Reform winning big

[Keirawr]

Reform had a good night, winning county councils, probably will win a mayoral seat and won the parliamentary by election also.

You don’t have to be a Reform voter to acknowledge that they are taking votes off Labour. Or that they are being electorally effective.

No doubt the ‘basket of deplorables’ crowd will be along in a min with their usual quips calling reform voters names, having learned absolutely 0 from Brexit. Insult the voters at your peril.

These same people also totally miss the point that winning is winning. Feeling all moral and superior about ‘oh well, what will they actually do’ changes nothing.

Perhaps those who label everyone that wants immigration limiting as ‘racist’ Will think again. But likely not.

cheap doors !

Why don’t you explain to us instead of being lairy?

I would love to hear a calm Reform supporter explain what the attraction is and how you see the medium to long term pan out.

The denial on this thread 😁. The numbers speak for themselves .

I find the move to the right scary it’s happening over huge parts of Europe. Left leaning intelligentsia always look down on groups like reform. We all get one vote regardless of it we have researched parties and understand policies or have almost zero understanding. The refusal to tackle immigration is at the root of all this, I write this as the DD of immigrants who arrived in 1959.

It is even more worrying that people cannot see what is in front of them. What has happened is real. It happened. It is not a debating point about something that might or might not occur.
Will Labour continue or will it modify it's policies? That is a debate to anticipate.

There’s always protest votes at council elections though isn’t there? Labour used to always win when Tories in power and it doesn’t necessarily mean they will win at a GE. Having said this, not to take away from reform because they are obviously presenting themselves as a better option than the Tories at the moment.

Bloody hell Farage is annoying though. I can’t imagine what kind of shit show would result if he ever does make PM.

Ok so I’m not a reform voter and unlikely to be.

but dismissing everyone who voted for them as racist or stupid is EXACTLY why they are enjoying success right now. People’s genuine concern about issues like how quickly and drastically immigration has changed their communities are not being addressed - but dismissed.

let’s not forget that the areas affected by large influxes of asylum seekers into their communities are not likely to be the affluent and comfortably off, rather those who already had it quite tough already.

and we wonder why they are pissed off and voting against the traditional political offerings??

I despise Reform and their brainless voters (sorry OP!) but there are reasons why they are gaining popularity that the main parties are ignoring.

I don’t think anyone CAN deny the numbers. The results are the results. It’s a big swing in most places. I don’t understand why, though.

That’s what I’ve been saying, but those numbers are worse than just a protest vote.

Not sure how Reform are wining 'big' when most councils haven't even started to count yet.

It’s clear that Reform is really appealing to large groups of people. They know things aren’t working and they want an alternative. Immigration - both legal and illegal is turning into a massive issue in this country. It’s not racist to say that we need to plan this better and we really do need to stop these boats every day. It’s not racist to not understand why this is so difficult and why it’s not higher in any government’s agenda. I say this as a left leaning liberal! But I can see it all around me, Reform are saying what lots of people want to hear and so of course it is appealing. Labour does seem to not be saying anything that will improve the lives of us normal people- they need to get back there and start to understand a bit better.

'No doubt the ‘basket of deplorables’ crowd will be along in a min with their usual quips calling reform voters names, having learned absolutely 0 from Brexit. Insult the voters at your peril.'

What I learned from Brexit. Well. It's caused huge amounts of damage to the UK economy. And we need to ally ourselves with the EU because our' special relationship ' with the US appears to be dead in the water. Of course we had a great relationship with the EU prior to 2016, enabling us to trade easily with other EU members, and having the clout of a large trading bloc behind us. Is that the kind of thing you meant?

@Leafy74 don’t you think everyone should have a say?

calling those you disagree with “brainless” suggests you think those whose vote you disagree with - and their right to do so - isn’t as valid as yours.

Which is undemocratic, insulting and totally proves the point I was making in my previous comment.

Assume this is tongue in cheek as winning local elections would preclude this from being a plausible statement.

I’m stepping in - because winning big is a very well known expression, and maybe it is slang but since when did the MN police moderate slang?! Given how often it’s used on here!

You are being petty and spiteful, and your attitude is the VERY reason people will vote for Reform, because they are entitled to respect, to be listened to and their view is just as important as yours, however they express it. I see this undercurrent of devaluing and it’s deeply unpleasant and so divisive. .

Good grief.

Are you saying that some people are that thick that they'll vote Reform because of name calling?

Aside, a poor result, just 6 votes and on a turn out of just 46%

Yes they won but this is a by-election and Reform have failed to win several Mayoral elections.

Amazing that Jenkins is thanking her sister, rightly of course but who was in a coma 18months ago, AJ is standing for a party that wants rid of free at the point of use healthcare.

I think we tend to underestimate Reform as a pair of the media and political.elites live in communities and exist in circles where there is an absence of the British working class viewpoint or a sneering disdain. Television executives are in a bond trying to determine how much air time Reform get given a lot of their output generally is about supporting diverse communities and equating immigration reduction to racism.

There is an under emphasised attitude amongst many British people that there are significant threats to perceived British culture and the rise of reform is a symptom of the failure of multi culturism where to some they feel inclusion of other faiths and cultures has come at the expense of having to denigrate our proud history and culture.

You can feel the mood of the country people are genuinely fed up with the slippery self serving power hungry lying politicians from the three party system. I'm certainly cynical to see if Reform perform any better in power - I have my doubts, but people obviously want their voices to be heard rather than be mocked and putdown and have voted against the established three party system. Westminster and local council authorities only have themselves to blame for us arriving at this point.

This is why it is important to use your vote and use it wisely. So many people are completely disenfranchised with the political system they don’t vote and then that massively helped parties like reform when they win by 6 votes.

They want insurance based healthcare? Or 5 truly awful MPs who are the lowest of the low? Or is it immigration? My money's on immigration.

they don’t get much more slippy and self serving than Farage!

I think the bigger story here is the demise of the Tories...

Unfortunately, I am in the Runcorn and helsby constitutency. Reform won by 6 votes.

I am absolutely devastated.

The turnout was actually less than last year.

If the wankers who voted for them, think they are going to make brown people disappear, they're mistaken.

Reform will do absolutely fuck all for our borough.

I'm yet to hear one of their policies other than 'labour are rubbish'

I feel like moving.