Reform are getting a shitload of voters

Reform will do ok, but if Farage sees more of a personal opportunity with the Conservatives he'll ditch Reform quicker than you can blink. He knows Reform can't win an election, but the Tories can.

The Tories will need a new leader, and good old Nigel sees himself as just the person to guide them ever further to the right.

So you only like democracy when most people share your political views?

Well I'd make a big distinction between the party members and the people voting for them.

Don't drive more voters into their arms.

We all know that a good chunk of the population are racist.

We would never have had a Brexit vote at all if it weren’t for them and the opportunist politicians who stirred them up (Farage and right wing Conservatives).

I think we should be proud of the fact that their results are so piss poor, unlike in France and the US and elsewhere. You’ll never eradicate racists but you can relegate them to a sideshow.

It all depends on lots of things, it isn't about the number of seats Farage will have no power to do anything but will have a large public profile over the next five years to influence the debate and peoples minds . If Labour fail to deliver the results people want that makes people more vulnerable to Farage and Reform. We also need to be looking at what percentage of the vote they get, not just how many seats.

Not sure this says anything about where Reform might be at the next election. A substantial amount of Reform votes will have been from people who reckoned they could put a protest vote in because it would make no difference to the result. If, and it's a big if, the Tories get their act together they'll get a substantial portion back, and they will also find the people who stayed at home in protest this time round come back to vote, especially when the polls predict a narrower result.

I always thought Labour were meant to represent the working class ordinary people of the deprived ex-industrial communities - places like Blackpool, the Medway towns and Wales - and not the professional middle and metroplitan classes of London, the South East and the University cities. Was I wrong?

I'm not surprised at all that Reform has won votes from Labour as well as from the Tories.

Labour abandoned the non-middle class, non-professional working classes many years ago. Labour now despises them.

Its people like you who will be to blame when the far right start to get massive numbers of votes! Sneering idiots with a superiority complex who clearly aren't as clever as they think they are!

I don’t think it will be just the north. I live in the south east and people are mightily pissed off with small boats landing almost daily - reform had absolutely tons of people volunteering to leaflet for them, run stands, go canvassing. The other parties couldn’t garner anywhere near the response reform has.

that’s what happens when you dismiss people as just thick racists - if you see the real impact of these policies in some quite deprived areas then you’ll vote for your only option.

I agree with every word - look at what is happening in Europe with a surge in the far right. Despite all the euphoria I feel an impending sense of dread for what’s to come in the UK and wider Europe to be honest.

I don't need to. They'd never get my vote.
A lot of people don't ask the 'how' though and perhaps don't envisage the repercussions. They just want a bite at the carrot that's dangling.

@LiterallyOnFire because I believe they are racists and their main argument is brown people arriving on boats hope that helps !

Ask them how they’ll do it, how they think other countries would respond to unilateral action and how our fishermen would cope with no access to other markets that they rely on. Just like Brexit, they’re painting a picture where we can do what we like and there will be no consequences.

Gordon Bennet. We KNOW.

@saythebellsofstclements was just observing that the headline promise will have been influential. She's right.

If we talk to disenchanted people like that we really cannot complain when they do dramatic things to register their feelings. Why would you post that?

Given how Brexit has turned out - despite the cacophany of warnings that it'd turn out to be an absolute fucking disaster - it's a given that Brexit voters are a bit thick.

And all because Doris heard a foreign accent in the Post Office queue.

@cantgetmybreath

Like I said. Just like Brexit. Presuming everyone who doesn’t vote like you must be thick.

Patronising see you next Tuesday.

@pistachioicecream they are a bit thick though aren't they tbh ? I mean if you scroll through social media it's the same people who were convinced there was a chip in the covid jab who are voting for them.

Ask them how they’ll do it, how they think other countries would respond to unilateral action and how our fishermen would cope with no access to other markets that they rely on. Just like Brexit, they’re painting a picture where we can do what we like and there will be no consequences.

Ask them how they would force supermarkets to pay a fair price. Ask them how this would impact the cost of basics for consumers.

They're predicted 13 seats per the exit poll.

They will show themselves up in weeks.

Think how many times Farage has had to sack staff and candidates (across his various parties) because they say stuff that gives them away. It'll be that on a loop.

We just need to find a way to talk to the people who have voted for them.

No one voting for Reform thought they’d get in to power.

Like Starmer saying Corbin would be a great PM when he knew he wouldn’t win.

@saythebellsofstclements not sure what they are thinking 🤔 could be they just got excited to use their new blue passport 🤔or maybe they think these jokers will let them take the muzzle off their xl bullies

Yes, it could be, however the reform policies are utter unfalsifiable nonsense for anyone with any logic or common sense. They can say anything is their policy, such as “zero nhs waiting lists”! Which sounds great and like completely made up bollocks

This.

I think people surprised by the number of votes Reform are getting have not been paying attention to what is going on and how people feel across the country.

There are huge numbers of people who don’t feel represented in politics or that their genuine concerns for the country are being listened to. The signs have been there for years and in Europe too. Disenfranchisement results in the rise of populism.

Calling those people racist or thick is not going to help us going forward.

If they were in serious danger of taking power, they wouldn't attract the protest vote.

It's a bit like the Brexit party.

I think it is really bad, if Farage wins his seat and even half of the predicted seats then just think of how much more prominent and sustained the voice of the far right in the UK will be over the next 5 years constantly dragging the conversation in that direction. Its a huge platform for them and Labour will have to show clearly their is another way to solve some of the serious complaints people have about how life is in the UK for many, many people or we could be like France in 5 or 10 years. The thought that Farage has just won this kind of platform is just horrifying to me and he has won because if you watch the election coverage right now it is clearly "the main story" even over Labours landslide victory.