About Restore Britain

Rupert Lowe was elected as the Reform UK MP for Great Yarmouth on 4 July 2024. In March 2025, after he had publicly questioned the party's leadership, Reform UK suspended him and withdrew the whip, citing complaints about his conduct and alleged threats against its chairman. Lowe denied the allegations, and on 14 May 2025 the Crown Prosecution Service said there was insufficient evidence to bring charges. He continued to sit as an independent MP; his biography has the details.

On 30 June 2025 he launched Restore Britain as a movement for people who believe the way Britain is governed needs fundamental change. It was not a party: a non-party, issue-based membership organisation costing £20 a year, open to members of any party, which said it would not stand or endorse candidates. Lowe led it with an advisory board, and its launch FAQ said every policy would be put to a vote of the members.

Through the second half of 2025 the movement built its platform. Its first major policy paper, "Mass Deportations: Legitimacy, Legality and Logistics", was published on 9 October 2025 and set out the legal and practical case for large-scale removals (our summary). On 21 October 2025 Lowe joined the Commons Public Accounts Committee, which scrutinises government spending.

In December 2025 Lowe launched Great Yarmouth First, a local party for his own constituency, with himself as chairman. It pointed to the model that followed: a national party working alongside local partner parties.

On 13 February 2026 Lowe announced that Restore Britain would become a national political party, acting as an umbrella for locally based partner parties, with Great Yarmouth First as the partner in his own seat. The same day it published its 10 Objectives, from reversing mass immigration to safeguarding election integrity.

Growth was rapid. The party said membership passed 50,000 within three days and 100,000 by 28 February, and in June 2026 The Times reported about 130,000 paying members. Councillors began to join from other parties: Maria Bowtell of East Riding of Yorkshire Council became the first on 15 February, and on 17 February seven Kent County Council members joined, making Restore Britain the third-largest group on that council. More followed in Leicestershire, Warwickshire and North Northamptonshire.

Great Yarmouth First was registered on 4 March 2026, and on 20 March 2026 Restore Britain itself was entered on the Electoral Commission's register (PP18382), able to stand candidates in England, Scotland and Wales. UK Parliament's records list Lowe as a Restore Britain MP from that date.

Restore Britain did not stand candidates under its own name in the local elections of 7 May 2026. Instead, Great Yarmouth First contested ten seats (nine Norfolk County Council divisions and a borough council by-election) and won all ten. The party's first parliamentary contest was the Makerfield by-election on 18 June 2026, where Rebecca Shepherd took 3,111 votes (6.8%), finishing 3rd of 14 and ahead of the Conservatives. In the Greater Manchester mayoral by-election on 30 July 2026, Marlon West won 46,289 first-preference votes (8.7%), again finishing ahead of the Conservative candidate.

By late September 2026 the party had published 12 policy papers, including its economic plan, "The Wealth of Our Nation". As of 5 October 2026 it had 39 councillors (with Great Yarmouth First). Among pollsters that name it, its average stood at 4.3% on 3 October 2026. An MRP poll the party commissioned, published on 24 September 2026, put it on 7% and projected that Lowe would hold Great Yarmouth; More in Common's independent MRP, published two days later, put it on 3% and also projected a narrow win there. Every step is listed, with sources, on the timeline.