If you voted Reform, I would love to know why?

[AplineDaisies]

I am not here to judge so would just like to hear from Reform voters for their reasoning.

No, it does not.
It is economics, not racism. No country should put their own population at risk. Controlling immigration is a huge part of that.
But what about those who come in with a job? Or that have been working here for years and got their paperwork set? So they will not need benefits ( it is one of the conditions to come in legally, I am pretty sure). Just maybe temporarily, in between jobs.
I say this because of Farage turn on legal migrants, ILR and those who already got ILR.
Isn't it more the fault of the government failing to sort numbers properly (like New Zealand does, for example. They only allow people with the jobs they need)? And not the fault on an individual that follows the rules?
Because it sounds like Farage wants the individual to pay for someone else's mistake.

I am all for controlling immigration, keeping it within what favours the host country. And against illegal entries or VISA overstays. And pro deportation of criminals ( once they serve their sentence, in full). But I cannot agree with Farage take on ILR.

I am stating exactly that voters are not understanding what they are voting for.

The local elections are to vote for your local councillor and choose who will run local government services.

The general election is where you vote for your MP who will represent you in central government on policies such as those being discussed on this thread as what their local councillors can apparently change.

People understand perfectly well what a local election is.
It has been a Parliament election here in Wales, by the way.
Just because voters have decided to vote taking into account more genetal and national gripes, it does not mean that they lack of understanding. It means they are fed up. Of both the old parties and of the people calling them stupid.

Yes and you have not answered any of my points. In that would you vote for a councillor who belongs to a party you don't agree with? Eg vote for reform if their councillor were promising the best local services.

I also pointed out that people are using this to make their stand and show what matters to them. It is going to speak out to Labour that they are not happy with things as they stand.

Exactly. I'm welsh also, so it was different for us, but it is obvious the english people are voting to show they are no longer supporting Labour and how things are going.

It doesn't mean people are thick and not understanding what they are voting for, they are making their opinions known.

Labour will be using these results as an indicator for how things are going. They are not going to dismiss it thinking 'those voters just don't like how their bins are collected', they know, the media know, that these votes are about more than that

I’ve posted a link to an article by Rick Wilson of the Lincoln Project. He’s a former Republican Strategist (ad man really) and I would imagine still considers himself a conservative. American commentators often don’t really ‘get’ UK politics but he seems to have done his homework on our local elections. The article is really written for and to the Conservative Party in the UK but it’s a good (if sobering) read generally.

https://bylinetimes.com/2026/05/08/rick-wilsons-warning-from-america-nigel-farage-will-be-your-donald-trump-unless-you-act-now

Yes I would if I thought they could do a better job at dealing with local issues. For example Labour have ran my local council for a number of years yet flytipping has been a consistent and severe problem which is strictly a council issue not central government. If a candidate outlined explicitly what they would do to tackle this, I would vote for them. If a local councillor candidate based their manifesto on their party's central government policy proposals I would not vote for them as it would be clear that they didn't understand the role they wanted.

For example, a Reform candidate stopped me in the street last week to talk about how he was going to "stop the boats" which is not within his gift yet some may believe it is and vote for him on that say so. I have attached the official manifesto for my local Reform candidate... Not a word on how he will tackle central government issues, just those within his control as per the position he was running for......

If the general public are so unhappy with Labour why did they vote them into power over the Tories and Reform less than two years ago to be the people who will actuallt deal with central government issues such as immigration that people so deeply care about? That would have been the opportunity for voters to say they are not happy and wanted Reform in power to deal with immigration right?! Presumably at the time the majority of voters agreed with Labour's policy on the matter. Or did they just vote Labour to show Tories they were unhappy but didn't really mean it?

Manifesto of my local reform candidate focusing on local government issues

local councillors share the blame on this as they have brought “Westminster” politics to local government. My local council/councillors are ideologically driven. They see it as their role to support and follow government policy. Some might say slavishly. The thing that annoys local people is that they don’t just stick to the key issues like potholes. The local council is divided along party lines. They sit in their separate groups facing each other at council meetings like at Westminster.

You can’t then blame the public for reflecting this in now they vote.

Perhaps you’re part of the problem. You are being so condescending in your reply by personally insulting this poster for their non use of paragraphs on a forum. Really?

I don’t know what party you voted for and I don’t particularly care. If you have a problem with reform voters and you wish to re-educate them, treating them like a lesser uneducated human is not going to help matters. You’re driving them away from having any useful conversation.

