Reform Society Controversies
- Lara Marsh
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
As political division spreads across the UK, our university is not exempt. The St Andrews Reform Society seeks University affiliation despite vehement resistance from fellow students. A petition (created by St Andrews Women Against the Far Right) protesting their affiliation has even been circulated during lectures - but despite this, the Reform Society confirmed on their Instagram that they are ‘on the road to affiliation’ and will become an official society on the 15th of April.
Meanwhile, an unnamed University spokesperson told GB News that the decision to permit affiliation is up to the independent St Andrews Students’ Association, but they have ‘invited the Reform Society to submit a complaint’ about the allegations of intimidation at their recent society event. The University also stated that they are ‘investigating a complaint that some people at a recent Reform Society event made racist remarks and publicly mocked a person with a disability’.
Despite it only being their first meeting, this society event was met with huge controversy. It occurred on Friday 13th of March – but in their Instagram post, unlike most society events, they kept the location undisclosed and asked interested students to DM the account for details, perhaps anticipating the opposition they would face. A spokesperson from St Andrews Reform Society (who declined to be named) later revealed that the event took place at The Rule, and alleged the protestors had been waiting for them. This person claimed a protester was ‘reading a script from her phone trying to get the whole pubs [sic] attention’ on the Reform Society. Despite their love of free speech, the spokesperson alleged this was ‘harassment’ and noted that the protesters refused to debate. T
he Rule removed the protestors from the premises after this and has received backlash for this decision, with one commenter asking where it happened so they could make sure not to give the business their custom for allowing the society to meet there. The Reform Society, however, remained in The Rule and ‘stayed for about an hour’ afterwards. Videos of the incident have been posted on social media by St Andrews Women Against the Far Right asserting that it was their members speaking - and they received over 1000 likes on their video of the protest.
The Reform Society is endorsed by big names among the far-right movement, with Suella Braverman (former Conservative Home Secretary who recently defected to Reform UK) writing a letter addressed directly to our very own Vice-Chancellor Sally Mapstone. This letter itself acted as Reform’s response to what occurred, as Braverman mentioned the ‘purely social event’ was ‘marred by… aggression and intolerance’. Specifically, Braverman alleged that ‘hard-left activists’ were ‘shouting abuse and attempting to silence fellow students,’ including ‘swearing,’ ‘false accusations,’ and distributing leaflets naming Reform UK as a ‘racist party’.
Braverman urged Mapstone to ‘act decisively and investigate this incident’ in order to ‘[s]end a clear message that St Andrews will never bow to the politics of censorship.’ The spokesperson revealed the Reform Society is ‘in conversation’ with both the university and the police after the incident, according to their spokesperson. The spokesperson specifically noted that ‘the University has also agreed that harassment of the members is not free speech’ and said that both the police and the University are investigating the incident and who was involved. The police have apparently been ‘very helpful’ defending the members.
Meanwhile, other political societies at the University of St Andrews have been responding. The University of St Andrews Liberal Democrat Society released a statement defending the Reform Party in the name of free speech – and were met with criticism in their Instagram comments section, including from their own members. Meanwhile, the St Andrews Socialist Workers Society will be holding a talk on ‘How to Beat Fascism’ on Thursday 19th March. I reached out to them for comment because the Reform Society spokesperson alleged that one of the protesters from the incident at The Rule is ‘linked to the socialist workers party society [sic]’, but they have not responded.
The University of St Andrews Scottish Independent Society released a statement saying that ‘political disagreement should always remain respectful’ but condemned Reform UK as ‘abhorrent’ and confirmed they will not be collaborating with them, especially saying that it ‘does nothing to help the University counter its perception as a classist and exclusionary institution’.
Ultimately, the fact that the University is condemning ‘culture wars’ occurring within our student body highlights the tensions and conflicts present both across the UK and on the St Andrews campus currently, and it remains to be seen how Reform Society’s ongoing presence here as a soon-to-be official society will pan out.
Disclaimer: this article was written on 19/3/2026, all facts and event details were up-to-date at the time of writing.
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