Why do people like reform?

[TheGoogleMum]

I haven't been keeping very up to date with politics. I usually vote Labour. I don't really understand the popularity of reform, could anyone explain it to me?
As far as I'm aware Farage doesn't actually do anything when he wins a seat somewhere so I'm not convinced they'll actually do anything? Is it just a protest vote that's gone a bit far?

Reform have won the by-election in Runcorn.
I think reform voters believe that Farage and co will renationalise gas, electricity, railways etc which will provide employment and stop our profits going abroad. They think Britain will be great again. Oh and stop immigration.
I think they’re wrong.
Unfortunately I have little faith in any political party.

Because they have undeveloped and untested easy answers "policies". They appeal to people who don't care about bad things happening to other people and resent good things happening to other people.

I think alot of the electorate are disillusioned with both Labour and the Conservatives. So it's not the 'appeal' of Reform, it's just that the other two parties aren't inspiring any enthusiasm from voters.

It’s one of those ‘triumph of hope over experience’ phenomena at the moment, I think.

Once Reform (formerly the ‘bad boys of’ Brexit Party) get in anywhere, they do fuck all as you say. The additional exposure will be interesting.

I am not a reform voter.

But I actually like the name Reform.

I feel the country needs reform and here is a party who have that as thier name front and centre.

Some people look at manifestos, attend hustings, speak to candidates. Others are less deep. They see a name, they read an opinion they agree with and that will do.

People are fucked off by the Tories and Labour. The government needs to sit up and listen - this is the people talking. They are fed up of having no money, working hard, having less.

We can say it's a certain demographic that will vote Reform and that might have been true a few years ago but I'm seeing lots of people who previously Labour or Conservative switching their vote to Reform, from all walks of society.

Not that I would ever vote Reform or that I think they are the answer (far from it) but it's really easy to see why people have become disenfranchised.

They are popularist. They say things that resonate with people. They have chosen a specific demographic, that have been swayed by the media and send out easy messages of things people like to hear.

They thrive on nostalgia and pretending that people lived in some sort of wonderful country in the past. Forgetting to remind people how poor their lives were.

They use people's fear, and intolerance stoking hate against easy to pick targets.
Classically they are the actual elite that they pertain to hate and be fighting against. But they know that they're going to make themselves a lot of money and power by pretending to be the common man.

Farage was a banker and is from supper middle class background. He thinks most of us are malleable plebs. Sadly he is being proved right.

I suspect voters don't vote for Reform. They just vote against the other parties. Labour have failed already in controlling immigration which is a top issue for voters. Net zero is going to bankrupt the country and ruin the countryside. And Rachel Reeves isn't the sort of Chancellor we need for these times. So "anyone but Labour/Conservatives" is probably why Reform are doing so well.

I agree with @Jackrussellsaremad sone of it is a protest / stick it to the man vote. Some of it is racists voting against immigration/stop the boats/make Britain great again. Some of them are just ignoramuses. Take your pick.

I strongly suspect that the vast majority have no idea what Reform’s mayoral or local government policies are.

I suspect most people have no idea about the policies of any of the parties. People just vote according to what they are seeing in their own lives and how they feel things are going in their area. And if things are going badly, they would vote for the "other" party usually. But as both Labour and Conservatives have been terrible, people will probably just think how much worse could Reform be. Which remains to be seen, obviously.

Because some people believe it's possible to have more stuff and fewer people to share it with.

Because some people believe that you can have both more stuff, and fewer people to share it with. (I posted this just now with a link to an excellent blog post about this, but for some reason it disappeared into moderation. Do all links have to be pre-approved now?)

People like Reform because they've positioned themselves as anti establishment. Even though Farrige went to private school and it's a multi millionaire who spends more time kissingTrump's arse than in his constituency. . They say Stop the Boats a lot, which the Great British Public love to hear. They're an easy choice for people who aren't really into politics. Or policies. Or planning.

The idea that there’s something fresh and honest, thats what Farage presents. Everyone is tired of tories and there’s literally zero trust in Keir. There’s phenomenal fatigue in this country of being treated badly, something has to happen.

None of the other parties have listened to the general public, Brexit was a fuck up and like it or not the majority voted to leave.

Mass unskilled immigration has been an issue for years and has been a top priority for the electorate, yet no one has done anything to lower the figures. The public are sick to the back teeth of it and the only party with a backbone to stop it seems to be Reform.

Serves the Tories and Labour right if Reform do win because they’ve had so many chances and just haven’t taken the public’s concerns seriously… You cant be in charge of a country and completely ignore the biggest concerns of your people, regardless of whether you share the same concerns or not.

It started with open borders in the EU in the early noughties and the numbers were unsustainable, so it’s absolutely isn’t about race or colour as the bastion majority of the EU nations are white. It’s simply the sheer numbers of people I’m such a short space, regardless of where they come from, before I anyone starts with the “racism, bigotry”,

Because, like MAGA voters, they think that they will be protected by the party. It will target others.
They are wrong.
But by the time they realise that, it will be too late.
NF is very clear he wants a US based health care system - he is being bank rolled by Musk et al.
🤷‍♀️

I suspect it's partly a protest vote, partly because people believe they will take action to curb illegal migration and partly because people are fed up with Labour's obvious incompetence.

I'm a floating voter, currently politically homeless. However, I am attracted to the potential to move to an insurance based healthcare system... The NHS is a broken black hole that no amount of investment seems to fix.

I think at this point people just want to see action of any kind. If a political party claimed they would knock on the door of every voter twice a week and call them a twat, I’d be inclined to vote for them just for the novelty of seeing a political party fulfilling election promises.

Have they ever said they’d renationalise anything?

I'd say this sums it up pretty well.

I think they've said they will renationalise British Steel although I may be wrong. I'd actually agree with this one, in case we need to go to war.

In Greater Lincolnshire they now have a Reform mayor. She was previously a Conservative party MP so possibly brought a lot of voters from that demographic. However I think one reason she won was the poor quality of the other candidates (in my opinion).

Google suggests they don’t want to nationalise it. Just have it owned by UK companies. They will be pro privatisation as is evidenced by Farage’s desire for insurance based medical services.

Labour is targeting nearly everyone. That’s part of why Reform are doing well.

Sadly, everyone I know who has voted Reform did it because of immigration. Not a single one has been able to tell me any other Reform policy. These are all people who work for the NHS as well.