High Court denies Reform UK's request to dismiss GDPR legal action

The High Court in London has resoundingly rejected an application by Reform UK to dismiss a legal action brought by the Good Law Project (GLP). 

The lawsuit alleges that the Nigel Farage-led party violated the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) by failing to confirm whether it held personal data on individuals and by refusing legitimate requests to delete it. Before the 2024 general election, 1,746 people used a GLP tool to request a copy of their personal data and demand a halt to processing, which Reform UK ignored.

Although Reform UK's privacy notice states that it intends to profile every registered UK voter, the party subsequently claimed it held no data on the applicants. This is despite Reform UK MP Richard Tice declaring that the party utilises NationBuilder, a voter-targeting tool that builds deep voter profiles by scraping social media and commercial databases. 

Reform UK's legal representative suggested his client has a right to delete data between receiving a request and complying with it. 

The case will now proceed to trial. 

Following the ruling, Reform UK must pay £40,000 in incurred costs alongside £140,000 to the Access to Justice Foundation for pro bono representation.

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