business day is a steal versus the eye-watering amounts Labour is charging.”
“Last year clients went to Reform, but went very cautiously and were concerned about the optics so sent junior staff. That has changed largely because Reform has been clear they will remember who engaged early, so the rush to go this year and lobby is real, although still no appetite from mainstream CEOs,” they added.
The launch of the business day comes after months of private breakfasts, lunches and dinners hosted by Reform and public affairs firms as companies have sought to understand more about the party’s policies.
Reform has also been trying to broaden its appeal to businesses and promising to appoint business leaders to ministerial roles. In recent months it has diluted many of its most controversial economic policies as it seeks to present itself as a responsible custodian of the British economy.
Since becoming Reform’s Treasury spokesperson, Robert Jenrick has vowed to reinstate the two-child benefit cap, retain the Office for Budget Responsibility, the UK’s fiscal watchdog, and maintain the independence of the Bank of England. The party has also dropped all of its major tax-cutting pledges and its plan to nationalise key utilities companies, vowing instead to use its first period in government to slash spending.
Reform has set up four working groups to revamp regulation covering the Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority, pension reform, small business and tax simplification, and has been canvassing input from the business community.
One FTSE 100 chief executive told the FT there was still a “risk factor” in attending a dinner or briefing with Reform amid nervousness it would give the appearance of support for a party which could be seen as divisive, particularly within their own workforces. Instead, many have still been sending their public affairs managers and low-radar senior managers to provide feedback.
Reform was approached for comment.
