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.

The obsession is palpable.

How about voting for a party with a realistic project for improving the country, and the experienced politicians and public servants to deliver it,

Which party would that be?

How much is Labour spending? More crossing, means higher accommodation, sending a few on flights for headlines costs a fortune, millions to Libya and o/s, more for an ‘elite’ border force. It’s costing a huge amount don’t worry.

I read their manifesto this morning. They’re going to ensure no waits on the NHS. More doctors. More nurses. More police. More affordable housing. Less tax. Less inheritance tax. Little to no stamp duty. Sounds dreamy…

and totally uncosted and unworkable. If it were that easy I’m pretty sure Labour or Conservatives would have done all this and been the heroes of the UK.

Faults like the small matter of him being proven to lie to the British public while PM 🤦‍♀️

It is. Australia is quite nice as it goes. It’s probably not an option for that poster.

I’m a solid Labour voter and generally consider myself pretty left wing or at least centre left, but even I can find things in the Reform manifesto that resonate with me. Most people don’t agree with all policies a party puts out, but they make a judgement on what the important things to them are and that hugely depends on life circumstances too.

If I had different life circumstances, if I was living in poverty or had children who required high levels of care or any of the many other things that make life more difficult than my life is, then my priorities on what political policies I value most will change. Perhaps I might feel that I don’t have as much bandwidth to give to ‘greater good’ causes because my life is so hard that I want policies that will put money in my pocket asap or that will make my life easier very quickly.

As it is, while more money is always nice, I don’t have to worry about being homeless or not being able to pay basic bills, so maybe I’m able to shift my focus and say ‘Well yes that policy would give me more money but I don’t find the immigration policy aligns with my values’ and make a different decision.

So many people are struggling financially right now, they will latch onto whatever policies or parties they think will be able to make their life easier.

I mostly vote Labour because I generally align with their policies on health, education, social mobility, welfare etc. Not so much this time around for this version of Labour. This time I voted to get the Tories out. Next time I may voteLabour or Lib Dem or Plaid Cymru. I might even vote Tory if it was needed to keep Reform out of power. Depends on how things look in 2029.

See, I am happy to explain which policies attract me and my reasons for voting. Reform voters never want to (beyond immigration) and get very defensive and cross when probed.

Reform are subject to the same legal rules on donations as other political parties. Check the Electoral Commission website.

I dunno, why you are asking me? I don't vote Reform so I've never looked.

Oh, the Aus thing is just to tease people. I will stop now and never mention it again as I don't want to cause upset.

Even though I can understand why some would be drawn to Reform because of their concerns about immigration, electing a right-wing populist party has never turned out well, as history has shown us.

The Tories, through pandering to the whole Brexit Referendum/Immigration thing have basically allowed the reactionary part of their voter base to destroy their own party by legitimising that far right immigration obsessed angle.

In political terms, Nigel Farage is to the Tories what Jeremy Corbyn was to Labour. The difference being that Farage (and his successors) can’t ever be made to go away.

The best the Tories can hope for is to make Farage their leader - but of course by doing so they’ll basically become the Reform party in all but name (staining their reputation for decades) and will almost certainty lose any election with Farage as leader anyway, as the left will unite under a moderate Labour leader like never before.

And then Farage and his ilk will go back and sulk about some conspiracy of the left/woke elites and the whole cycle will repeat!!!

Lower immigration and more nurses will be a fun equation to solve.

Thing is… I get it. The net immigration of a million a year is clearly unsustainable. And yet it persists because no party, including reform, is willing to seriously engage with how our economy functions with it, and what the cost of not having that incoming labour looks like for the average person.

So afraid of a party who advocates Rule Britannia etc? Have you thought about a move to Australia or is a touch of the commonwealth triggering to you?

Apologies. Got wrong end of the stick.

The fact that Reform are the party Elon Musk is championing for the UK should get some warning claxons going surely!

The UK was a net recipient of asylum seekers under the Dublin Regulation. In our last year of membership (2020 transition year) we made over 8,000 return requests and EU countries accepted 105.

"In 2017 under the Dublin Regulation 314 migrants were transferred out of the UK and 461 migrants were transferred to the UK. The year before the numbers were 362 and 558. Dublin didn't work. Labour aren't serious."

https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1800425/yvette-cooper-labour-migrant-returns-deal-eu

‘People’ what all Australians?

Yep I’d say you’ve tried with the personal digs enough already.

I really hope Reform win the next election.

There are still plenty of feet that need shooting.

At this point the only way to deal with the electorate that believe Farage is the answer to their problems, is to give them Farage.

It's a protest vote, although if voter's councils go to shit then they have nobody to blame but themselves.

I think it is quite good to get this out of the way now rather than later. Let's see what Reform actually has in terms of expertise and what they actually do and if their ideologies work. I doubt it - see USA.

A good message for Labour. Stop taking from the vulnerable and poor and start making wealthy people pay their fair share. Not talking the middle class or those on a good income here, but large corporate tax dodgers and oligarchs. Probably will never happen, but this is what people want. Labour need to change - people didn't vote for austerity.

My husband is absolutely deathly scared of snakes🐍 so not really an option. I am very happy where I live, so not sure why I'd move, anyway.

How about voting for a party with a realistic project for improving the country, and the experienced politicians and public servants to deliver it

That's neither Labour nor the Tories at the moment!!

@90swithcigarettesandalcohol , After Keir was elected as Leader Labour had several years to think and prepare for a GE. But they came in and act as if it was a surprise. "Oh early days yet" "Give them time"

No they should have been better prepared. They can get anything they want through Parliament with their huge majority.
No plans or projects for constructing a Battery/Energy Storage factory which makes the NetZero claims of Milliband nonsense. Buying so much from China and forced labour or slaves.

It seems the further time moves from WW2 the consequences of extreme right wing parties are being lost from living memory. It’s a very worrying trend that people can & do associate with these ideologies. Sometimes it feels there’s just not enough humanity in humankind.