Nigel Farage and Reform UK are planning a policy blitz designed to show voters they have a plan for transport, education and dealing with the cost of living – to prove they care about more than immigration and defending Brexit. Reform is to leave its “comfort zone” in the run up to next year’s elections in Scotland and Wales by publishing detailed manifestos for both countries, which will then be developed into a UK-wide policy programme.

It follows claims by Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch that Reform is a “party of protest” rather than serious contenders for government at Westminster. A Reform source said: “You will see well-thought out, rigorous and stress tested policy. We’ll get serious on policy. Because the next election is going to a two-horse race between Nigel and Keir, and we need to show that we are serious.

“The Welsh and Scottish manifestos will give a real flavour of that, because it’s going to be economy, transport, health, education.”

Reform believes it can humiliate both Labour and the Conservatives in Scotland by coming second in elections for the Parliament in Holyrood, which the SNP are expected to win.

And they are hoping for an even bigger triumph in Wales where they claim they could become the largest party in elections for the Welsh assembly, despite polls showing nationalist party Plaid Cymru is currently ahead. Mr Farage is to make frequent visits to both countries in the run-up to polls next May, with a particular focus on Wales.

At the same time, the party hopes to use the local councils it controls following election wins earlier this month to demonstrate what a Reform government would look like in power.

“We are going to resist illegal immigrants being put in the places we control now,” a source said. “And we are going to focus on the day-to-day job which is potholes and making sure the bins are collected, instead of spending money on people coming in to provide diversity training and climate change training. That’s not what people pay their taxes for.”

Polling by Survation suggests that if an election was held in Scotland today then the SNP would be the largest party with 58 seats, following by Reform on 21, Labour on 18 and Conservatives on 13.

Meanwhile, YouGov polling suggests Plaid would win 30% of the vote in Wales, with 25% saying they will back Reform and Labour third with 18%. However Reform insist they can build on this to become the largest party following next year’s election.

The party also claims to have an army of 11,000 activists in Wales and 10,500 in Scotland ready to canvas and deliver leaflets.

Local elections which saw Reform seize control of 10 councils led to suggestions that the area of two party politics was at an end.

But Reform insiders believe that whatever the electoral arithmetic, voters will see the next election as a battle between two candidates for Prime Minister – Sir Keir Starmer, the incumbent, and one credible alternative. It means Reform leader Nigel Farage and Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch are locked in a battle to cement themselves in voters’ minds as the alternative to Sir Keir.

This is why Reform pay so much attention to opinion polls showing the party ahead of the Tories, including a survey by YouGov last week showing 29% of voters are ready to back Mr Farage’s party with only 17% supporting the Conservatives, barely higher than the 16% who said they planned to vote for the Liberal Democrats. Mr Farage’s team believe polls like this can become a self-fulfilling prophecy, as voters hostile to Labour conclude the only hope of removing Sir Keir Starmer is to back Reform.

Meanwhile Ms Badenoch has written to Conservative candidates saying she is “deeply sorry” after Tories lost 676 council seats. She said the defeat showed voters have not forgiven the party for mistakes made by the last Conservative government,

Ms Badenoch said: “The rise of Reform is a clear reminder that voters are not ready to come back to us after our time in government. I’ve previously acknowledged areas where we let them down, most notably immigration.”