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

[ShrunkInTheWashAgain]

In this country soon

We always want whoever is in charge to succeed because it’s self sabotage to want whose in charge to fail

But we could never feel this way about Reform. Not their councils and most definitely not their MPs.

But also know there are many people within those councils who don’t deserve their councils to fail.

It’s a moral dilemma. That still needs more thrashing out with H until we reach a place we don’t despair! (It’s one of his jobs to be the cool calm voice of reason sometimes but even he’s struggling this time which is never a good sign)

The results aren’t actually that bad despite MSM making a massive deal of reform.

Reform gained 677 councillors - conservatives lost 674

Labour lost 187 councillors- Lib Dem’s gained 163 and greens gained 44 (ind lost 20)

so the conservatives voters have stayed right wing and the Labour voters have stayed left wing

we just need to make sure that any failures by reform councils are publicised and they dont get to blame their failure on the government.

hopefully voters will get to see how ridiculous the reform policies are before the next election AND Labour get rid of Starmer though I’m not sure any of labours current replacements would do any better.

New reform Mayor Andrea Jenkins vows to sack councils diversity officers - except there aren’t any.

😂

reform are going to struggle to cut anything that doesn’t affect their voter

I am in Kent. I work for Kent County Council.

Send help. We are not okay.

I am so sorry.

All the Reform supporters on MN bleat that they are not racist, but are never interested in discussing any of Farage's policies except immigration. It is the same on every single Reform thread. Funny that.

Agreed.

for some social workers, this will be the final straw.

And whilst not having overall majority in Leicestershire apparently they are going to be in control of Leicestershire county council too, so basically the whole of the three east Midlands councils controlled by Reform.

Labelling Reform as racist is a sure way f building up resentment amongst those who voted or will vote for them, the same happened with Brexit. Reform supporters will merely keep quiet but in the ballot box will vote Reform. People are dissatisfied with Labour and the Tory’s, they feel ignored and forgotten, insulting them will mean they and more people will vote for them. Just before the Brexit vote people were saying those who voted for Brexit were uneducated, didn’t understand, were racist etc etc and when it came down to it in the privacy of the ballet box people thought I will show them I have an opinion. The fact is people feel they can’t speak and censored but Reform gives them a voice when voting.

@Miley23 yes very near in Leicestershire and I think also Warwickshire. It will be interesting to see whether some of the elected Cons will support Reform to give them working majorities, or whether we’ll see some sort of my enemy’s enemy is my friend approach to create a multi-party coalition majority. I suspect the former is more likely.

We're quite lucky round here. Our county didn't have elections this time.😂

I think Labour need to urgently do something to appeal to lower middle class families who don’t receive a large benefit from the government and simply pay tax they see no real return on. People on benefits, pensioners, people with some kind of high level need, are all looked after while working families are basically sinking into a pit of MH issues through work and barely keeping above water. I know some people will pop up to say they’re disabled and skint - yes I know if you’re a single childless disabled person you’re probably not very comfortable, but there are LOADS of families round here who are very comfortable on a mix of UC, DLA, PIP and carers. It’s breeding resentment, and even some normally quite reserved people have said this to me recently.

I am very dissatisfied with Labour, who seem to be Tory lite and on a mission to try to win the right whilst ignoring a lot of us middle ground type voters who just want stuff to work and less corruption.

But never in a million years would I vote reform. Reform will be very bad for the UK in the same way that Brexit has been.

I’m hoping their popularity will frighten the main parties into tackling the deep and systemic problems in the UK rather than pandering, and remember that they serve the people who elect them first, and not corporates or lobbyists.

@Nunaluna agree an easy fix would be to raise the perosnal thresholds for tax let lowest paid keep more money.
It feels relentless and can't get anywhere there is no hope.

Also allow people on benefits to have more in savings.

@Langdale3 the main parties have had decades to address issues and they have not.
We are where we are, it's unfortunate that immigration has dominated the headlines for what seems like eternity but that was never an issue when I was growing up so what changed.

