To be starting to worry that Reform will win next GE?

[TortoiseMantle]

The polls have shown a consistent lead. Is there any realistic chance of Reform actually winning the next election?

I vote Labour, but it’s hard to see how they’ve managed to throw away such a lead in just a year, and it’s hard to see how their polling improves. The Tories maybe have more opportunity for improving, but we’re going to see a Reform government, aren’t we? Nigel Farage is going to be our next PM.

Labours mistakes ,that should read

Agree about nutters on left and right. We need a pragmatic, not idealistic government. Kier starmer and Rachel reeves would have given us that but they’ve been scuppered by the left of the party and the right wing press! God help us if they don’t pull it back!

Not idealist? Are you joking? Paid up members of Fabian society and you are claiming they aren't idealists!

I wish they were idealists.

What is the Fabian Society?

A Reform PM would be dangerous if they attempted to remove devolution. Asking Sinn Fein to step aside? Aye, right you are.

We really don't need a version of MAGA over here. It wouldn't work anyway as we're too small. So it would only spell international isolation and complete vassal status when it comes to the US. I really hope would-be Reform voters wake up before downing the Kool Aid.

I think you're wrong. The world is so unpredictable we don't need that at home too.

Officially, Reform UK as a party are "largely" silent on devolution. But multiple agencies have interviewed Ben Habib (Reform UK) who regards devolution "as a complete failure at every level".

On a separate note. A majority of UK wide voters now believe Brexit to be a complete disaster. Reform UK is full of the very men & women who brought Brexit about. Reform UK have broken a manifesto promise to not raise council tax yet this week EVERY Reform UK led council raised council taxes.

Reform UK may sing a sweet song to many ears, but so did the mythical Siren. Beware the rocks that they hide.

I'd hope that anyone with a brain (or empathy ...or human decency) would see what's happening in the US and realise Farage has no original ideas of his own and just wants to replicate Trumps new America. That's literally the blueprint.

And if you vote for that you're no better than the Americans who voted for Trump....🤦‍♂️🙄

If only we could learn the lesson of populist politicians who promise miracles, and the moon on a stick. Boris Johnson, for a start. His strategy was always to tell people what he thought they wanted to hear, and Farage is not so different.

We can only hope that having Reform in power in a small way in Kent will show them for what they really are.

My grown up children are already muttering about leaving if Reform get in. Skilled, educated people in their earning prime. We’ll need a few immigrants if this happens en masse.

If they go somewhere like Dubai or Singapore, then you’ll know it’s not genuine.

I knew plenty of Americans that bitched all day long about Trump, but they remained in China to work.

Explain that one lol.

Maybe the future general election will be postponed like the council elections in may due to, due to changes in parliament....

The council elections are going ahead in May except in councils which are to be scrapped or redrawn. Perhaps you'd insist they should be held anyway and then another vote in a few months? Can just see the headlines ' Barmy Labour waste money on pointless election....'

Sadly the narrative currently playing out is that we live in a dictatorship, and the government are cancelling rather than postponing local elections. Despite:

• The government proposing the postponement and allowing each council to vote democratically.
• Three Tory councils and one Libdem council also voting in favour of postponement.
• There having been a precedent set by the previous government, which also postponed some local elections, and for similar reasons.

Our local Facebook pages are rife with 'Keir Starmer is effectively a fascist dictator who is cancelling a democratic process because he's scared'. This persistent twisting of the truth without challenge and correction, perpetuated by the right wing media and nut jobs on social media will be this country's undoing.

In this climate, yes unfortunately I do think Reform would win. Nobody seems capable of applying any critical thinking any more.

Perhaps given that, it was a mistake to postpone the elections? let them waste the money and then put up council tax to cover the costs.....

I hope so. I'd choose Advance over Reform but they're not likely to win at the moment.

We badly need a Reform government not because they are Reform but because they are not Labour or Conservative.

We need a political reset in the UK as a continuation of Conservative/Labour governments is proving to be disastrous.

It may well be that a Reform government proves to be a catalyst for significant change for Conservatives and Labour which may well be the best outcome in the long term.

I would say that's what the LibDems are for but they're shit too.

I don't like anything about any political party right now. I really don't want to be governed by any party available. However, it is important that someone steps up to do the job.

But Reform are now all ex Tories? All establishment!
Were you not around the past 14 years of disastrous policies? Austerity, Brexit, Covid mismanagement?

I think there's still time for Farage's true colours to shine through before any General Election. He does seem for the moment to have got away with those reports of his school racism though.

As others have said, a Reform government will be a disaster. Look at how they are running their councils. They are dishonest and nasty people plus the worst of the Tories. I think if people vote for them, they will live to regret it. We have Irish passports and will probably leave as I will not see my children’s lives ruined by the ensuing chaos. God help anyone with children with SENDs or medical conditions.

Because the people who support him are racist so they don’t care that he’s racist.
They need to go after him for ruining our economy, inciting riots and supporting the Russians and Trump, neither of whom have the UK’s interest at heart.