Richard Tice is the Reform UK MP for Boston and Skegness, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Tice won 15,520 votes, representing 38.4% of the vote. The Conservative candidate, Matt Warman, received 13,510 votes (33.4%), while the Labour candidate, Alex Fawbert, secured 7,629 votes (18.9%). Tice was duly elected with a majority of 2,010.  

The Boston and Skegness constituency is located in Lincolnshire, in the East Midlands. The seat was held continuously by the Conservative Party from its creation in 1997 to 2024.

Political Career

Tice currently serves as deputy leader of Reform UK (since July 2024).

In February 2026, Reform UK unveiled its own so-called “shadow cabinet” or frontbench. Tice as “shadow business, trade and energy secretary” or business, trade and energy spokesperson.

Tice led Reform UK from March 2021 to June 2024. In the latter stages of the 2019-2024 parliament, Reform UK experienced a marked rise in its stature under Tice’s leadership, establishing it as a significant threat to the Conservative government led by Rishi Sunak.

In March 2024, Reform gained its first MP in the form of Lee Anderson, who had been suspended from the Conservative Party for comments made about the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. With Reform UK polling at around 13%, Tice hailed Anderson as Reform’s “champion of the Red Wall”.

Tice was leader of Reform UK in late May 2024, when Sunak defied expectations and called a snap election in a surprise statement in the pouring rain outside 10 Downing Street on 22 May. The snap election sparked considerable speculation that Nigel Farage, the “honorary president” of Reform UK, could return to frontline politics. Farage ultimately declared his candidacy for the constituency of Clacton and announced that he would take over as leader of Reform UK. Tice, a longstanding ally of Farage, willingly stood aside, assuming the position of party chairman.

Tice was elected as the MP for Boston and Skegness – one of five Reform UK breakthroughs across the country. In the wake of the election, Tice assumed the post of deputy leader.

Tice delivered his House of Commons maiden speech on 23 July 2024 during a debate on immigration and home affairs.

In it, he said: “There is a reason I overturned the largest ever Conservative majority in the country. Despite the Jolly Fisherman being the symbol of Skegness, my constituents are not feeling very jolly at the moment.

“Seven out of 10 of them voted to leave the European Union. They trusted the previous government – they took them at their word – but they now feel a sense of political betrayal in a number of areas.”

He added: “One of the slogans for leaving the European Union was to take back control. The previous government promised it; do you remember that slogan?

“It was about money, laws and borders – yes, borders. It was about controlling immigration and having smart immigration – working, integrating and speaking the language – which we should all agree is a great thing. Instead, the previous government opened the doors to mass immigration, with significant consequences for towns such as Boston and other towns up and down the country.”

Before entering the parliament at Westminster, Tice served as a member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the East of England from July 2019 until the Britain’s withdrawal from the EU in January 2020, representing the Brexit Party (Reform UK’s predecessor).

Tice also stood unsuccessfully as the Reform UK candidate in the Old Bexley and Sidcup by-election (December 2021) and as the Brexit Party candidate in Hartlepool in the 2019 general election.  

Tice is a longstanding eurosceptic. He was director of the anti-Euro campaign Business for Sterling in the late 1990s and donated to eurosceptic MP David Davis’ campaign in the 2001 Conservative Party leadership contest.

Tice began donating to the UK Independence Party (Ukip) in around 2013. He co-founded the pro-Brexit Leave.EU campaign group in July 2015, working closely alongside Nigel Farage. In the wake of the 2016 Brexit referendum, Tice co-founded the campaign group Leave Means Leave and served as co-chairman of the organisation.

Leave Means Leave, which described itself as “the campaign for a clean Brexit”, set out its opposition to any Brexit agreement that it believed would keep the UK tied to EU rules and institutions – a position often referred to as a “hard Brexit”. In August 2018, after prime minister Theresa May outlined her Brexit strategy in a cabinet meeting at Chequers, Farage announced that he would take part in a Leave Means Leave battle bus tour.

