Independent MP Rupert Lowe has announced he has launched a new political party. The Great Yarmouth MP formally launched his “national political party”, Restore Britain, on Friday night.

He took to X, formerly Twitter, to announce the news in a post that in just a few hours clocked up 2.4million views.

He said: "I am today launching Restore Britain as a national political party. Join us."

Along with his 13-word declaration, he also posted a seven-minute video, which said that "what is necessary will be incredibly painful."

He also took a swipe at Nigel Farage's Reform UK, saying that his party won't include "failed ministers" or those "tainted by failures of the past."

Mr Lowe then said the first priority of his party is to "control who comes to our country - and more importantly who stays in our country."

He said the party "won't just stop mass migration" but "will reverse it" and that every single illegal migrant will be detained and deported.

As well as migration, he covered benefit reform, business creation, energy bills, regulation, tax and the importance of Christian values in his broadcast.

Restore Britain was initially set up as a “political movement” by Mr Lowe after his fractious exit from Reform UK. It is now expected to act as an umbrella political party, with locally based political parties as its partners.

Mr Lowe, for example, will stand again for the Great Yarmouth constituency with local party Great Yarmouth First, which will be a partner for Restore Britain.

Senior Conservative figures Susan Hall and Sir Gavin Williamson had been involved in an advisory board for Restore Britain when it was described as a political movement.

It is unclear what Mr Lowe’s decision to launch Restore Britain as a political party means for their involvement in the project.