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.

And that's fair enough, but I just can't be arsed in discussing things with people on here any more, because I just don't see the point. Nobody ever changes anyone else's opinion.

I do discuss things with people in real life, but I'm bored of talking to Reform voters on the Internet because it's just the same conversation over and over.

If you like the far right and want to vote for them, then it is your democratic right to do so. Just be prepared to live with the consequences.

I'm politically aware and have been around Mumsnet on and off since about 2019 and there's no way that I'd describe the forums as left leaning or Labour supporting in that time. One of the reasons I started frequenting the boards is that I think they're quite a useful social barometer. I've seen more support for the Conservatives in that time, and users seem to be right leaning on issues such as the economy and social security so are prime targets for Reform, and these results aren't surprising to me. There was widespread horror expressed following Labour's win at the general election. Users are possibly more left leaning on immigration than your standard Reform supporter because I think users are generally quite well travelled and more likely to have social connections to well-paid migrant workers because of the circles they move in, but I wouldn't be surprised if we start to see attitudes to immigration hardening here because it seems to be a wider societal trend as people increasingly buy-in to the narrative that problems with the economy and public services are linked to immigration.

Maybe! I looked up the full post and it was quite the rant against left wingers on MN.

This article has just been discussed on Times Radio... there was talk of Trad Wives, Pink Ladies and Northern 😱

Brexit had a huge impact on the type of immigration - instead of EU workers (e.g. Polish builders, nurses from Spain, French hospitality/service staff, etc.) coming here, working and then returning easily, we have seen a huge increase in non-EU nationals and their dependents arrive to fill the employment gaps left by those from the EU who left the UK after Brexit. There is plenty of data and research out there to support this, if you look. And correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t it exactly that type of post-Brexit legal immigration that many Reformers complain about?

Yes well you can rely on Times Radio for real nuance

Do you think the UK is overpopulated, Mrs Bennett?

(my asking is, at this stage, purely symbolic as I know you won’t answer).

The tories originally introduced the expansion of funded childcare. It was incredibly helpful for me as a working parent with 2 kids in nursery.

Now we have Labour who intended to tax the fuck out of me and my pension and use it to pay other parents not to work.

it's highly likely they will form part of the next government

God forbid. At least if they do, they will show themselves up to be the gutless, incompetent twats they really are. Looking at you Nadine.👀

No, not particularly. I think parts of the UK may be overpopulated because of the over centralisation of our economy, and I think chronic under investment in public services and affordable housing etc has helped to fuel a narrative about overpopulation. But I don't actually think that the number of people in the country is our primary problem, no.

You've missed the point, though. I'm not interested in debating this with you for the reasons that I've already outlined. I can see that you're trying to goad me into a debate, for reasons best known to yourself, but I'm not interested in playing that game. I've learned from experience that trying to debate with Reform types and their apologists merely makes me despair for humanity. And I can't be arsed.

Foodbanks are sad. I liked the UK far better before we had them. It was a better and kinder place.

Yes they could be much worse.

Farage has talked about the fact that he would open up debate about women’s reproductive rights. To that I say fck you. It reminds me of the American states who’ve banned and or severely limited abortion. Or even Ireland (Where women don’t really exist anymore because apparently men can be women).

Terrible and regressive, though not surprising of course women aren’t important to these people. It’d be more and more like Gilead, with Reform in power.
Beware.

This.

Its not crowded round me. I’d never live in the SE, it was too crowded 40 years ago.

For someone who allegedly doesn’t care, you are posting on this thread a lot with angry and emotionally charged insults.

Unless you were one of the hungry ones......

Oh I am angry, and I do care. I am desperately sad to see the trajectory that this country seems to be on.

I just don't care what far right voters and their apologists think of me, and I don't see any benefit in arguing the toss with them on the Internet when it's obvious that they're already too far gone.

I hope it was clear I was talking about the necessity of Foodbanks which says something pretty unpleasant about UK society. Previously we did a better job. Now food is a charitable concern. Food is a basic measure of whether a society is providing for its people.

So, in your view, so long as there is technically space left to build, we are not overpopulated and should just continue to build? And you see no link between number of people and congestion, air quality, need for housing leading to loss of habitat, a decline in food security, and so on? You aren’t particularly bothered about us losing even more green space, or the quality of life of each individual lessening as the population grows and our natural world shrinks?

Fascinating stuff!

PS - I’m not voting Reform, not sure why you assumed?

You seem to care very much, if this thread is anything to go by.

I understood what you meant bombastix. I agree.

Yes, as already stated.

Wow. Need we say more.

In the end all these things just get returned. Too far gone, fuckwits, apologists, whatever else is just added to the rhetoric but in return.

Ik you say you don’t care about that but I also don’t see the point in ramping it all up in this way.

No, please don't bother.

But that’s exactly what you’re doing on this thread no? Just throwing around insults and abuse, telling everyone how morally superior you are whilst being hugely offensive and abusive to anyone who doesn’t think like you.

If you really don’t want to engage with posters who don’t think like you, why are you posting on this thread?

I don’t support Reform FWIW but there is only one poster throwing around abuse on this thread and it’s you. It’s a very clear example of why MN has become more right leaning IMO. This site was unbearable before the election if you didn’t support Labour. The abuse and bullying was next level. The ignorance around real life issues that people experience are also dismissed out of hand. It’s a perfect storm.