I’m sorry, must be an anxiety inducing place to be, I’m in a district council in an area with a Reform county council. It’s partly the politics, obviously, but also the fact that they are just going to be inexperienced, with any change in administration there can be a few years where people just don’t know what they’re doing because they’ve never done it before, I really don’t know what it’s going to mean for local government reform, I can’t see how Reform can lead us through that process when they’re on a steep learning curve themselves and many of them clearly don’t know how local government works based on the comments they’ve made so far.

I was working at a polling station and the other thing that was noticeable was just that there were so few younger people voting, there’s always complaints about how older people voted but if young people don’t turn out then they can’t expect to influence things. Same as Brexit.

It’s shocking and awful and just like Brexit people didn’t understand what they were voting for. Within my family we’ve been debating whether they could actually win an election, scary

I'm very depressed about it - I too live in an area now controlled by Reform. Largely, it is the Tories who have been ousted by Reform, but Labour have done themselves absolutely no favours having made massive local gains in the general election. Labour need to step up and stop sounding like they despise the people who voted them in. For once, Labour had the farmers on side locally, then they announced the change to inheritance tax on farms (I know it was being used as a loophole, but it does affect farming families). The area is semi-rural and Labour's proposed planning rules are absolutely gutting the countryside (mainly warehouses and enormous solar farms, but also housing with no additional infrastructure), yet the Labour response to protests has been to call protesters 'nimby's. These people are (often) your voters, you fools - perhaps listen to their worries. Maybe they don't want another 3 mile wide development of 25m high warehouses on prime agricultural land right by their houses, or solar panels as far as they can see?

Reform are going to be crap on the council (I would bet money on it) and have no experience, but they have said the right things to people to get their votes. (I didn't vote for them, but I can see why people did.) We didn't even see or hear from the Labour candidates aside from one leaflet and our new Labour MP is so absent, she appears clueless.

Get a grip, Labour: stop treating the East Midlands as convenient building land and stop pandering to Reform voters with the rhetoric about immigration (as that will lose you more votes in ethnically diverse East Midlands towns where many of your potential voters were once immigrants themselves, or can see the advantages of immigration in their communities).

I’m in Wales so not too gutted but am worried about what will happen at the next elections here.
I also feel like although I wouldn’t have voted reform, we are a democracy and the people have spoken, they obviously feel like the country isn’t working at the moment and want change, and I can’t say I blame them for feeling that way.
Hopefully this gives the government a wake up call

I do feel it depends where you live and what your day to day reality is. Parts of the country have descended into a spiralling paradox of high cost of living against a low standard of living for a huge proportion of the population, this isn’t only just on Labour, it’s also from years of Conservative rule, which suggests neither party are capable of delivering solutions to make the country work properly for all.

Reform have struck a nerve with the electorate just like MAGA did in the US, people are thinking things have only gotten worse under Labour and will likely continue to decline as this term goes on so why not try something else.

It’s a massive issue, one that no party knows what to do with!

Patronising much ???

After 14 years of Tory failure the country really needed Lavour to steer things the right way again after getting. They've been a disaster, have the wrong policies and are all out of their depth. Labour only got in because the Tories fell apart. Starmer has never polled well.

I am glad they are in at council level and so early in the GE cycle, as their actions will actually be seen at a local level, and while they can "blame" Labour for any problems, it will be harder to do that on a granular level than if they were in power everywhere. People want their bins collected, services to improve and council tax to go down (not all possible, I know).
If people have truly voted for active, useful people, then maybe it won't be too bad.
They didn't get in where I am but their candidates here did no campaigning, addresses "withheld", no photos and no policies. They still got a lot of votes (second in most areas) but far from a majority.
If they lose popularity, something else will have to rise from the ashes - hopefully not something worse!

People voted Brexit to reduce immigration. It's exploded since. It's a massive betrayal and why Reform are surging.

This is exactly my point. People voted for Brexit to reduce immigration without considering any other consequences.

People want to vote Reform to reduce immigration without considering whether Reform can do it and their other policies.