To think the main Mumsnet demographic are out of touch politically

[Veiledveritas]

Reform.are smashing the polls yet any Reform voter is despised and ridiculed on here.

That alone is reason enough for many.

But as Brexit taught us, facts don't cut through

I live in an exceptionally white area and still the local Facebook pages are full of ppl ranting about immigration and blaming the local council. Any new building developments are immediately jumped on as being "for all the immigrants" even though there are hardly any here. The council wearily responds with "no the pub extension is for a restaurant not to turn it into an immigrant hotel" but it makes no difference

I don't know what it's possible to do about that level of what appears to be deliberate spreading of misinformation

I have never seen any of those views aired on MN!

I think that's typically ignorant to think that someone choosing to vote a party other than reform will be naturally more informed, and the current politically parties haven't exactly demonstrated 'having a clue what they are doing' for several years.

Also be careful of the messages your absorb from the media and the people around up on this.

My friend has done the Westminster assessment and induction for conservative with a view to being a conservative MP as well as the same with reform (well senedd member with them) and she said the reform one was far harder and more rigorous, which is not anything you ever see portrayed in the media, it is just an assumption that they are messing around 'playing' at politics.

I guess we will find out the answer over the next 5 years or so.

If those are your political concerns then fair enough but this is a local election, you’re voting for who to be in charge of bin collections, parks, roads - not small boats

If only it were that easy!

I don’t support Reform, but there is no doubt that many people feel they are not being listened to and are looking for change. Working people are increasingly feeling that they are being asked for more and more to support too many people not working. The economy is terrible. Our town centres are changing rapidly and not for the best and council tax is expensive and rising yet services are getting worse. The failure to tackle the benefits bill is a major factor for many people, as is illegal and uncontrolled immigration. It’s not wrong to acknowledge this and people should be listened to.

Yes Reform are really divisive. No actual policies or proper discussions just baiting and hate

I'm very much in touch thankyou but I'm a decent human being.

These are local government elections though so it'll be interesting to see just what Reform achieve. It'll be an indication what they'll do in central government. The other parties will have to pay attention when forming policy for the main elections.

In my experience the most name calling and nastiness comes from the right on here. Personal experience is just that, personal experience.

Nail on the head.

People aren’t out of touch - they just have different political views to you. Politics isn’t fashion.

They don't have a coherent policy. A local Reform councillor said in a Facebook group that he'd increase social care spending. Zia on Question Time said local Reform councillors would be diverting money away from social care to fix potholes.

Your attitude with me is exactly why Reform are doing so well. The fact that you can’t see that is worrying.

I am not a Reform voter, and have simply set out that one of the primary reasons they are garnering support is because people are turned off by the arrogant dismissal of people like you saying things like “did it even occur to you” (I think that’s what you were trying to say) the subtext of which is “you’re too thick to have thought your choices through.

I’m what is sneeringly referred to as a champagne socialist. I voted Labour until I could no longer bear to and now nationally I’d probably vote LD.

the issues that concern Reform voters don’t affect me. I have plenty of money and don’t need to worry about housing, schools or healthcare. I’m generally untouched by crime, rarely get public transport and won’t need to rely on a state care/support.

But even I can recognise why people are frustrated. The longer people like the posters on this thread refuse to engage productively with the concerns of people who are turning to Reform as a solution the bigger the mess we are eventually going to have to deal with will be.

Indeed but a lot of ppl have no idea and no interest in understanding how local government works and what it's for 🤷🏻‍♀️ I mean thinking about bin collections and organising social care is quite boring and how it all gets paid for is both boring and very difficult

‘Out of touch’. I know how out of touch I seem because of my leftyness. I’m not woke to be in touch with others, that naturally comes about. Do you think the hard right are that way to just be, say, popular?

Well whose fault is that cough cough Angela Merkel. Sent a klaxon back in 2015 that they will accept all illegals and guess what, they screwed over Europe including the UK...hence Brexit.

Which is typical sound bite politics. In reality local government is heavily constrained in what they can do by the large number of statutory duties laid upon them. They can't just spend money on whatever they feel like despite what reform and at the other end of the spectrum, the greens say

I think this is all that needs to be said. There's absolutely no point trying to debate with people who are, unwittingly or otherwise, following a fascist playbook. The reason why fascism never goes away is because it uses the tactics you describe, and the reason it uses these tactics is that every generation or so they work so effectively. I think we have to ride this cycle out and hope that there's anything left to be salvaged afterwards.

Completely agree.
There is a playbook which keeps playing out, any slight perceived slight is jumped on as an excuse to roll out exaggerated self-righteousness.
Just like an arsey teenager deliberately bumping into people to start a fight.

The OP's post just reflects a lack of understanding of our electoral system.

Yes, Reform have won a lot of seats. That does not mean that the majority of the voting population supports Reform - they do not. Look at vote share. Reform voters are a minority.

In our first past the post system, the winning party is usually the choice of a minority of voters. It is simply the case that the majority of votes which were not for the winning party are split across multiple other options and not united against the winning party. None of this is new or unusual in any way.

So Reform could win a general election even if the majority of the population was horrified by this prospect. Indeed, this may well happen. The only thing that could potentially stop it would be if the anti-Reform majority could somehow put aside the differences between them and work together to stop the far right.

This could still happen, but there has been little sign of anyone really considering this seriously to date. It's possible that Reform's success in yesterday's elections may galvanise those who oppose the far right and make them realise that there is real jeopardy here if they fail to put the future of the country ahead of their own party interests. We can only hope.

Why would the fact that a large demographic now supports Reform mean that their extremely right-wing policies are more acceptable and palatable?

Reform politicians are a bunch of corrupt, often racist and certainly xenophobic people who pretend to love the working class but who will enact policies that will hurt those people the most. But slogans such as 'stop the boats' and 'send them back' strongly appeal to right wing thugs and voters in communities that feel they have been 'left behind'. In reality, if Reform ever form a government, these people will suffer the most from their policies.

100%

They will be along in a minute.

Edit: I see some are already here.

None of them are willing to address their own failings….

Is that not a bit of a mean thing to say?

I think that because we now have 5 parties polling 15% or higher, the next GE will be volatile and all parties will rely heavily on convincing voters that they have a credible chance to win in that area. So the results today are really setting up parties' chances for 2029.
So this year, more than usual, it makes sense to consider national issues above local when voting in council elections.