AIBU to be utterly baffled at how many people are falling for Reform after the Brexit mess?

Labour are failing , tories have failed and people want change . I think the media and social media constantly trying to diss Reform voters as thick racists is actually empowering them , us against the establishment type thing .

I think that’s a very strong possibility. I see it as a positive that they gained all those councils so early in this parliament, by the time we go to the polls again in 2029 their incompetence will be on full display.

I knowna few Reform voters including one who has, comically, started to dress like NF 🙄

They are scared. They're not actually angry, hateful idiots (not all of them anyway) but they are scared. And, for them, the appeal is that Reform appear to he tackling the issues that a lot of people are concerned about but other political parties appear to be ignoring.

They're falling for the rhetoric because they felt that someone in power is acknowledging the issues that other parties aren't.

The tories gave us the brexit shitshow though and accidentally bumbled out of the single market like idiots on a wave of racism and xenophobia stoked up by the right wing press. Let's not have short memories about this.

We do have a problem. We have a lot of illegal/legal migrants setting up shops rapidly in our town they are multiplying by the day. I am very worried they are selling vapes(a lot illegal) and Monster etc to 12 year olds - I know because my DS has told me and I am reporting it to the police. The police take ages to sort it out if at all. Maybe they want to lure them in to sell drugs? As fast as the shops are closed another opens.

I am very worried so I will vote reform. We will have more riots if the Government don't step in now.

TBH if I feel like going into these shops and shouting at them it won't be long before a bunch of angry dads go in and start getting physical.

The media, including the BBC, are happy to amplify Reform talking points/views and give their MPs disproportionate TV time. Their proposed policies are never scrutinised and held to the same standards as the other political parties. The newspapers and other printed publications (Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, Daily Express, the Sun, the Spectator and the (slightly more impartial) Times) are predominantly right wing and don't challenge, scrutinise and investigate Reform policies and politicians.

Despite his many years in politics, Nigel Farage has no track record in local or national government. They are now running some councils which doesn't seem to be going well.

Labour trying to mimic or embrace Reform policies is sickening and a big mistake.

This with bells on. The spite and knee jerk ignorance has to stop. They need to show reasoning and sound figures not back of a fag packet done by an intern.

Labour seem intent on pushing people away. All the nonsense about TWAW. Ridiculous.

The WFA being scrapped for pensioners on £11.5k and now going too far the other way. Are they incapable of thinking logically? Why not bring it closer to the minimum wage so at least younger people feel it is going to those who actually need it.

The farm tax. The minister responsible knows nothing about farming, is MP for Streatham FFS. Why didn't they conduct some research first, talk to the NFU. understand that farms return about 1% on average and any tax on land will make farms unviable. Farms that produce all our food.

I couldn't vote for this version of Labour simply because they are damaging. Their ignorance is doing long term harm to our national infrastructure.

Fascists gonna fash. They’re all thick as mince

It's very easy to sneer at reform voters but unless the other parties start listening to what Reform offer and what supporters like about them they will gain ground.

Brexit shows if you ignore concerns, someone offering 'jam' will get support. In the main, I would guess that many brexit supporters don't actually see the negatives as the obvious ones don't directly effect them , ie freedom of movement.

Someone up thread said you would need to be a conspiracy theorist to believe them, ironically the most vocal supporters I know are also flat earth, covid deniers plus all the weird CT believers.

It's not unreasonable to distrust huge numbers of young men arriving from cultures where women's rights are not adhered to for example.

I'm boggled by the way everyone ignores that Reform in = NHS gone. I appreciate it has to change but I'm sure if Labour suggested using European policies (like Farage has suggested) to do it, Reform would be the first to complain.

Older non worrying voters won't be impacted by that though will they? In terms of having to pay more?

I'm boggled by the way everyone ignores that Reform in = NHS gone. I appreciate it has to change but I'm sure if Labour suggested using European policies (like Farage has suggested) to do it, Reform would be the first to complain.

It’s a case of sheer desperation for change, and maybe get the main parties to wake up a little and work for us not international corporates.

Brexit was and is a mistake: but globalisation and selling the country under our feet out was a bigger one.

Migrants are not just a scapegoated group. Unfortunately in the numbers we are talking about they are a problem, particularly the men. Look at Sweden. The Scands are starting to cut down on immigration now.

I live in an area where Labour has never ever lost an election. Average wage is £29k, most people rely on UC to top up their wages. Social housing is non existent, schools are overcrowded and underfunded, the local council are making cuts left right and centre but we have one of the highest rates of council tax in the country when you compare the average wage. You cannot get a doctors appointment, hospital services such as maternity units are being closed so people have to travel further, an NHS dentist is unheard of. Throw into the mix councils from Birmingham building housing to send people down from their area because they are overrun and local people losing their jobs in hotels that have been closed to house immigrants and it’s not too difficult to understand why people want change.

