REFORM was branded the biggest domestic threat to British democracy after Nigel Farage announced “bizarre and dangerous” plans to ban postal votes today.

The party leader vowed to severely restrict postal voting and remove Commonwealth citizens’ right to to go to the polls if he became prime minister.

He announced his plans after claiming last week’s Greens’ Gorton and Denton by-election win was a victory for “sectarian voting and cheating.” His party has asked the police to investigate allegations of election fraud.

Writing in the Sunday Telegraph and the Mail on Sunday, he claimed that postal voting has turned Britain’s elections into a “laughing stock,” adding that allowing non-British citizens to vote is “absurd.”

Commonwealth citizens who qualify as resident in Britain can currently vote in all types of British elections.

Reform’s plans would remove this right and limit postal voting to only the elderly, disabled, serving armed forces personnel and those working overseas.

Green Party deputy leader Rachel Millward said: “Within just days of losing a historic election to the Greens, Reform has, instead of reflecting on why they lost, come out with a bizarre and dangerous attack on democracy by suggesting they will be banning postal votes and banning people from voting. 

“They have made abundantly clear that they are seeking to undermine our democracy with their Trumpian playbook. 

“We must now all look to defend the foundations of our democracy — they’ve never been more at risk from a domestic threat.” 

The latest Electoral Commission data, from 2024, shows no evidence of large-scale election fraud in Britain, with 94 per cent of allegations resolved locally with “words of advice,” or resulting in the police taking no further action.

Mr Farage previously complained about postal voting when his former party, Ukip, lost the Oldham West and Royton by-election in 2015 and when his Brexit Party lost the Peterborough by-election in 2019.

The Brexit Party candidate challenged the result in court but later withdrew the challenge and was ordered to pay the winning Labour candidate’s legal costs.

A spokesperson for Reform UK confirmed that its proposals would not affect Irish citizens, who also have the right to vote in parliamentary elections.