Former Conservative MP joins Reform UK

A former Conservative MP has announced she is joining Reform UK, saying she wants to pursue "more radical solutions to our country's problems".

Jane Stevenson, who represented Wolverhampton North East for the Conservatives between 2019 and 2024, made the announcement after Reform's conference in Birmingham.

She said she had left the Conservatives several months ago after losing her seat to Labour's Sureena Brackenridge at the general election in 2024.

"I especially like Reform's work from Danny Kruger on reducing and reorganising Whitehall/quangos and bringing back ministerial power and accountability," she said.

Kruger, the MP for East Wiltshire who defected from Conservative to Reform last year, has published detailed proposals to drastically change the way the government operates, including abolishing the cabinet office, overhauling quangos and agencies, and reforming the civil service.

Stevenson said she had considered stepping away from politics altogether but had "missed it" and believed it was "too important to leave to other people".

She added her mother Joan Stevenson, who was a Conservative councillor for Tettenhall Wightwick from 1995 to 2012 and died three months after the last general election, had encouraged her to support Reform.

Some Reform members from Wolverhampton had been "a bit confused" to see her at the conference, she said.

"But I met fantastic people from all over the country," she added. "I felt at home."

"I do trust Reform will take the radical action needed to finally get to a sensible place on levels of asylum and immigration," she added.

"It's taken me a while, but I will now be backing Nigel."

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