Anyone else gutted about reform ? Feels like it’s going to turn very trump here

[ShrunkInTheWashAgain]

In this country soon

I don't think so. I don't think it matters if Reform are good or bad at what they do.

Look at Farage; one minute he's marching with farmers and the next minute he's pushing dubious cheap US meat.

He's had financial scandals, is lazy, loves Trump, admires Tate and Putin and wants to get rid off our human rights - people love him. He's going to save Britain apparently.

They’ve said they’ll be cutting SEN budgets

And how does that help schools?

2008 fucked us all, but it's the immigrants and not raging capitalism that's too blame for lower living standards and shit in our rivers..

basically

Well, let's see how the 8 (is that right?) Reform controlled councils perform. The proof of the pudding etc. The next couple of years will be interesting.

I had hoped my earlier post made that clear @PandoraSocks But I'll repeat it just to make it clear.

These results have far more potential to herald the beginning of the end for Reform rather than the end of the beginning. I think we would both be happy to see that outcome.

Running seriously large councils and their critical services leaves them totally exposed. Not sure how I can make that any clearer for you

No one else to pass the buck to. Ditto

They can’t blame the government for underfunding councils because in their world councils are spending too much money already. Ditto

Their voters might expect to see their Council Tax bills fall for 2026/27, if not an earlier in year reset given all the waste and savings Reform have said they will find. And will be disappointed when that does not happen, or when services are cut (as in stopped). Ditto

And may express their exasperation at the ballot box which in a number of those councils will with planned local government reorganisation come in two years time, not the four years that these Reform councillors might be expecting.
Finally voters in local elections (or other elections) due in 2026 seeing the likely broken promises and failures in these Reform led Councils may think twice before they decide who to put their X against. Ditto

Are we on the same page now? Because we need to be to expose them for what they are.

It will show them up for exactly what they are.

thinking about it, this might be a positive, obviously not for those living in those areas but we will see the fallout.

More economic stagnation.

We never recovered from 08 & we have an ageing population which is incredibly expensive.

I just wanted to point out that councils in university towns/cities get compensated by the government for council tax that they miss out on because of the student population. People whine on in my city about this, so I took the time to find out about it.

No. I was gutted when Labour showed how much they hated the elderly by not caring if they freeze and by promoting assisted dying to save money on palliative care, I was gutted when they reduced benefits for the disabled and tried to get people who can't possibly work to apply for jobs they physically (or indeed mentally) can't do, and I was gutted at some of the truly bonkers net zero things they're trying to do. But gutted about Reform taking over the councils? No, let the sunshine in.

I don't think so. I don't think it matters if Reform are good or bad at what they do.

I'd respectfully disagree @Maitri108

They have not had to do anything to date apart from snipe from the sidelines, and come up with wholly undeliverable promises. All they've needed to do is blame others.

Now they've got to run 10 large Councils. Serious proper grown up stiuff. Services for 8 million people. Things for which there is no hiding place. Buck stops with them.

Childrens Services with all that entails. Looked after children; fostering and adoption; child protection, SEND; Sure Start centres.

Let's not forget the the Lead Cllrfor Children's Services is legally accountable for the political leadership, strategy, and effectiveness of local authority children's services. So ten of those newly elected Reform councillors are soon going to be squirming when they realise they have that on them.

Schools - places and allocations.

Adult Social Care

Libraries

and of course Highways, and everyone's favourite gripe, potholes. When they magically don't disappear people will notice.

As they'll notice when their Council Tax - surprise; surprise - does not get reduced.

Plus in four of those unitary areas they'll also have bins, planning; homelessness; council tax collectuion; business rates collection to deal with as well.

@boys3 If you think that baggage matters how come people are still listening to Farage after Brexit? It's been a very expensive disaster.

Reform supporters shrug it off as nothing to do with Farage because he wasn't in charge.

Look at Farage's background before elected as an MP. He barely turned up and had several financial scandals but they voted for him anyway.

He has barely done anything for his constituents in nearly a year and Reform MPs do not have a good track record. In fact someone in Tice's constituency said he hadn't done anything to improve things yet still votes for Reform.

The Reform candidate could have been a mop in a hat and they would still have voted for them. Even if they run the council into the ground, they'll still vote for them. They'll just blame Labour.

@Maitri108 Here's the thing. Despite what you may think Reform (or the Brexit Party before that, or UKIP prior to that) have never been in the direct line of fire. Never had to actually run anything. Brexit - quite agree with you its a complete shit show - but Reform can easily blame others. They didn't vote the "deal" through.

Plus with covid, then ukraine, and now Trump its been easy to deflect on why it hasn't worked out.

But now they have to actually be in charge of something and be accountable for it.

Quite big things with implications, though not the most exciting.

Think of Reform as Al Capone; and the mess they are going to make in those 10 big councils serving around 8 million people as Tax Evasion.

You'll thank me when events prove me right.

@boys3 I'd love it if what you say comes true. I'm not as optimistic because I think the councillors will blame Labour and not having enough power to do what they want.

People want them in power to "stop the boats" - nothing else is important.

Going by the way ive seen Reform and some of their voters talking about social housing tenants on Twitter, middle class Mners have got more in common with Reform than they would like to believe!!!

It's seeming more of a class war than politics at this point.
No one wants to point out that the working class are the ones assisting this, they are not the victims. That WC image of the eternal underdog needs to die.

As usual, most of the votes for reform were in working class populations who didn't experience higher education.

This is cultural, and more discussion about this in terms of social class is necessary. I am bog standard MC and feel almost alien in my culture at this point. We barely have a voice.

I’ve been saying this for ages that we really need to get a grip on social media propaganda.

@BurntBroccoli how should this be done?

Yes, Unfortunately they voted the shitshow government we have now in

What are Reforms policies?

How would that work I wonder?

My local council has recently invested in SEN provision because parents kept successfully suing them for not meeting their duty to provide these services.

Suggests it’s all rhetoric to win votes doesn’t it?

Really gutted. Labour aren’t fixing stuff quickly because of the cost of borrowing. Reform are not going to have the solutions magically.

I hope you didn't vote for the shitshow government that we had since 2010 who allowed all this to happen. It will take the current government years to sort out the mess.

Suggests it’s all rhetoric to win votes doesn’t it?

just a bit

I didn't give any reasons for my delight, so it's quite odd that you say you're delighted for different reasons. Do you always make assumptions about people and their beliefs? And who are "people like you presumably"? And before you say Reform voters, that isn't me.

Think deeper @boys3 and don't pass on your inability to see past your own prejudices to your (presumably) 3 boys.

The people voted in will have jobs to do. They will be the same as anyone starting on something as a party gets more positions. There’ll be learning curves etc as there were for current gov when they got in.

It might have impact but I think it’s underestimating the key driver for Reform votes. Which is failure on smash the gangs. That redirects politics for all parties. And even makes FPTP difficult when five parties are at same push level.

My hope is that they are utterly useless as a party in the local councils so by the time we get to general elections again everyone will realise they are shite. It should be a big big awakening for the main parties to listen and do better

They have a free at the point of service NHS to
lose with Reform which will be a biggie for most.