Tice was instrumental in financing the Brexit Party, which was incorporated on 23 November 2018. On 12 April 2019, Farage officially launched the Brexit Party, unveiling an “impressive list” of 70 candidates for the upcoming elections. The list included Tice and resulted in his election to the European Parliament.

In November 2020, Farage and Tice wrote a joint article for the Telegraph, announcing that the Brexit Party would be relaunched as “Reform UK”. Under this new name, subject to approval from the Electoral Commission, the party would oppose Covid-19 lockdown measures.

Tice and Farage wrote: “We are showing the courage needed to take on consensus thinking and vested interests on Covid. But there are so many areas of public life that can be improved to benefit ordinary people. That is why we will campaign for Reform.”

The Reform UK rebrand was approved by the Electoral Commission in January 2021.

Farage stepped down as Reform leader in March 2021 and was replaced by Tice. Farage took on the role of “honorary president” of the party.

Political Views

Reform UK is a right-wing populist political party.

Reform UK is vehemently opposed to the UK’s net zero targets. Tice has repeatedly referred to “net stupid zero”. The party’s 2024 contract set out plans to scrap net zero, which it said would “save the public sector over £30 billion per year for the next 25 years”.

Reform has come in for criticism over the evolution of its stance on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In February 2025, Richard Tice said his party stood “united” in support of Ukraine and against the “monstrous tyranny of that most evil, evil villain, Putin.”

Brexit and Europe

Customs union vote (2025): In December 2025, Tice voted against the UK-EU Customs Union (Duty to Negotiate) Bill. The bill, introduced under the 10-minute rule procedure by Liberal Democrat Europe spokesperson Al Pinkerton, sought to mandate the government to enter into negotiations with the European Union to establish a bespoke customs union.

Electoral reform

Proportional representation bill: In December 2024, Tice voted in favour of the Elections (Proportional Representation) Bill – introduced by Liberal Democrat frontbencher Sarah Olney under the 10-minute rule procedure. The bill sought to “introduce a system of proportional representation for parliamentary elections and for local government elections in England”. A total of 138 MPs supported the bill – with 136 opposed. Notably, 59 Labour MPs backed Olney’s bill.

Introducing the bill, Olney told the House: “First past the post is a broken and unfair system. This summer, the Labour party won a landslide election victory, securing 63% of seats in the House of Commons in return for just 34% of the vote.

“The system leaves millions of voices unheard and creates a divisive, adversarial political climate where collaboration is discouraged and accountability is often sidestepped.”

Assisted dying

Tice voted in favour of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, better known as the assisted dying bill, at both second reading (November 2024) and third reading (June 2025).

Social values and conscience issues

Abortion decriminalisation (2025): Tice voted against a backbench amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill that sought to decriminalise abortion in England and Wales in June 2025. The amendment, which was passed by a majority of 242 votes, removed women from the threat of prosecution for ending a pregnancy at any stage. As an issue of conscience, MPs were allowed to vote according to their personal beliefs.

Before Politics

Richard James Sunley Tice was born on 13 September 1964, in Farnham, Surrey. He attended Uppingham School.

Tice studied construction economics and quantity surveying at the University of Salford, graduating in 1987.

Tice went on to work as the housing developer London and Metropolitan.

In 1991, Tice joined The Sunley Group, the company founded by his grandfather Bernard Sunley, serving as joint chief executive officer (CEO) for 14 years until 2006. He then ran his own debt advisory consultancy before becoming CEO of the property investment group CLS Holdings from 2010 to 2014. Tice became CEO of the real estate business Quidnet Capital LLP in 2014.

Tice led a long career primarily in property development and asset management. He reportedly worked in property for over 30 years, establishing himself as a multi-millionaire businessman.

Personal Life

Tice is divorced. Since 2018, his partner has been the political journalist Isabel Oakeshott.

Tice announced his engagement to Oakeshott in January 2026.

Trivia

Tice has served as chairman (2019-2021), leader (2021-2024), chairman again (2024) and deputy leader (since 2024) of Reform UK/the Brexit Party.