Suella Braverman, speaking as Reform UK's education spokesman, declared that all schools would be required to sing the national anthem and fly the Union flag under a potential Reform government. Braverman, addressing the party's conference in Birmingham, asserted that there is a "need to show our young people what patriotism looks like."
Braverman claimed that "too many" British schools have had seen their curricula "hijacked by activists." She questioned the teaching of topics such as being "born in the wrong body," the concept of racism in Britain, and white privilege, stating, "This is why we need to save our schools."
"We need to show our young people what patriotism looks like if they're going to have any sense of how great this country is," Braverman added. She further elaborated that under a Reform government, "every school will sing the national anthem and our great hymns" and "every school will be obliged to fly the Union flag."
Braverman, a former Conservative home secretary who joined Reform in January, also outlined plans to reduce funding for certain university courses she described as "Mickey Mouse." She pledged that "within the first 100 days of the next Reform government, I will cut taxpayer funding to student loans and tuition fees for Mickey Mouse degrees by 20 percent."
She specified that the lowest-performing courses with "dreadful, dreadful, appalling value for money, poor teaching and zero job prospects" would have their public funding cut. As an example, she stated, "You want to study gender studies? Pay for it yourself."
Braverman indicated that the funds saved would be redirected toward vocational courses. Her remarks came during her speech at Reform's three-day conference, which concluded with party leader Nigel Farage, Braverman, and other senior figures singing the national anthem on stage.