I’ve said it on here before, I understand how we got here with Reform, and the majority of my anger and focus is on the people who lead and fund Reform - the millionaires and billionaires who are no friends of working class communities like the one I’m from, but will divide and weaponise while they cash in.

Already, I’ve seen reports of recently elected councillors who have previously stood for the BNP, one who said Nigerians should be melted to fill in potholes and another who said the Holocaust was a hoax. These people are heinous, and I’m sure as the days go on, there’ll be more of this. Reform’s vetting process clearly isn’t up to scratch, but these people obviously feel emboldened by Reform and believe their values fit with Reform. And in local elections, these people and their views will already be known by some or many who voted for them. At some point, Reform voters also have to also acknowledge that this is who is in their party and take responsibility for who and what they are voting for. You can be concerned about immigration and also not vote for racists like the examples given who were elected by Reform voters last week.

i think what you have to do in this case - if you can be bothered - is to get on to them (get your friends and family to do the same) about the bins and the post.

Don't mention the other things at all until you get an answer.

To the people criticising reform voters saying it's not a general election it's about pot holes 😂 I would say the same applies to the greens and Gaza.

while that is true, the question in the subject and the OP relates to Reform.

If these elections were only about local issues and potholes KS would not be in a situation where he may have to be dragged kicking and screaming from Number 10.

Well let's hope Reform deport you all soon! The UK does NOT want ignorant racists!

😂 Good morning to you too.

No, they are thick, because the billionaires and millionaire Reform funders want to do away with the NHS and publicly funded social services. If you aren't a millionaire, you are a moron- check your bank balance if you are uncertain.

I think it's quite interesting this thread. People are calmly explaining in great detail about WHY they have voted in the way they did.

Yet the response is very often 'you stupid thick racists'. No proper debate. No reflection. No ability to listen, consider, or even treat others with respect. That's coming from one direction only. An astonishing lack of critical thinking, respect and ability to engage in educated debate certainly is being demonstrated on this thread..... and that's writ large UK-wide with Labour supporters saying ; 'How did this happen?'

And 30 pages in, no further response from OP. Quelle surprise. Just another goady post.

No doubt, but that’s a legacy of empire. We taught the world English and made out that we came from a green and pleasant land and they took us at our word.

This!
How are we going to get anywhere if we cannot debate?

What an educated argument 😂

Fare enough.

A lot can change in 2 years. How could the voters then have not been happy with how labour would run things, when they hadn't been in power for over a decade. Think a lot of the votes then were to get the Conservatives out. A local labour MPs socials leading up to the voting were all just saying 'end the Tory cost of living crisis', without giving any reason whatsoever to vote labour instead. People were lapping it up. A few of us would ask what will you be doing any better and got no reply.

Since that last vote labour have made many a move that masses may not approve of. For example ending the 2 child benefit cap, setting the tax bands up to 2030, the pensioners warm home discount. All those things spoke loudly. Some people may agree with them, but many not. They also said they would get a grip on immigration, but they have not done so well with that so far. They have now dispersed them even further into communities before they have been processed.

They got 2 years to sort it out and get their support back. Fingers crossed

if i were a working class (young) man out of work, outperformed (academically) by girls at school, competing with better qualified people for the few jobs that are available, looking online seeing the stuff coming out from the manosphere about how the libs and women have ruined my life? Seeing all the online stuff, and goady headlines in the likes of the Mail, about how illegal immigrants are coming over here raping our women and sucking up all the resources?

I'd probably vote reform too. Or if i was a young woman married to that working class bloke? i might vote reform too. Because - despite the bins not being emptied and the mail not being delivered - reform (locally and nationally) are banging on a drum that speaks to me.

I may be worried about what they are saying about how the NHS is going, but i might assume that being a white brit I'd be ok, and that if all the foreigners got sent elsewhere, it might not be necessary to privatise ALL the parts of the NHS.

If i were either of those two, i would not care about gaza or Iran (beyond prices going up) i wouldn't care too much about gender issues, or toilets or anything (unless it affected my kids at school) so the Greens and Labour and the Liberals wouldn't even come under consideration. I may consider a really right wing hardcore Tory, but generally? I would be voting Reform. Because they are promising to solve all my problems.

@AngryHerring but many immigrants do live in poorer areas so I don't think they need the mail to tell them anything I think they live and see it.