Pro Reform or not?

[WTAFMF]

My husband thinks way more people are 'Reform' than you'd think and many keep it quiet.

I disagreed but lately, with the flags and recent march and conversations at school gates, etc. I'm starting to think he may be right.

Pro Reform = You are being unreasonable
Other Party/None = You are NOT being unreasonable

Wondering what the consensus is on Mumsnet..

Thank you to everyone who has voted so far. I place myself firmly in the anti-Reform camp, but I’m conscious that it’s easy to fall into an echo chamber, where I assume my idea of common sense reflects the majority view. That in itself is an arrogant position to take.

@WTAFMF you might find this interesting OP

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/oct/02/could-nigel-farage-really-win-the-next-election-heres-what-the-polls-say

I’m not pro any party at the moment. They’re all hopeless. But, I can see why Reform are growing in popularity, week on week.

But this is the interesting thing. Ds has many international friends having lived and studied abroad for a year as part of his course, has many home friends from all sorts of heritage and they are also feeling the unfairness of it all.

DS doesn't want anyone that has moved, contributed and built a life here to be removed, but they are feeling aggrieved that a never ending stream of young men their age are entering the country illegally, undocumented and being supplied with accommodation and food and continued asylum support if they don't find work after being granted asylum, which many don't. I suppose now that they are taxpayers themselves they are looking at where those taxes are going and the un/fairness of it all. They have seen the Tories didn't stop it, Starmer's smashing the gangs hasn't stopped it. Where else do you think they'll look?

Uni has given them critical thinking skills and they are using them.

Uni gave my dc critical thinking skills too. They are all taxpayers as well.

They don’t think like this.

continued asylum support if they don't find work after being granted asylum, which many don't Now I'm assuming, given those critical thinking skills that have been thoroughly developed, that your ds will know how many don't find jobs - shall we say within 6 months of being granted asylum and prefer to sit on benefits long term. It would be interesting for you to share his sources/analysis - it's not something I have come across yet.

Of course there will be differences of opinion and conclusion - that's what the ballot box is for.

Well that's interesting in itself isn't it? Yes, financial information is very difficult to come by - the government don't make the figures easily available. If the figures were low, you'd think they'd be trilling about them. So we have to conclude, they are higher than they want to admit to. You have to drill down in the House of Commons library information and reports to get even basic info.

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/immigration-system-statistics-data-tables

@logging Also, if you read the Refugee council's own website you will see there's a 40% increase in homelessness after asylum granted which has to be funded by local councils.

40% increase in what amount?
How many were homeless before asylum was granted - I thought they were all housed before they got granted asylum, which is what everyone is complaining about. 40% of nothing is nothing.

There's no info from the Gov, so you just assume it must be loads becuase that suits your narrative - that is not critical thinking.

Reform membership is increasing by the hour

I know there was an issue with nonUK citizen veterans at one point. They would be interpreters or Afghans who had fought alongside the UK troops and evacuated post the Afghan withdrawal. As a general rule, veterans aren't more likely than the rest of the population to be homeless but they tend to have more complex needs. Non-UK citizens are over represented in veteran homeless however. They did change the rules to give veterans (including UK citizens) greater priority for things like social housing to help address this. But this led to angry Daily Mail headlines about Asylum seekers being given priority.missing out the fact they had fought for their country.

Uni has given them critical thinking skills and they are using them.

Not to great effect if they think a hugely complex problem years in the making can be done and dusted in 14 months.

Agreed. It's like whack-a-mole.

Where does that money go for membership?

What powers do the members, democratically, have over the leadership or direction of the party?

I think both the Tory and Labour Party have some degree of influence. Is reform the same?

How can it be the fastest growing political party when it isn't a party?

It will be paying for Nigel’s security after Keir incited violence against him, of course 😉 🤣 didn’t they say they’d need more money for it? Sure way to convince their gullible supporters to part with their cash.

You said that yesterday when the Reform website was showing no information for the last week. 🤷‍♀️

There's no point in sugar coating it. There are only three types of people who will vote reform - nasty, thick or both. They can only see as far as their nose and don’t understand the first thing about politics or what Farage getting in actually means for their future or their children’s. Or worse, they do understand and they just don’t care. The simple fact that this skid-stain of a human admires Putin is enough to turn my stomach. Don’t even get me started on his intentions for our NHS or his face.

This rings very true. Everyone I know who likes reform isn’t the most intelligent of people and has never shown any interest in politics until now. They also come across as very insecure and seemingly are just wanting to inflict suffering on other people.

I can’t speak for everyone of course, but these things have universally applied so far, at least to those who proudly admit their support.

Is there a category for people who are single issue voters on reducing immigration but who have doubts about Reform's ability to execute?

The next couple of years will be important for them.

I dont think that's true.
There's a third (or fourth) category which is basically "politicians never do what they say anyway so it doesn't matter". I know someone who is very sweet and kind, not racist, not even particularly anti-immigrant (just upset about the boat but even then bears no Ill will to individuals) who supports reform. They wouldn't support Farage's policies to eg remove ILR (we know people going through this process) but they just don't believe he would really do that. It's partly a complete distrust in politicians. It's also a weird sort of logic which goes "I support Farage. I wouldn't support someone who wants to do XYZ. Therefore Farage wouldn't do XYZ or I wouldn't support them". The thing is, they aren't stupid. It's hard to talk about it with them though, because if you say he said X or says he will do Y, it offends them because Im suggesting they would support someone who says X or does Y.

Its dangerous, because basically it means politicians can get as extreme as they want because people just won't believe them. In fact, the more extreme the less believable. In America people with immigrant friends/families were convinced Trump was only going to go after the most dangerous criminals even though he had repeatedly said he would deport masses. And then they were suprised and upset when he did deport masses of working people including even family members. It's easy to laugh and say "hah hah leopards ate your faces stupid Americans" but I really don't think it's stupidity. It's something else.

I don't think saying all Reform supporters are stupid and racist is true or helpful. There's other factors.

It's not critical thinking to read that kind of shite in the Daily Mail and conclude that all refugees are getting all the good stuff, it demonstrates greed, envy and meanness and a lack of decent thinking. We are an utter disgrace.
It's a source of shame that we don't look after our veterans after the service and sacrifice they have made for our country, whether they are UK or non-UK citizens. Utterly shameful.

The recent local elections were great for Reform. For the first time ever there is a Reform councillor in Wigan central. In Lisa Nandy's seat. ❤️

Reform has a live ticket showing membership increasing daily. It's over 256000 at the moment