Reform Party deputy leader Richard Tice recently claimed his party was unfairly barred from laying a wreath at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday, calling it a “shameful stitch-up.” However, this claim misrepresents a longstanding protocol.
Remembrance Sunday Traditions
On Remembrance Sunday, UK leaders, including the Prime Minister, former prime ministers, and leaders of major political parties, gather at the Cenotaph to lay wreaths honouring those who served and sacrificed in war. While political figures like Labour’s Keir Starmer were included in the wreath-laying ceremony, Reform leader Nigel Farage and Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer observed from a balcony at the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office.
Tice’s Claims and the Facts
Richard Tice took to social media, writing, “Why were Reform not allowed to lay a wreath? We got more votes than the Lib Dems, SNP, and DUP combined. Yet they all laid wreaths… Shameful stitch-up.” However, this overlooks an established protocol. According to a rule dating back several decades, only parties with at least six MPs are eligible to lay wreaths at the Cenotaph.
Reform currently has five MPs, while the Greens have four. In contrast, Labour has 402 MPs, the Conservatives have 121, the Lib Dems have 72, and the SNP has nine. The rule allows leaders of the largest party from each devolved nation to participate as well, explaining why DUP leader Gavin Robinson, with only five MPs, was able to lay a wreath.
Protocol and Exceptions
An additional protocol from 1984 states that the party with the most sitting MPs from each devolved nation is invited to lay a wreath, even if they fall short of six seats. The SNP and Plaid Cymru, for instance, have shared a joint wreath since 2001, taking turns to lay it each year.
Farage’s Response
Speaking on GB News, Nigel Farage remarked that his party might have enough MPs to qualify after the next election. He added, “I personally am not complaining, but other people are.” On Armistice Day, Farage also marked the occasion by laying a wreath at a memorial in his Clacton constituency.
You may also like: The myth of trickle-down economics exposed in new study