Are Reform the answer?, probably not but when you live in a deprived area it’s not hard to see why people will vote for Reform because they probably think what more have they got to lose. I can genuinely see Labour losing every election over the next few years here, that would have been unheard of less than 2 years ago.

When you have the govt of the day unable to give a definition of a woman, actually denying science and giving credence to the bullying bullshit of the trans lobby, is it any wonder people give up on Labour?

I could never bring myself to vote reform but sadly we need someone (as a PP says, a disruptor) to give the mainstream parties such a scare that they remember what their job is and return to some semblance of intelligent, fact based policy making.

I think people have very different values. Some people want things to be fair and feel positive about strangers and have a view that we should help each other.

Other people see strangers as a threat to them and their security. They are a lot more concerned about staying ‘safe’ and protecting what they have from people who might spoil things.

do you know any reform voters ? I do, in a rural community I work in. They seem
to be hard working and self sufficient. They do not want to share their wealth with people they feel are undeserving. I’m not saying this is right but I can sense what it would bf like to feel very differently about the world

I actually think they do. He is very popular, he says what he wants and does what he wants.

I honestly think they’re all in for themselves in any case, but lately they they’re also all insane!

There are more racists out there than you realise.
And so many people who believe everything they see on social media.
It's all win win for Farage and co.

It’s simple. It’s because of immigration.
The Tories didn’t get on top of it, and Labour aren’t reducing it either. So people are looking for a party that will.

This is exactly what those same people said about Brexit.

I know we're all supposed to pretend that this isn't about people being stupid, that these are all terribly disadvantaged and marginalised Normal Folk, who just want to be heard, but none of them ever say what it is they actually want. It's all vague "country's gone to the dogs" cobblers, and when you drill down to the specifics there's nothing.

Most of them are doing very-nicely-thank-you, but just spend all day soaking up bullshit on Facebook, convincing themselves that the Great Replacement is really a thing.

They did a feature on The News Agents this week at some pub in Blackpool that has declared itself the first official Reform Club. Everyone they interviewed was thick as mince.

One of them even said Brexit wasn't a good thing after all, and he wished he'd been told the truth before he voted for it. You were, pillock, but you chose to believe the snakes who called it "project fear". And yet this genius was still supporting Farage in his latest grift.

This is a social media problem. It's melting people's brains.

Well, there we are, the OP is a political post I agree with pretty much 100%.

I dont think we need disruptors at all. It's incredible how much people undervalue stability when we have it. A long time ago I read an article by a writer who said Britain was a country where you look at the newspapers and read about apocalyptic political and economic collapse, but if you look out of the window, you see a man throwing a stick for a dog. He said he valued that because he'd lived in multiple countries where the opposite is true.

'Disruptor' to me = Liz Truss, ie a dim bulb and the most clueless Lord Chancellor we ever had who not surprisingly had a breakdown when via a stupid series of events and a few thousand party nembers actually had to try to run the country and implement her dinner party 'ideas'. Farage is about on her level, although I'll admit he talks a better game. Thank goodness we eventually stopped having Tory pass the parcel and had a recognisable government in power again.

This isn't a party political broadcast. It's a thread on Mnet. No one is being asked for their vote.🙄

You see this. So do I. Both of us are thinking critically. Farage is one of the elite, as you say, but he has styled himself as an ordinary bloke propping up the bar in his local, nipping out for a fag every twenty minutes. Imagine having a drink with him. Easy conversation. Imagine having a drink with Kemi or Keir. Much harder.

Farage wants to reopen the coal mines in south wales. It’s like they’re picking ideas out of a hat at this point.

It's not surprising people are turning to reform. Tories are finished and Labour full of hot air about what they're going to do. Total fiasco over winter fuel, payments has made me doubt their ability to run the country. And that dreadful Chancellor. They need to get rid of her

I've heard this point hundreds of times since 2016, and honestly, fuck that. I'm not a politician, I couldn't give two shits about trying to persuade people. If someone said the earth was flat I'd call them stupid and sneer at them, not listen respectfully and say both sides have got good points.

And in any case, even if you do carefully lay out the points, not a single one of these idiots ever say "you know what, some of that makes sense!" They just call you a traitor or a snowflake and launch into the remainers' tears memes.

They decided what to do and how to vote (because they're morons) without any reference to others' views - the idea that sneering elitists drove them to it by saying mean things on the internet is just a way to give themselves cover and avoid responsibility. I've never fallen for it and I'm not gonna start now.