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.

Surely the answer to this is to ensure it doesn't affect women's long term financial stability to look after their own children (rather than paying someone else to) for a relatively short period of time?

I suspect the benefits to child mental health would save a huge amount of money. Do you know how CAMHS can't cope?

The discrimination against women who've had a break is horrible, but they all still have the same qualifications and experience as they had before. Plus additional skills.

Somehow discrimination against mothers is baked in - why are we accepting this?

I largely agree, but why is there not any effort to ensure everyone has a decent income then (against living costs)? The answer is surely for everyone to be well to do - how can that be achieved?

Of course if there aren't enough resources people will fight each other for them.

People in well to do areas might feel differently if they couldn't feed their kids.

Any one who believes Reform is the party for women and women's rights needs their head examined. They are the party who want to scrap the Equality Act, which enshrines pregnancy and maternity rights, as well as women's employment rights.

They also want to pull us out of the ECHR which would remove your right to a fair trial, free speech, peaceful protest, the right to vote and participate in democratic elections, freedom from torture at the hands of government bodies/police/state institutions, the right to liberty (no detainment without due process), the right to freedom of thought and opinion (even if they are unpopular- within legal constraints) - you think you are being silenced by "the elites"? Just you wait.

You might be thinking that yippee, I don't want my enemies to have any of that stuff, but it won't just apply to them. It will apply to everyone. Voting for Reform is voting for the removal of your own rights and the rights and freedoms of those you love.

So he needs to claim pension credit then instead, and that could work out better in the long run.

He's been means tested. If he needs the payment he will get one way or another.

I think people who are comparing the way Ukrainians were viewed and undocumented immigrants are viewed and blaming it on race are missing some important elements:

1. most of the people coming from Ukraine are women and children -the men largely stayed to fight, this accords with a deeply held understanding in British culture - women and children first
2. Many undocumented immigrants are young men, where are the women and children? - few and far between - this men first attitude jars with many British people.
3. As Ukrainians are European they have a shared history due to proximity this means that values and norms are much more closely aligned do integration is more easily achieved.

Well it didn’t take long for Andrea Jenkyns to become embroiled in a race row did it. Storming out of an interview after insulting a rival for having ‘an accent’

He’s not entitled to pension credit. The pension credit cut off is a very low amount and he’s just over it. So no, people who need it are not getting it.

It's a few lousy council elections. The way the BBC are wanging on you'd think that Farage was PM already. They really do love him don't they. Laura Kuenssberg (sp?) can hardly contain her excitement.

I agree with you entirely. I feel inequality is the root of all these problems yet people are made to believe immigration is the cause of everything bad in society. The only way to really reduce inequality is to tax the rich, to give those living in deprivation more opportunities and more hope. This is what a more left wing government should do but people are lead to believe that only right wing policies will save them.

Starmer and Labour might want that to be the case but swings like this are in Reform’s favour.

If all I know about someone is that they want limits on immigration then I certainly don’t jump to calling them racist. Some people use the immigration issue to express generalised racism, others are not racist at all and have valid practical concerns. That’s a separate issue to voting for Reform.

Can I ask OP, since you repeatedly mention that lessons were not learned from Brexit….do you mean learning the lesson that large numbers of people aren’t happy with various things including immigration levels, and will continue to vote to express that? That seems a fair point, but can I ask what you have learned from Brexit when it comes to the issue of immigration?

I thought it was supposed to be very rude to correct other people's grammar and spelling on MN. Maybe only for certain people 😉

Do it in a General Election and I'll be impressed. Some good local authority results, a mayor in "Greater Lincolnshire" - whatever that is - and a by-election majority of 6 in Runcorn means sweet FA nationally no matter how Nigel tries to spin it.

I think it shows people want change - don't feel represented by the big parties anymore.

Personally I'm not sure Reform has much beyond protetst to offer - but we'll see.

