Reform UK Prize Draw Under Police Review Over Potential Electoral Law Breaches - Reform Watch

The prize draw ran from 17th March to 31st March. To enter, participants were required to submit personal data including their name, email address, phone number, how they voted at the last election, and how they intended to vote on 7 May. Open Rights Group described the initiative as a data harvesting exercise. Reform UK said it was a standard competition. The timing is central. The official pre-election period for local authorities began on 30 March. The competition closed the following day, placing part of the scheme inside a regulated window designed to prevent undue influence on voters. The winners, Raymond and June Dibble from Wigan, were identified by a local Reform Facebook page as longstanding party members. Images show them with Nigel Farage at a Brexit Party event in 2019, and reporting by Byline Times links them to the nomination of a local Reform branch chair, who appears in the background of footage from the prize presentation. On 9 April, Farage and Robert Jenrick travelled to Wigan to present the couple with a cheque for £1,758, filming the exchange for social media. Under the Representation of the People Act 1983, “treating” occurs when benefits are provided to voters with the intention of influencing how they vote. The Electoral Commission has confirmed that activity designed to incentivise voter behaviour may constitute a criminal offence, depending on the circumstances and intent. Reform has said the Information Commissioner's Office cleared the competition. The ICO later clarified that it had spoken to the party about improving transparency in how personal data was collected and used, and had made recommendations. It did not state that the scheme complied with electoral law. The facts are not in dispute. Reform collected voters’ past and intended voting behaviour, ran the scheme into the pre-election period, awarded the prize to known party supporters, and promoted the outcome publicly with senior figures present. Police are now assessing whether those facts amount to an offence.