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.

Does anyone really think shouting people down with 'You're so stupid, you can't even write in paragraphs' (paraphrasing) is going to convince anyone they made a mistake?

People have genuine concerns. Ordinary people are feeling completely fucked over and through a Conservative and now a Labour government it is the norm now for many (most?) to be shocked every time they buy groceries, think twice before putting the heating on and wonder how they will cope if things keep going in this direction. I totally get why people have been swayed and think keeping out immigrants is the answer. I don't think most Reform voters have a problem with the Spanish person who works in their office, the Italian deli, the Indian takeaway or the Pakistani doctor. It's the narrative that asylum seekers are arriving and jumping queues to get housing and medical treatment and benefits that as a country we can't afford. And our own benefits bill too. I personally know someone who has chosen to go part-time because they would bring in benefits to the same value as their full time pay.

I'm in Scotland where we have a different set of problems and at the moment Reform are not a threat, thankfully, but I wish people would engage with curiosity on both sides and we might get somewhere.

No I didn’t for Brexit. But I don’t go around calling everyone who did ‘turkeys’ who are too thick to understand anything, and treating them with contempt and derision. Because I haven’t lived their lives, I don’t know their reasons, and it doesn’t do my good at all to sneer at others who have different beliefs and ideals to me.

That is what started this division in the first place, but you won’t see that.

Most British universities would close their doors without being propped up by international student fees because they can't charge more for UK students because of the fee cap. There's been a crazy number of university redundancies just to stay afloat. They'd be gone without those international students. Those same students can't get a loan from SLC.

Spelling is also doomed.

The Labour party does define itself as a democratic socialist party and Starmer describes himself as a socialist. I guess it depends on what you think of as socialism.

Google Iranian women 40 years ago vs today and you'll see why.

You could ask that same question to nearly everyone who voted in their local election, whether they voted reform, conservative, green or liberal dem, and most will not have an answer about what their local candidate brings to the table.

Surely no one would vote Labour for bin collections looking at Birmingham as an example

First two posts deriding the poster’s lack of paragraphs.

@CrazyGoatLadysomeone writes “[x], is that you?” on almost every thread these days, under the mistaken illusion they’re the wag of the century. It’s totally unoriginal and unfunny.

I am not a reform voter - but at least one of the reasons people are voting reform is because the Islington middle class Champagne socialist cadre among the Labour lot don’t actually engage with their concerns, instead choosing to patronise them - in this instance by seeming more concerned with the much more pressing issue of syntax. So the voter doesn’t identify with them.

Labour’s totally out of touch with what’s happening on the ground and Kier Starmer comes across as a dull bureaucrat, who wouldn’t know rousing, affecting oratory if it leapt up and bit him.

HTH.

I didn’t vote reform. In fact I voted to keep them out. However when you read their policies, I can see why some people do. Some things are vaguely sensible - I just don’t believe they can implement them

But I do want to fact check that very long post.

You said the UK has open borders. Not true. The UK has visa, asylum, deportation and border-control rules; net migration has also fallen sharply to 204,000 in year ending June 2025, down from 649,000 a year earlier.

Many asylum seekers are restricted from working while claims are processed; recognised refugees can work and pay tax. It’s true what they said about the cost of processing.

It’s true that 25% of people are classed as disabled.

Most international students are not eligible for UK student finance. UK borrowers overseas still have repayment rules and overseas thresholds.

Actually that wasn’t him. There were two ‘Vote Leave’ campaigns and the bus was Boris. The other snake oil salesman.

What started the divide is people’s inability to see what is in front of them.

People might have genuine concerns. I have genuine concerns! But a Reform government won’t fix those problems - it will make the average person’s problems worse. And Farage would be a terrible PM. Worse than Starmer, worse than Boris Johnson.

If you were annoyed about the Conservative governments feathering the nests of the richest, you’ve seen nothing yet…

I will ask another question. When given a comprehensive answer, why did most subsequent posters seem to care more about the lack of paragraphs than the actual content? Typical lefty behaviour - to mock rather than debate.

I support reform because I want to see the current NHS system abolished. It doesn't work. Different governments have tried every which way to "save" it and it doesn't work. It's not fit for purpose.

It’s actually a fact that the Dublin convention allowed us to send them back to the last country.

So you will be having another election in your area in around a year once the reorganisation is complete? That'll be a good test of how well Reform councillors have performed.

Exactly.
One of the few posters who have actually engaged and answered the question is mocked for not using paragraphs.
The rest are just mud flinging, as usual.
I don't know how far down the line we have to get before oh-so-superior Refirm haters realise the party and its voters have to be taken seriously.
They are on track to win the next election, yet still posters are putting their fingers in their ears and calling Reform voters thick.
They are gathering ground because voters feel they are not being listened to and this thread illustrates this perfectly.
Carry on slagging Reform voters off, carry on taking the moral highground, carry on calling people names but don't wonder why Reform win the next GE.

And you think Reform can actually DELIVER all of that?

Exactly. Instead of screeching 'racism' why not genuinely explore why? That might get you some answers Labour government.

I was a remainer and still think Brexit was a mistake. But i said upthread why I voted Reform this time. It was to send a message that the Government needs to stop with their shit and listen to the people. Throwing words around like 'racism' around is stupid. I'm also a migrant, and if Reform's plans for those of us on Indefinite Leave to Remain visas come about I will be negatively affected. My purpose this time was thoroughly a protest vote.

Starmer standing up yesterday and saying he will continue with his 'promise' to deliver their manifesto made me think he's delusional for starters and that the Labour government are toast.

Why oh why can't people educate themselves on the thing/party they are voting for? It's not difficult.

Nailed it

I think that the rise in disability is partly to do with austerity, underfunded schools and many young people emerging from their education damaged and unable to work as a result.

Ok this is far too much text for my morning eyes! Had to skim that wall of text.

Something that did stick out was the sweeping statement about reducing benefits for ppl with anxiety, depression and ADHD (I assume you have ZERO personal experience of navigating the UK benefits systems anyway based on your lack of understanding with how difficult it actually is to claim for DLA).

How can Reform practically propose to effectively regulate this area? just strip it bare, is that the aim?

It’s already hard enough to get support, why are you so in favour of cutting from an already limp and underfunded area? Why pick on the disabled?! That’s essentially what this suggestion is. Next thing you’ll be saying it’ll be good for woman not to have equal rights and a progressive idea to play around with reproductive rights…OH WAIT!

Why are we so in a rush to the bottom, and SO gleeful to separate with an us/them mentality? This whole ‘othering’ thing is so small minded - it would be laughable if this constant chipping away at our humanity didn’t have such awful repercussions for our next generation.

Why do you think that killing off the NHS automatically means having a US style system? There are lots of systems in-between in other countries with very heavily subsidised treatment, but everyone pays something.
Good friends are mine are a GP and senior hospital pharmacist and even they think th NHS is broken beyond reform.

And the poster didn't say that she thinks that people with mild ADHD etc should not get benefits - and i agree with her.

I did not vote Reform as am more of a leftie, but on my ballot paper there were no conservatives to vote for - just Lab, Lib, Green, Reform. So Reform was the only right wing choice. Don't know how common this was?