Anyone want to have a calm non heated discussion about Reform UK? Is Farage deliberately trying to slow down momentum?

[Greyblankie]

This isn’t a post to argue about reform voters - Would love a non confrontational discussion on the topic. (A lot to ask, I know).

I’ve always been a conservative but at the last election even I couldn’t bring myself to vote for them. I’d never vote Labour or Lib Dem and wasn’t comfortable with Reform so I just didn’t vote.

Following the disastrous start of the shambolic Labour government government I started leaning more towards Reform and have basically followed them for around a year.

Just recently however I’m starting to have my doubts. The straw that broke the camels back was them announcing that the money saved on child benefit would go towards reducing the cost of alcohol! It was so laughable that if it had been April fools I would insist it must have been a joke. But no, it wasn’t.

Now, I truly believe that Farage does not want to be PM - he never has wanted it and I’m starting to suspect he’s deliberately trying to sabotage his own party and bring the momentum down. Two Labour members who defected last week - one of them couldn’t even get the name of the party right and kept calling it Respect 😂

Anyone else think that the Reform movement was only ever meant to shake up politics and now Farage is starting to apply the brakes?

Also, any reform voters considering moving back to the Tories? I think Kemi is brilliant but it’s the rest of them I have my doubts about.

I don't know why anyone wants to be PM. It's a horrible, thankless role.

In what way is she the next Truss?
Can you be a bit more specific than “clueless” ?

Not really sure what’s so “disastrous” about the current government. Not particularly worse than any other recent government, in many ways better.

I don't know about her being the next Truss but she is clueless about British geography.

Ask anyone in Lincolnshire

Reform don't need a manifesto at the moment because we're not in a run up to a GE. They had a manifesto back in 2024.

We know their position re immigration and the NHS which are the elephants in the room that the other parties don't want to deal with but with the way this country is changing they will need to be faced in the near future.

Now you see I wasn't sure about Kemi to begin with but I think she is becoming a strong, confident leader for the Conservatives. I would vote for her.

I hope they have some policies for running Councils other than stop the boats

Can’t stand Reform (or Green with Polanski in charge) Both Farage and Polanski are dangerous charlatans.
Id be glad to get back to two party middle of the road grown up politics

Surely if Farage put money towards hospitality and pubs it would be a good thing. 2 pubs are closing a day. He would be saving jobs and also protecting a British institution.
Why can the government find money for everyone else in the world except working class British people.
Money paid out on the welfare budget should be dramatically slashed immediately.

Nothing from the local Reform candidates about pubs in our town.

This ☝️. Pretty much word for word how I feel!

Given the number of people in work who need their wages topped up, if benefits were slashed who would be going to the pub?

Addressing the ludicrous cost of housing would help reduce the benefits bill, but nobody wants to do anything about that.

Not Reform voters though. I think Farag was pretty serious about alcohol - I suspect this kind of statement is appealing to his audience.

Remember 2024 and Labour fully costed manifesto? People were ecstatic, few of us told that this manifesto will cost a lot and everyone will be impacted apart from unions and benefits claimants, but no, people didn't believe it and here we are.

So unfortunately I think that what it seems like intentional loss of momentum to you, is exactly what Reform voters want to hear.

Truss is mere amateur, she was beaten by the current government. She only managed to rise our borrowing cost to 4.8%, it's now 5.75%.

I'm very concerned about Kemi's international views, but I think she's the right person for domestic economy.

Thanks. I was pretty stunned by your assertion that Farage wanted to use child benefit savings to reduce the cost of alcohol. Plenty of better ways to use it in my view. But a quick Google showed it's true though!

But also interestingly that search threw up research from 2005 showing that child benefit is very frequently not spent on children at all but spent by parents, disproportionately, on alcohol!!!!

Link attached for those who find that surprising (as I did TBF):

https://ifs.org.uk/publications/who-benefits-child-benefit

Their main problem is they’re offering simplistic solutions to complex, difficult issues. That’s fine when you’re a fringe party, sniping from the sidelines, but starts to fall apart when you’re a serious contender and are under more scrutiny.

They, like all right wing parties, are heavily reliant on blaming immigration for everything, and stopping it the panacea for all our ills.

I think Kemi Badenoch are actually making a lot of good moves recently. Her performance has improved massively and I expect them to pick up many more votes before 2029.

The councillors in our ward are Greens. Nice people, they are visible, organise foodbank collections and litter picks. I can’t vote Green because their leader is a fruitcake.

The constituency has boundaries (due to successive changes) that take in quite disparate areas. The Labour MP (it’s always been Labour) seems more interested, judging by her posts, in Palestine than in local or national issues. That no doubt appeals to her voters in other parts of the constituency. However, I’m more bothered about the awful state of our A&E, (and the NHS in general), opportunities for young unemployed people, the cost of student loans, and the way youths are vandalising the local park with little or no intervention.

As a natural conservative, in an area where Tories are hated, who can I vote for? spoiled my paper in the last local election. I’d vote for a party that is prepared to tackle illegal immigrants, overstayers, failed asylum seekers, and economic migrants who are doing nothing for the economy. A party that is prepared to look at options for health care, not just our failing NHS, and to get a grip on the soaring benefits bill and the reasons behind it. A party that understands we need to make money before we can spend it. Can Kemi get the Tories up to scratch?