Reform UK neck and neck with Labour?

[NeatDog]

Absolutely shocked to read that in a poll Reform UK are neck and neck with Labour...

About 25% polling share for Reform and Labour.

I thought Blair was the worst PM ever, but Starmer seems to be giving him a run for his money.

Given the shambles Reform were at PMQs this week - Rupert Lowe struggled to read names from a list; the Tommy Robinson supporters they’ve courted who are now angry at them for not standing by him; Musk saying that Farage should be removed and 10 Reform councillors resigning because they agree with him; Lee Anderson making some incompetent and/or offensive gaffe pretty much daily on X and two MPs speaking out in parliament about James McMurdock’s conviction for violent assault on a woman, then I don’t think it seems all that positive for Reform outside of GB News and X. I’m sure they’re all busy celebrating retweets from Musk, the number of TikTok followers they’ve now got and headlines in The Sun.

Meanwhile, Labour have managed to pass a new bill for children, which will provide much needed welfare and reform (including extra measures to prevent horrific cases such as Sara Sharif’s).

But my opinion wasn’t asked on this specific poll the OP mentions, so there we go.

Keir Hardie founded the Labour Party.

He was dead against immigration because it reduced wages for British workers.

You look at Labour now and they love immigration and seeing wages being reduced for Brits.

Labour have absolutely changed over the last 30 years, they no longer represent the working person.

If Keir Hardie was alive today he would be joining Reform UK.

Keir Starmer spoke out recently about immigration and said he wanted to reduce it. He criticised the Tories for their lax attitude towards it.

Getting on a rubber boat and not applying for entry legally makes them illegal. They did not get permission to be here.

The best way to help Ukraine is for the world to unite and tell Putin to get the fuck back to his borders and stay there. As the world seems incapable of this, the next best thing is to support the Ukrainian people, provide those that can fight the weapons they need, and those that need sanctuary a temporary home.

Your lack of humanity and understanding of the situation stinks of the disinformation that's been coming from Russia. You've pushed to far.

What is it specifically about Farage, Tice, Lowe - three former public school-boys, born into wealth, millionaires (the tax evading type) - that makes you think they represent the working person? We hear a lot from them about the cost of immigration, welfare, etc: how much does their tax evasion impact on the ordinary working person? Let’s see some numbers and figures for that.

Reform have no real interest in working class communities or people, other than whipping up division and hate for votes. Do you really think they will invest in community projects, state education and health, social housing, etc.?

It’s a single issue party and we all know what that one shared outlook is for Reform’s MPs and supporters.

And I hope they are. Well just have to see at the next election. RR is making it likely they will be elected.

It doesn't matter how you enter a country, claiming asylum is not illegal. Illegal immigrants are predominantly visa overstayers.

The Conservatives couldn't take them back to France as we are still in the ECHR. We need to get out and adopt a British Bill of Rights.

The Conservatives couldn't take them back because France didn't want them back. You can't just dump people in another country. When they're on our shores, they're our responsibility.

We're not special. We're a tiny island. That's why!

This debate isn't about legal or illegal, black or white, rich or poor; this debate for me has always been about numbers. The UK IS overpopulated. We need to do something about that. Assuming that we can't stop those who are already here from having babies and, thus, adding to those numbers, we need to do something to curtail the numbers coming in.
It's just basic common sense. Unless of course you're OK with never being able to get a doctors appointment?

Name change fail?

Don't be ridiculous. I rent out a house to people from other countries who are here legally. I'm not racist. I just don't believe billions of pounds of UK resources should be spent on people who shouldn't be here.

So where do the cigarettes come from thin air?

Farage would shit his pants if he was elected PM. He'd be faced with the reality of running the country instead of just flinging mud from the sidelines, which he's made a career or of.

Why would you want to ban a legitimate political party in a democracy?

Do you lock your house when you go out?

If someone broke into your house would you be responsible for feeding them and looking after them?

One of the biggest sources of asylum seekers is now Vietnam. Vietnam is a safe country where Brits go to on holiday.... the entire asylum system is broken. Asylum seekers are now basically anyone that wants a free house and money in Britain.

This should be above party politics. Labour and Tories should be getting together to agree solutions. However neither of them want to reduce immigration.

Not sure why people are replying to the jolly panda seriously, when they're clearly The Thing That Cannot Be Mentioned On Mumsnet Without Being Deleted.

I was a paid up member of the Labour Party and I cannot stand this government. What a mistake I made this last election

For the third time, Starmer addressed immigration in June last year and gave a speech in November where he addressed immigration.

You are confusing asylum seekers with immigrants. 97% of immigrants to the UK are given a visa. Around 3% are asylum seekers.

Many from Vietnam are economic migrants and should be deported. The same thing happened with Albania. We had a lot of Albanians coming to the UK and now send them back. They don't come anymore.

Labour have deported thousands of people since being in power and have done a lot more to address the issue than the Tories.

It's magical thinking to think Farage (who's constituents haven't seen for dust and is suffering a rebellion) will actually do anything.

Keir Starmer says a lot and can easily attack

He also said he’d make the U.K. the fastest growing economy in the G7 and would smash the gangs

So far he’s closer to mixing those two up.

It’s good for him people still put out his statements for him but not much on actually doing it

Banning political parties you disagree with is quite fascist.

Reform isn't a political party though, is it? It's a limited company, deliberately to circumvent the laws governing political parties.

The whole system is rotten and requires a proper regulator. No political party should be able to accept donations from anybody except individual resident UK citizens and there should be even tighter restrictions on campaigning. No donations from companies or foreign citizens. We also need a new law that penalises them so significantly if they engage in misinformation campaigns that this ceases: it should be made a criminal offence carrying prison sentences for the individuals involved as well as large fines for the organisation and should be enforced with vigour. The corruption and manipulation going on through online platforms is appalling and undermines any notion of democracy.

Farage is a show pony not a proper politician- he prances around telling people what they want to hear but can’t actually be bothered to do the job the taxpayer is paying him to do. I think it tells you all you need to know about him that he along with the other reform MPs didn’t bother to turn up to the parliamentary about grooming gangs- he doesn’t care about the victims for anything other than point scoring.

Having said that I can absolutely see why reform appeals to people. My hometown is the poorest in the country and the life expectancy is 70 well below national average. For people in a poor town which is getting poorer, whom successive governments have neglected, I can see why a new party would give people hope.

I don’t think that labour have been in power long enough especially with the absolute shambles they have inherited to have made much of a difference. The media are incredibly biased against Kier Starmer and it still baffles me as to why he was expected to shoulder the blame for the Southport riots.

With regards to no go areas when I moved to Dewsbury I was emphatically told by several different people never to go to Savile town- this was 15 years ago so I don’t know whether it’s still the case.

Keir Hardie died in 1915, immigration wasn't a thing back then, what on earth are you talking about? pre WW1 people were leaving the UK....

I had some great pay rises in the 90s and 2000s, they stopped after the GFC, which was then used to limit them as we entered a period of low inflation and interest rates.

Thatcher took away the wages boards, which helped low paid workers have a decent wage...

EU migrants came and went, most left after Brexit.

The Tories introduced mass migration from SE Asia, HK and Africa, many to to do care work but if we paid carers more, they'd stay in the sector... thats purely down to the Tories.... & they wont leave either, India or the Philippines aren't a £15 Easyjet flight away.

So what exactly is Reforms policy on stopping the X channel boats?