Reform UK's deputy leader Richard Tice has done a series of quick-fire interviews on BBC local radio stations
Tice says people are "taking us seriously as potentially the next elected party of the UK"
On immigration, Tice says his party has suggested using a "remote location" for asylum seekers rather than hotels
Asked if Reform UK has peaked too soon, he says the party is "making great progress"
Tice says his party will run councils in a "more business-like" way, but since taking control of 10 councils in May, Reform's efficiency unit has yet to find any game-changing savings, writes our political reporter
The BBC local radio round has been a pre-conference tradition for many years. Leaders of the Greens, Conservatives, Lib Dems and Labour will have a similar opportunity before their conferences
Richard Tice tells BBC Radio Leicester that Leicestershire County Council is paying too high a fee rate on its pension fund.
He tells presenter Ben Jackson they are “frankly” not being run efficiently.
“That sort of arrogant complacent gravy train culture has to be taken away,” Tice adds.
BBC Radio Leicester’s Ben Jackson asks Richard Tice if his party Reform UK thinks it might be "peaking too soon".
Tice says the party is "working incredibly hard and making great progress".
He adds that running 10 councils, including Leicestershire County Council, allows Reform to start identifying savings at a local level.
"We’re business-like, we get stuck in and we’re just better at this than anyone else," Tice says.
The BBC local radio interviews with Richard Tice have begun.
BBC Radio Leicester's Ben Jackson is the first to quiz the Reform deputy leader.
You can listen along via the watch live button at the top of the page, and we'll bring you the key lines here.
Reform UK's mass deportation plans outlined last week have come under significant scrutiny, with Richard Tice defending a particularly controversial element of them yesterday.
The party's deputy leader told reporters Reform would consider paying the Talban in Afghanistan or the Iranian government to take deportees.
He said the plan was "in the interests of the British people" and that the UK was "not responsible for all the bad things that happen by bad leaders".
"Sometimes you do deals with people you may not want to go down the pub with," Tice added.
Image source, EPASomething Tice could be asked about is how last week, Reform UK's leader Nigel Farage suggested his party would be prepared to deport 600,000 migrants over five years if it won power at the next election.
Farage said anyone who came to the UK on small boats would be barred from claiming asylum. He pledged £2 billion to offer payments or aid to countries, such as Afghanistan, to take back migrants, adding that sanctions could be imposed on uncooperative nations.
The day after announcing these plans, the party appeared to row back from a suggestion it could remove children from the UK under these mass deportations.
After a senior Reform figure had said unaccompanied minors could be removed in the "latter half" of the proposed five-year scheme, Farage then said this was not part of Reform's plan for a potential first term in office.
Labour branded the proposals unworkable and the Conservatives accused Farage's party of copying their ideas.
Image source, EPAFor those of you unfamiliar with Nigel Farage's deputy, here's a quick profile of Richard Tice's career.
He is a businessman-turned-MP, having made his money primarily working in property investments until entering the political fray with his support for Brexit.
Tice won his Boston and Skegness seat for Reform UK at the general election last summer, overturning a 25,000 vote Conservative majority in the process.
He splits his time between Westminster, his Lincolnshire constituency and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which he says he visits "once every six to eight weeks" to spend time with his partner, journalist Isabel Oakeshott.
Ahead of the election, Tice was the party's chairman and one of its key financial backers. He was replaced by Zia Yusuf after taking up his role as deputy leader, although that change was not without controversy.
In June, Yusuf resigned Reform UK chairman for a brief two-day period before returning in a different role. Yusuf was then replaced by TV presenter David Bull as the party chairman.
Richard Tice is the first senior politician to face the gruelling BBC local radio round ahead of this year's party conference season.
We'll be giving a similar opportunity to figures from across the main Westminster parties. Reform UK are going first as their annual gathering kicks off in Birmingham on Saturday.
So what awaits the party's deputy leader this morning?
First up is Ben Jackson on Radio Leicester, who'll be putting questions for Tice shortly after 11:05 BST, for around 15 minutes.
Then comes Frances Finn on Radio Lincolnshire, Neil Caddy for Radio Cornwall and, closing the hour of questions, John Darvall from Radio Bristol.
We'll be bringing you key lines from Tice's radio grilling, an you will be able to stream the back-to-back interviews at the top of the page by hitting watch live.