Reform UK chairman Zia Yusuf has opened the press conference.

He told attendees: “We have a very special announcement for you today that underscores the stunning momentum that Reform has had since the general election last year.

“Make no mistake, in the last eight months Reform has delivered the most historic acceleration politically in British history.

“We’ve surged from 14% support to 26% nationally in the average of the polls, we’ve signed up 160,000 new fully paid-up members, we’ve opened 400 branches, we’ve held 30 events enjoyed by tens of thousands of attendees across this great country.

“And all of this has been achieved with a fraction of the resources of the two old parties and it’s been achieved in just eight months.

“But behind the scenes we’ve also been working incredibly hard to build an election machine that will enable us to stand in the tens of thousands of elections that are coming up over the next few years.”