Reform investigated by Police following by-election letter drop

Well, well, well, it looks like Reform UK have been accused of dodgy tricks in the Gorton & Denton by-election:

A number of residents have received this correspondence. The @ElectoralCommUK are aware and it is our understanding that they are discussing this matter with the police. https://t.co/PaciUNuac4

— Turn Left Media (@TurnLeftMediaUK) February 6, 2026

Don’t Reform UK sell themselves as a party of law and order?

Hopefully they don’t intend to follow the Donald Trump model of ‘law and order’, which is to break every law in order to extract maximum profit for himself. Although if they do, we shouldn’t really be surprised given Farage’s relationship with the US president.

Call the cops

The letter above may be a little blurry and small for you, but here’s what it says:

Dear Neighbour,

Forgive me for writing to you, but with the Gorton and Denton by-election on Thursday, 26th February, I feel I have no choice.

My name is Patricia. I am a local pensioner, 74 years old. I worked hard, paid my taxes, brought up my family here, and always believed that if you did the right thing, this country would look after you.

Lately, that belief has been shaken. Every month I worry about my energy bills. Prices in the shops keep rising. My pension does not stretch far enough.

I previously voted Labour because Keir Starmer told us things would change for the better. They haven’t. The truth is that Britain no longer feels like the country I grew up in. Simple things like doctor’s appointments or the buses don’t work. The system feels broken, and no-one in charge seems able to fix it.

Keir Starmer’s Labour government doesn’t care about Gorton and Denton. Their tax rises have cost pensioners like me an extra £160 that we cannot afford. I remember how our last Labour MP – a government minister – wished that a local pensioner who asked about her bin collection would drop dead!

In the Gorton and Denton by-election, I understand why some neighbours who have had enough of Keir Starmer are thinking of voting Green. But I do not believe the Greens have answers to our problems. They have extreme policies like legalising drugs and letting men use women’s changing rooms. What good would that do people like us?

For me, this by-election comes down to a simple choice: more broken promises from Keir Starmer, or real change. That is why I will be voting for Reform UK’s candidate, Matthew Goodwin, who grew up in Manchester. Our area deserves someone who will stand up for local people.

I do not want Keir Starmer to be our Prime Minister anymore. Voting for Reform is the best way to kick him out. After a lifetime of voting loyally, I feel I have no choice but to vote for Reform UK on Thursday, 26th February. Please think about doing the same.

Yours sincerely,

A concerned neighbour,
Patricia Clegg

Firstly, if you’re on a pension, we’ve got bad news for you about Reform UK:

55% of the welfare bill is spent on pensions.
The majority of sick and disabled people receive around £9k to £11k a year.
Reform UK wants to cut £25 Billion from welfare.
To get this much means they would have to make massive cuts from sickness benefits and pensions. https://t.co/8NpJ1S6Wlt

— Dr_Rebecca (@Dr_Bekka_UK) January 21, 2026

Secondly, as this video shows, when someone rang the number on the envelope, there was no ‘Patricia Clegg’ there:

Have you seen this? https://t.co/p0BiRtQQa3

— James Foster (@JamesEFoster) February 6, 2026

The printers who answered confirmed that they produced the letter for Reform UK, and that it was “official literature” for the party. Strange, given that the letter didn’t mention ‘Reform UK’ anywhere. And this is why the situation has become a matter for the police:

Reform UK will face a police investigation in Gorton and Denton after admitting that it sent out letters from a “concerned neighbour” which did not state that they had been distributed and funded by the party.https://t.co/ZoYvV4bp0J

— Anne Greensmith 💙 (@snowleopardess) February 6, 2026

Reform UK told the Guardian that Clegg is a real woman; they also spoke to her. She said:

I was asked to support Reform; would I be willing to do a letter and put my name to it? And I said, ‘Yeah’, and I left the rest to them

According to Reform, the letters should have had all the correct legal stuff on, but some sort of printing error cut it off. And, to be fair, the printer has ‘taken full responsibility’ for this alleged error. People aren’t buying it, though:

The Reform UK @GoodwinMJ campaign and printer is blaming a “trimming error” for the imprint not being on the letter.

Bearing in mind the letter is A4, what exactly was trimmed.

And why would you print on A4 and trim it? The images show it clearly wasn’t trimmed.

The lie is… pic.twitter.com/EJ7q8O118h

— Reform Party UK Exposed 🇬🇧 (@reformexposed) February 6, 2026

Keep Reform out

People have said that Reform did something similar in the Caerphilly by-election:

Reform did the *exact* same thing in Caerphilly and no one outside of Wales seemed to care. https://t.co/D24NLRbLBK

— Morgan Paulett (@MorganPaulett) February 6, 2026

You may be pleased to know that for all Reform threw at Caerphilly, the people came together to roundly reject them (abandoning Labour in the process):

Caerphilly by-election broke several records:

🔴 First time Labour has lost in 115 years
🔴 Worst-ever Labour result
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Best-ever Plaid Cymru result
🔵 Worst-ever Tory result
➡️ Highest Reform % in a Welsh FPTP seat https://t.co/7ySKTr2jBv pic.twitter.com/sDKXaOzWsP

— Stats for Lefties 🍉🏳️‍⚧️ (@LeftieStats) October 24, 2025

Let’s hope the Greens can achieve a similar result in Gorton & Denton.

Featured image via Gage Skidmore (Wikimedia)