To think that a Reform UK government would just be like a Truss on steroids one ?

[Peeppuandpopo]

So all the folk using them as a protest vote against the Tories will just get the usual cutting of benefits, selling off of stuff to huge companies, further privatisation of the NHS, demonisation of anyone ‘different’.
Loads of them are from areas ravaged by Thatcherism (which is basically Trussonomics) but they’ll just get more of the same….

@LoobyDoop2

I don't think his ego would allow him not to.

He'd have become the head of the establishment.

Yes. Their policies make no fiscal sense and are unpractical. Unfunded tax cuts but invest money. How?

And net zero migration might sound good in theory but sectors of the economy would collapse.

@ll09sm
Here are some things that aren't socialist that the Tories have done:
Tax cuts
Cutting spending on public services
Cutting benefits
Privatising public services
Removing power from the unions

I'm sure there are lots more

It's worrying that people fall for this stuff. Hopefully not many will.
People who are poor and feeling ignored by current government should be voting green, surely?

@PrincessTeaSet

Everyone likes a simple solution, or to feel their priorities are being put first.

This is the genius of populism, you can bring a wide range of grievances under one broad belt, even if they are conflicting.

I think the Green Party is portrayed as being a bit woke and m/c do goody.
Folk in left behind areas voted for Brexit as a FU to politicians in Westminster.
Folk in left behind areas voted for Johnson and the Tories a couple of years later because Johnson was a laugh and Brexit was their thing.
Even though those areas were systematically asset stripped by the Tories.
I don’t think the british electorate is that rational.

People thought Brexit was 'absolutely not going to happen'.
That worked out well, didn't it?

Reform are a company, companies house list Tice and Farage as Directors (amongst others), I don’t get how a company can form a Government

Also Thatcherism wouldn't work again as Truss found out. There's nothing left to sell off (already done that), no north sea oil windfall. Also we're dealing with the destruction of Thatcherism and privatisation whether it's sewage in the rivers, high energy bills or scandalous train fares.

Conservatives regard Farage as loathsome. They would never have him as leader unless they want to haemorrhage members.

This. There is no point worrying about something that has absolutely no chance of happening.

Austerity. There’s a very long list as a pp said.

Ahem

find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/05289086

Are people really planning to vote for them as a protest vote? How can you fall for the same scam twice?

Herding up asylum seekers and putting them on planes to Rwanda. Cutting public services to the bone. Forcing seriously ill people back into work and starving them to death with sanctions when they’re unable to comply. Privatising numerous NHS services. Pretty much everything they’ve done, apart from the furlough scheme, is as far removed from socialism as you can get.

Aren't Reform essentially climate change deniers? People who believe in climate change and that it's caused by us may vote Green, people who don't believe that and believe that attempts to reduce CO2 emissions are unnecessary and costly (and possibly part of a global conspiracy) may be more inclined to vote Reform.

Tell me you get your news from GBNews without telling me you get your news from GBNews.

Framing more moderate right wing governments as socialists is rule one of the fascist playbook. I've seen a concerted effort to do this across a range of platforms recently along with claiming that the "far right" label is being misapplied to centrist politics by a bunch of right-wing populists claiming to be centrists to make themselves look more reasonable.

Right wing populist government would be an utter disaster as it has been in the past. Farage would bail as soon as things got remotely difficult and go back to sniping on the sidelines blaming "socialists", "the blob", "woke" and anyone else he can to avoid any responsibility.

Taxes are the highest they have been in modern times.
Public spending is the highest it’s ever been
Benefits are higher the ever before
no public services have been privatised in recent years
Which powers have been removed from the Union in the last few years?

How many asylum seekers have been forcibly sent to Rwanda. Yeah, that’s right. 0. Public spending has never been higher than it is now. The number of people on out work benefits and disability welfare has never been higher than it is now. No NHS services have been privatised - name one that has.

What austerity? Public spending has never been higher than it is now.

I hadn’t realised that Reform is actually a business, with NF being the biggest shareholder.

We should remember that the decisions they make are going to be in their own best financial interests, and not those of the electorate.

Is that because everything is higher in price though?

Yes.
Saying 'public spending is high' does not disprove 'austerity is still in effect'.
Saying 'benefits have never been so high' ignores the fact they are still at poverty levels and have not keep up with inflation.
Saying 'more people claim benefits' ignores the reasons people claim benefits, and the fact the Tories changed the system so that working people are also claiming benefits to top up their wages.

What do you want to do about 'more people claiming benefits'? If jobs don't exist people can't take them. If people are sick they are unable to work. The ideology 'make fewer people claim benefits' can't change reality.

All you would need to do is change working tax credits to a new category and hey presto - fewer people are claiming benefits!

Public spending under the Tories had almost doubled even before Covid and the inflation that followed.

It’s a complete lie to say that we as a country don’t spend enough on public services. We spend too much, in fact. We borrow almost £20b a month to spend on the NHS and welfare and the debt interest. That’s after considering that taxation has never been higher.

This country does not have enough money to run itself despite sky high taxation and insane levels of borrowing. There literally is no money left.

Economic growth through supply side changes is the only way out of it. Truss had the right diagnosis but no idea how to implement it. Sunak and Starmer don’t even have the diagnosis.

Public spending has never been higher. Fact.
welfare spending has never been higher.
Taxes haven’t been higher in postwar years as they are now. Fact.

You can’t spin math. These are just facts backed by numbers you can find on government. Websites.

Saying that Tories have not been spending enough is stupid. And a lie.

The conclusion to draw from this is to stop regurgitating soundbites and question why spending more is seen as the solution to every problem. It hasn’t worked so far.