Nigel Farage could be set to visit the Channel Islands in a bid to win financial support for his political party.
The leader of Reform UK is planning a tour of offshore jurisdictions in an effort to find eligible voters and some extra financial support, the Financial Times has reported.
It’s reported that this will be ahead of the 2029 general election, where his right-wing party is hoping to secure additional votes.
Last year, an estimated three million British citizens who lived abroad for more than 15 years regained the right to vote in all UK elections – including many Channel Islands residents.
This change followed the implementation of the Elections Act 2022, which scrapped the previous rule that someone could only register to vote for 15 years after they left the UK.
According to the Good Law Project, which has cited the Electoral Commission, Mr Farage’s party is planning to win over some of those offshore voters.
“Reform has brought in more than £22.5m since 2019,” it reports.
“Nearly £16.6m of that total – a staggering 73.5% – is linked to nine companies and individuals with offshore interests.”
Mr Farage has previously made similar visits to the Crown Dependencies while leading the UKIP and Brexit parties in 2015 and 2019 respectively.
The Financial Times has also quoted Nick Candy, Reform UK’s Treasurer as saying: “We’ll do events in restaurants, people’s private homes and on yachts.”
The newspaper also suggesting that a tour of the Crown Dependencies could form part of a wider European and Middle Eastern tour for the leader of the right-wing populist party, which the Financial Times says will target funds from wealthy offshore donors in other low-tax jurisdictions, such as Monaco, the United Arab Emirates and Switzerland.
Mr Candy is reported in the FT as having stated that he “travelled to the UAE ‘every other week’ on business, and last week received a £100,000 donation from an expat there who has a UK-based finance business”.
Mr Farage has also made numerous personal visits to Guernsey.
In 2023, he said he might move to Guernsey if Brexit failed.