Mumsnetters voting Reform

[Illjustplayostrich]

Mumsnet mothers have always leaned Labour. Now Reform is ahead

https://www.thetimes.com/article/dbd39087-465c-4587-9eaa-292606ffb775?shareToken=a99daa444e8bc0f9444cca2bf01f3851

I'm slightly startled by this. I'm a centrist, slightly more right leaning perhaps but frankly I'm open to any government who will get a firm grip on the public finances and go about growing the economy in a sustainable way. My impression of this site is that it's definitely more left leaning and and Reform enthusiasts tend to get shouted down. Personally, I think we should be talking about them a lot more as it's highly likely they will form part of the next government.

My impression is that they are promising the earth but don't have people with the necessary skill set to make that happen. I really worry that they will get voted in and find out that they can't fix all the problems within 18 months, leading to yet more disillusionment amongst voters.

The Times is just repeating information given to it by mumsnet. But I suspect mumsnets ability to actual analyse posts on its forum is somewhat limited and certainly flawed, and it’s therefore just a fluffed up press release from mumsnet to drive more traffic to a creaking forum to try and lift adverting revenue. Sorry, does that sound a bit cynical ;)

The article says they started polling in 2009

‘It is the first time since the Mumsnet political poll began in 2009 that Labour has been usurped by any party.’

Their GPT tool is 2023 on Google

Well said. Every word.

‘The reason the racist voices dominate the debate is because the left wing made immigration such an off-limits topic that non racists are scared to mention it.’

Brilliant. And sad. But undoubtedly true.

Yes, I have the same background. The tories have never and will never be a contender in these constituencies. Same for the Lib Dems.
Its a straight fight between Labour and Reform. I don't really understand why some posters think that those turning to Reform are all ex tories. They really aren't.

Lovely factual info, thank you.

so I think we’re safe from Reform for a while ;)

What do you mean by this? Who are you referring to with "we're"?

Cognitive dissonance etc etc blah blah. 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

MNs is older now as in its users have grown with it & normally older people veer a bit more right.

If you look at the graph below it was very much Labour at the time of the last GE. The age demographic has t changed that much since then. Labour have just lost support.

Agree.
MN in 2024 was a binfire for anyone who didn't support Labour. I'm glad to see different opinions now.

@EasternStandard I wasn’t saying user age has increased over the last few years. I meant since MNs started….

Lots of people just wanted the Tories out last GE after so many years

Yep it really was and same.

Regardless Reform won’t be the panacea to our problems, no one party will.

It’s quite obvious that people are looking for change and why people are looking for change. But Reform won’t deliver that. This is going to be like Brexit and worse than Brexit.
<groans>

None of that is what I said or meant. And my vitriol in that post was for my own party. Please don’t put words in my mouth. Everyone had the right to vote however they wanted on Brexit, since this is the only thing I mentioned that’s on your list. But of course I’m going to find it strange and hard to justify that some people voted to hurt our economy. And no one “regained control of our own laws;” if you want to trade with the EU, you’re beholden to EU regulations. You just don’t get to have any say in making them now. And yes, the fact that SOME (not all!) people based their votes on a lie on the side of a bus, a lie which even Nigel Farage now disowns, doesn’t sit right with me, no. Sources said Brexit would hurt our GDP, thy said it before the vote, and they were right, to the tune of losing 6-8%, and 12-18% of investment.

Nor do I assume people are racists (I didn’t mention racism or religious intolerance in my post at all, but you’ve brought it up). BUT if you’re going on about immigration and you think the issue is mostly about small boats then either you’ve been misled by conservative media, or…? What other answer is there besides racism for those screaming about small boats? Because the facts don’t lie - “small boats” that provide 41K immigrants are a drop in the bucket compared to the 690+K legal immigrants that came in (and 36K were deported in the same period so… 41 minus 36 is… this is why the argument starts to look racist). I have no problem with educated voters who think for themselves. I have trouble with anyone, left or right, that doesn’t think for themselves. Reform the immigration system? Great. And the best way is stopping small boats? No. Just like Brexit didn’t give back £350 million a week.

Brexit source:
cepr.org/voxeu/columns/brexits-slow-burn-hit-uk-economy#:~:text=Brexit%20has%20had%20a%20large,optimistic%20about%20the%20longer%20run.

Small boat source:
www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c70989jrdweo.amp

I have been reading and participating in this site for 20 years. Demographic then was ‘posh lefties’ - now I’m astonished at some of the posts on here that ten years ago would have seen you having your arse handed to you on a platter.

Reform have been cagey about the triple lock which does show some insight. However if they abandon it they will lose so many of their core voter base.

This sort of post is what makes it so difficult to have true political discourse on MN. The same old tropes keep appearing- want to see immigration controlled- you are a racist. Want to be able to discuss misogynistic religions - you are Islamaphobic/ racist. Believe Brexit was necessary to regain control of our own laws- you are a sad, thick Little Englander

The tropes appear on both sides though. I do see issues with immigration but it is not our biggest problem.

Yes, obviously none of this is free and noted on the Tory policies - but let’s not ignore all of the other facts and data on how working families have struggled increasingly under the last government. I don’t want to widen it too much - but things like the closures of SureStarts, education funding, etc., all impacted massively on working families.

And I hear your points on the impact on small business, so what’s the alternative? The same arguments were made when maternity leave, or sick pay, or any of the other employment rights were introduced - so should we have forgone those too? There has to be a balance somewhere.

What you’re also missing are the large companies who are definitely not struggling and are making huge profits. Can it not also be argued that the taxpayer is subsiding them for not paying their workers a decent wage to live on and/or charging extortionate amounts for energy bills, food supply, etc?

Don’t like and didn’t vote for the current government, didn’t like or vote for the Tories, don’t like and won’t vote Refom. I don’t think I’m unusual in this regard.

Excellent explanation

Yes you are unusual. We have historical evidence of the incompetence and lack of concern for the hard working and law abiding citizens by all the other parties. Reform is brand new and while we don’t know how successful they will be in power (ignoring the biased reporting concerning their very short time in local government) they simply cannot be any worse than all the other alternatives.

@carpetfluffs The tropes appear on both sides though. I do see issues with immigration but it is not our biggest problem.
Are you sure about that? The presence of well organised non-liberal non-Christian communities is putting pressure on education, curriculum has been changed, freedom of expression has been curtailed. Music and drama is boycotted by some groups as is sport for girls.
A teacher and family from Batley are still in hiding. A post here some time ago from a teacher who was told that girls who play music are probably prostitutes.

If Education is skewed to accommodate a group then it affects all of the community not just the chosen group.
The religious leaders in Batley who attacked the teacher have never apologised nor have the police prosecuted anyone. So we are open to the accusation of Two Tier Justice..

And the main thrust of your point is missing one great big fact which is that NONE of it is free, it is public money. We all pay-or at least taxpayers do. And while I'm more than happy to pay my share of tax, it feels like we are subsidizing more and more

We are & the cost will keep increasing. What else would you expect after nearly 2 decades of low productivity?

We have had very little investment in skills, infrastructure etc, wages have stagnated, housing costs are a huge burden on people’s income & we have an ageing population. We can’t fund the state pension & the current NHS model, it’s not feasible. Successive governments have used immigration as a prop to look like growth & fill labour gaps.

The can was kicked down the road & unfortunately we are running out of road hence why no one party can sort this.