Why is there no coverage of reform party policies ?

[Alfreddoeblin]

Just that really. Labour and Tory party to a greater or lesser extent are being scrutinised hugely. The reform party not so much. Why ?

@1dayatatime Reform's seem to be 'We're not woke, we'll give you anything you want and oh, funding, who cares'.

@pointythings

Actually I see Reform as a reincarnate of the UKIP approach to Brexit of let's break the existing set up because we don't like the current system but with then stuff all idea of what will replace will replace it.

So Farage is playing the angle of people are fed up with the Conservatives so vote for us as the new Conservative Party that previous Tory voters think they want but no plan on what this would actually be.

BBC loves reform!

Probably because they don't have any. Except zero immigration and healthcare penalties for women. Because we're apparently grifters.

I think credible is a stretch. But I absolutely agree. He's terrifying. More now than ever. He's credible to the gullible and many seem to be absolutely lapping up his bullsh*t. A weak Conservative party is bad for the direction of travel of politics in this country. If we think the right wing of the Tory party are bad, they look moderate compared to this lot. My concern is they will steal a huge amount of the vote from the Conservatives. The conservatives will be in tatters after this election and won't even be the opposition. I think there is a worrying chance Reform could be the opposition. Certainly the only other credible alternative in England, the Lib Dems have hugely underestimated them.

Conservatives will try and steal back votes by trying to compete with reform and win back votes from them, forcing the whole party towards right wing politics. Shifting the whole countries politics further right of centre. Much like prominent European countries like Spain and France.

That is exactly the reforms we need in the NHS. There is so much waste. Yet they always say they need more money. What they need is a different model and using a supplier who can supply the stationery at a reasonable price.

A Facebook group came up on my feed last night, The Enoch Powell Appreciation Society. Having just seen that famous speech by Enoch Powell and been absolutely disgusted by it I was interested to see the comments. All of them were Reform supporters. I think ignore at our peril. There are a lot of people out there who blame all of their troubles on immigration. They’re racist and ignorant, and see themselves as marginalised freedom fighters who need to save our country.

Farage gets so much airtime and column space. I wouldn’t be surprised one day if he gets to be PM, maybe leader of the Conservative Party, and then we’d have to worry. He’s a pound shop Hitler and very adept at manipulating people who don’t know their history, and who are absolutely sick of being poor and struggling.

I'm not going to click on their website, but surely if there's stuff on there about what they're going to do @Alfreddoeblin, then they have published their policies?

Or is this really just a thread to publicise/drum up support for them?

Nasty, nasty party owned, run and staffed by nasty people.

My 14 year old tells me that Reform is getting a really good showing on TikTok, he was asking about them today as he is seeing a lot of support for them as an alternative to the Tories.

It felt as though it could be like Brexit again where we thought we were safe as all our friends were never going to vote for it, and yet there's a whole demographic out there seeing these promotional videos that my social media scrolling never even hints at.

The BBC is not where they are getting their votes from!

Support on TikTok is unlikely to translate into going to the polling station and casting a vote.

Why was the reform thread deleted?

I saw the Reform election broadcast and it's very telling. No listing of policies, no indication of the ideology of the party, nothing of substance. All it is is a black green with the words "Britain is broken. Britain needs Reform."

It's a very clever advert for a populist party. It's not saying how Britain is broken, it's just acknowledging that people think it is. You could see that and think "yes, I agree, its broken because of the right-wing bigotry and hatred that is making it an unpleasant place to live", or think "yes, I agree, because I sometimes see a brown face on the high street", or think "yes, I agree, because the Tories have stopped my benefits", or think "yes, I agree, because I don't think trans people should be allowed to exist", or anything at all. And then the second sentence implies that whatever you think, Reform will fix it. They don't say how, they don't need to - and more to the point they can't say how because they aren't defining what's broken.

It's just a populist campaign for the unthinking, the equivalent of someone asking you in Starbucks what's the matter and then selling you a sugar tablet that they say will solve that problem. The fact that such a large population of the country seem to think that such vapid and contentless politics is what they want is just scary.

It's Brexit all over again.
"What do you think is wrong with the country?"
"Oh, that's because we're in the EU. Let's leave and it'll all be better."

Sigh.

Sian Berry doesn't lead the Greens any longer. She is standing in Brighton Pavillion, Caroline Lucas's ex seat.

He reminds me of Spode in the Jeeves and Wooster stories:

You can't scrutinise what's not there.

I actually blame broadcasters for giving him excess news coverage. They are all doing his publicity for him.

Reform doesn’t need policies. They shout about what’s wrong (tell it as it is) and the slogans come rolling out which the gullible remember. So it’s Brexit all over again. The gullible haven’t even worked out what a disaster that was and continues to be.

Reform will split the centre right/right voting numbers. It is not in anyone’s interests to have a weak opposition or a right that’s in the image of Farage. People might not like Sunak but we do need a stable opposition or we have a dictatorship for decades. We know, don’t we, that that’s not healthy. Next time there could be no coherent opposition party to vote for when we don’t like Labour any more. What then? We would be a failed democracy.

We are descending into the Trump era of politics here. The opinion polls and voting intentions made UKIP look like they would get lots of seats. Was it 1 they got? Coming second or third in first past the post doesn’t get a party any seats. The political commentators still think they won’t get many seats. Hope they are right. The sad thing is why we have such a poorly educated electorate.

Farage is a dangerous man. I think he will win a seat this time. It is really worrying.

Welll reform are on the beeb front page about the 4th article so they are not being ignored at all

They don't have an "manifesto analysed" section on the election home page but neither does the SNP which is bigger than Plaid Cymru so I guess that's work in progress

There is also an opinion piece on the guardian on far right policies - again I can't see the SNP being covered

Yabu the SNP is being ignored in favor or reform

Of course reform is the type of party to yell cover up , conspiracy the establishment hate us in an effort to drum up more support from the people who feel ignored

Exactly. The people who voted for Brexit because they were unhappy with the Government's austerity policy and immigration are the same ones being led by the nose to vote for Farage and pals. Luckily in this case we don't have proportional representation otherwise the Reform morons would gain seats at Westminster.

SNP is only standing in a country of 5 million. Reform is standing in a country with 55 million plus. It’s also the Farage effect. Most of us cannot vote for SNP and therefore you would expect less national coverage. SNP is covered extensively in Scotland where they have had complete control for a long time. Scot’s know exactly what they are getting! Reform is new. Sadly. New kid on the block as SNP once were. At that time no escaping the SNP as national news I can assure you. Now it’s whether Labour gain from SNP which will be analysed.

Has SNP released manifesto yet? The one I cannot vote for?

It probably is lucky we don’t have any voting on PR lines. Two main parties gives a stable and effective opposition. SNP at Westminster have been largely irrelevant and Labour want their seats.

I will be surprised if Reform don't take seats in the north. The absolute disdain Labour and the tories seem to show for some of these seats has even made me consider Reform.

In my area Reform are fielding a local candidate who seems to give a shit about the local area from what I can see. Labour have parachuted in a mega pro Israel loony who I doubt could find his prospective constituency on a map. I mention pro Israel as it seems like it's the only thing he gives a fuck about. No tory candidate but they're normally ferried up from the south. Green and lib dems never stand a chance here.

Reform are getting coverage that other parties are not

I have examples or coverage they are getting , showed that it's less than other parties ( thanks for belittling Scotland whilst you are at it and note that wales is smaller )

but that's not good enough apparently- even though reform are getting coverage they still want to shout that they are not

Lies lies and more lies

First response and you have nailed the thread on the head!!!