To think that those terrified of Reform/Restore vastly overestimate the power parliament actually has?

[BlueJuniper94]

Just as the title says. The fear mongering is intense at the moment but I think people could surely find peace if they looked closer at what our parliament is actually capable of (not much, ask u-turn Kier) there's the Lords, Human Rights law, and the massive unelected bureaucracy which will thwart every effort made by these parties if they do find themselves with enough of a majority. It just won't happen. Look how watered now Meloni is now that she is, to the disappointment of many who voted for her I am sure.

There also seems to be a contradiction, Farage and Lowe are frequently reffered to as populists, populism defined as empty rhetoric without delivery. If you truly believe this, there is nothing to fear. It's all hot air. Anyone who gets close to power will find themselves absorbed into the uniparty or captured as containment.

If you vote Reform, yes. And particularly so if you do it because you don’t think they’ll be able to do any of the things they are saying they want to do.

You are very naive.

Looks like our current monarch & his family are misleading us now!

It's unlikely I'm going to vote

Changed your mind since November then?

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5439566-will-you-change-who-you-vote-for-at-the-next-general-election?reply=148350139

That’s worse

Well spotted.
So if you’ve changed your mind @BlueJuniper94 and now won’t vote for them (or at all) what do you think has happened to other potential Reform voters? Is that why they are currently starting to drop in the polls?

I think they might be looking at voting for Restore

Some of them maybe. That splits the potential vote though doesn’t it?

Than voting for Reform/Restore?

Who knows who I am going to vote for. A lot will happen between now and the time I will have to act. At the moment, I don't think I'll be able to vote for anyone in my constituency. It's not worse. I'll turn up and post a blank. But I'm sure as shit not voting Green/Lib/Lab/SNP

Not voting is worse than voting. In general. Democracy is on,y democracy if everyone who can vote does vote. Even though whatever you vote for it’ll be something I disagree with. People who don’t vote are as responsible for the result as those who do.

Possibly. Or they're used to widen the Overton window and allow Reform to be a little more radical than they currently are, Farage will most likely have rage quit over something by then and there will be a right wing coalition that's a little further right than it otherwise would have been.

I don't have a crystal ball. Nothing is certain. Anything can happen. I'll decide closer to the time.

I suspect those least likely to vote are those lower educated gammons living in post industrial disaster zones, those at the sharpest end of globalisation. You really don't want to animate any politicial consciousness there

How much further right would you like the Overton window to shift? I don’t understand how s9meone would want more radical than removing all equality rights and all ability to appeal to an outside court against it

This is really odd. As I understand it that’s Farage’s natural constituency. I would like everyone to be politically informed and involved. Even those I disagree with. That’s democracy.

”Vote for who you like - it makes no difference “ -

Apart from massively affecting:
Taxation.
Education.
The NHS.
Social services.
Benefits.
Criminal Justice.
Human Rights.
Immigration.

…to name but a few.

At least two of those checks are in Reform’s sights, though, aren’t they? Human rights, and the civil service. So if they were to remove those checks and balances, how long would it be before things got much worse for people in this country? The Lords are also easily manipulated in terms of numbers - one of the laughably-named Reform Shadow Cabinet would have to be ennobled to allow him to take up office, and further stuffing of the Lords to increase numbers, à la BJohnson, would surely follow.

The lack of principles, genuine policies, a moral compass and any degree of competence of this bunch of venal, racist puppets of other regimes is no barrier to the damage they could do in a very short time. You only have to look back to Liz Truss as evidence of that.

There is no excuse for being complacent in the face of a real threat to the future of the country. You may think me hyperbolic, but imagine what it must feel like to be a working class woman in the US right now, and recognise we would be very much closer to that position in the UK if these wasters were to get a sniff of the government benches.

I don't want that.

But the house is on fire. The only person willing to do something is not a good guy. I'm a beggar not a chooser.

If the ‘something’ is chucking petrol on the fire, is it sensible?

What "massive" differences have we seen in the past 15 years (other than off the scale migration)

We fundamentally disagree - labouring this analogy is not going to change that.

Democracy isnt possible without freedom of speech. And freedom of speech isnt possible when a society has such a diverse range of incompatible interests.

OP, please stop peddling the dangerous narrative that it won't make any difference who is in government.
If you support a racist far right party, then by all means, make the case for that party. That is your right in our democracy. Others will no doubt want to counter your arguments.

But please stop trying to mislead people with lies about how it doesn't make any difference. You know that isn't true.

Of course it is. And we have freedom of speech. Anyone can say what they like without the state intervening unless it contravenes hate speech law by, for eg, advocating violence. The fact that lots of people don’t like what someone says, or decide not to speak to them again or whatever, doesn’t mean you didn’t have free speech.

How exactly is your freedom of speech being curtailed at present?

Not free to incite violence or racial hatred? Not free to spread deliberate disinformation?

What is it that you want to talk about that you're being prevented from talking about?