I am worried about next senedd elections coming up next year and this could impact HE funding with our youngest doing A-levels then and Plaid Cymru and Reform look to be doing well in the polls.

Why can we not have a discussion about politics and voting without a low level descent into name calling. Reform is not my cup of tea however you cannot ignore the fact that for a while now the voting public have been disgruntled due to so many issues affecting everyday life and the lack of vision, the blame game on whose at fault - those thick racist voters - it’s never ending.

And yet as Op right said the same nonsense of inverted snobbery, the usual crap gets wheeled out over and over again. People harp on about brainless this and it’s all racism. Maybe it is and it’s wrong but at the same time if you have devalued and not invested in your country/ countries within the UK as a whole what do you expect. I am not white but born and raised in England and even I knew the Brexit vote would be close, reform winning these elections doesn’t surprise me one bit.

please can we not decent into name calling just because you don’t agree it like an outcome which has been conducted democratically. Ultimately Farage is an opportunist and clearly is in it for the Long game. I am in no way a fan but keep your friends close and your enemies closer. The fact of the matter dear people who adhere more to the metropolitan liberal elite is that there are many people who will see farage as representing them and that’s the issue. Doesn’t mean they want to burn down corner shops and attack foreigners but it does mean that they are politically homeless. Both the mainstream conservatives and labour and the other various parties do not represent what they see themselves as.

so please it’s so much more nuanced. If you have the right to vote no one has the right to deny that of you just because you don’t agree with the outcome. If that’s the case campaign to limit the voting eligibility - oh no hang on wait isn’t that what working class men and then eventually women fought for 🙉

But the party you've just voted for wants to get people back working, and demonises people that don't for health reasons, and you think you should get tax breaks and benefits because you've decided your children are too precious for school clubs, nurseries etc

You fancy not working and being a ' SAHM' ( obviously you CAN afford it so ARE well off - most do not have the choice) , and you expect financial incentives for doing this?

The entitlement is breath-taking!

Your last comment is so wrong! Men and women fought against the likes of Reform! They fought for our freedom which reform will erode!

i realise that Reform’s expenses in an election are covered by the Electoral Commissions rules but understood that as a company it was not subject to the same rules as a political party regarding the receipt of donations, even from outside the UK, to its normal running etc. I thought that was the main reason that Farage made it a company rather than a registered political party. I have tried to check the Commision’s website and Google but cannot find any clarification. I would be grateful if, Etaerio, you could point me in the right direction to clarify this as I do not want to promulgate false information.

As someone from a Jewish family on my dad's side who were targetted by Oswald Moseley's Black Shirts during the 1930's (bricks through windows, violent threats shouted at them in the street) with an uncle who came to the UK on the Kindertransport, I clearly do understand what fascism means.

Why do people put faith in these people, their intellectual rigour is not exactly convincing!

....and Reform have just overturned a 14.7K labour majority in a by election. Not just 'a few lousy council elections'.

@Itsnotmyjobtoeducatestupid I posted this exact same thought earlier. We ignore Reform at our peril we really do. And just calling someone stupid well thats gone well hasnt it. Labour are seen as the party of the cities. They literally have no idea about rural life and all of those farmers who are asset rich and cash poor wont be voting for them. Rural communities are seeing huge swathes of growing land covered in solar panels. No wonder they arent seeing the green argument when you look at your window and you are attacked by the glare! The Tories are just a shambolic pastiche of a party. So yes, wait until you see the results in rural areas like Cornwall and Devon. See how much traction Reform has here. I voted tactically to keep the Reform candidate out in my area but have I done enough? Immigration is a MASSIVE concern for many people. the other parties have promised and not delivered. So guess what people are looking around and voting to give someone else a go at it.

Wales show Labour is under threat too from Reform.

Everyone is fed up. There will be massiv change next GE, massive. Now whether that is successful or not is another matter but the average person is fed up with all the woke crap, overlooking of our own working class etc we've had to endure and this is the FU vote which will carry forward to the GE! Yippeee I say!