The Clacton by-election, explained

Featured candidate

Kai Stephens — British Democrats

Stephens says he is standing to shift the national debate “from talking about controlling immigration to reversing mass immigration and safeguarding our demographic future”, and that “the people of Clacton weren’t given a serious choice”. He has said he is targeting a minimum of 400 votes.

Kai Stephens, 21, is the British Democrats' candidate and the party's Norfolk branch organiser. He lives in the Norwich North constituency. He was previously active in Patriotic Alternative, and then in Homeland, a 2023 split from it, which he is reported to have left saying its strategy had become “too sensible”. The British Democrats are a nationalist party launched in 2013, which campaigns under the headings “Stop the Invasion”, “Save Our Nation – Remigration” and “Homes for Britons”. In July 2026 the anti-fascist magazine Searchlight, which describes him as a fascist, reported that he had deleted social media posts during the campaign.

What he is standing on

• Campaigns for “remigration” — returning migrants to their countries of origin, which he describes as “reversing demographic change”. His campaign slogan is “migrants out, tourists in”.
• Says he would spend his first 100 days making Clacton a tourism destination, cutting VAT and business rates to reduce the cost of visiting and create jobs, and directing attention to neglected areas including Jaywick.
• Says roughly 90% of constituents he has spoken to raise demographic change, and that he has personally contacted more than 500 residents.
• Stands on his party’s platform of “economic nationalism”, prioritising housing for British citizens and opposing greenbelt development.

See the full entry and sources →

This candidate is featured at the top of this site by the site's editor. It is not an endorsement, and no other candidate has been given the same prominence. Positions are quoted from his own campaign statements and from published reporting, both linked above. Every other candidate on the ballot is listed below in ballot-paper order, and any candidate can request the same treatment — see the about page.