This migrant problem is going to let Reform in isn’t it?

[EvangelicalAboutButteredToast]

Honestly it’s such a bloody nightmare. Reform are making a total hash of local government from what I’ve read, putting teenagers in charge of whole departments with no relevant experience. What are they going to do if they are elected to run a country!!!! I’m honestly terrified. Labour need to be seen to be actively doing something to quell the far-right momentum that’s gaining traction from ordinary folk. I’m amazed at the average, usually pretty sensible people around me who are now telling me they are going to vote Reform.

there was an interview I saw yesterday where the minister said that thousands of people were being deported regularly. The interviewer asked why there were no videos of this and she said there could be. Well let’s see it! It would absolutely help.

Starmer is a globalist and a human rights lawayer, he has no interest in stopping this.

Yes polling for Reform is high, the pp is in a bubble.

If Labour keep going as they are on the crossings they’ll likely be out.

I don't think people do want Farage as PM but would vote for the devil himself to get rid of Starmer and this Labour government. People can't stand 4 more years of this.

The split vote will allow Labour in again. In my constituency Con + Reform far exceeded vote of third place winner.

It remains uncertain what Labour (or the new Corbyn party) will do about the Muslim (actually Islamist) candidates in some areas. They are as it stands bound to be thrashed in quite a few cities. I think this will be some kind of flash point in politics in the UK where you have a significant portion of the electorate with a markedly different world and domestic view from what has gone before, whether that be left or right.

@MaturingCheeseball I would have agreed with you up until about 6 months ago but I think the Tories are absolutely done for and Reform are increasingly mopping up their vote. Interestingly a poll out this week showed that Jeremy Corbyn polled better with Reform voters on almost every single metric than Keir Starmer. It’s amazing how disliked Starmer is, across the spectrum.

Same I don’t think it’s the split on the right as much for the next GE, but a potential one on the left.

That's a really interesting article. I won’t vote Reform, but it's changed how I understand it..

The article describes 25 years of working class anger at undercut wages, pressure on resources like housing and the NHS, and a sense of unfairness. Anger at the reducing quality of life they are experiencing. Not bigotry about race or culture: it's shouted about so much, but in reality isn't there at any significant level.

It makes me think of how the Labour party started: through working class anger at the unfair imbalance of power between employers and employees, and a desire to bring in a Welfare state and access to education in order to improve working class lives.

It's the same driving forces behind Reform now.

Those original Labour aims have been achieved, but Labour are stuck in the past fighting shadows of the same monsters. They're not willing to hear the current sources of unfairness, or switch to fight those new challenges.

Labour will limp along a while longer as the party of the left-leaning urban elite, but they're finished as the party of the working class.

@strawberrybubblegum agree with every word. The bigotry and racism accusation is way overdone and no longer has much effect.

It was interesting that in the case of the asylum seekers being housed in a town centre hotel in Diss, Norfolk that the residents had accepted it when it was primarily filled with mothers and children. It was only when it was announced that they would be moved elsewhere in favour of a different cohort of primarily young men that anger erupted. Again it goes back to the concept of fairness.

🎯

Yea absolute joke supporting working classes

That's not though is it? Labour aren't doing a fantastic job but hardly an awful job.

Which questions do you think they should have an answer for? Stopping boats? Growing the economy? Free money for all?

Well growing the economy rather than imposing an increase on employers’ NI and lowering the threshold would be a start. Perhaps demanding some sort of productivity increase in exchange for above inflation pay rises might be also worthwhile. As would having any sort of coherent and efficacious policy on dealing with illegal immigrants. And perhaps not clobbering small businesses with a 20% inheritance tax too might help to encourage investment.

Sounds good

Agree with this - however, I don't necessarily think this will result in Reform getting into government. Nigel Farage is a problem. The irony of him leading a party for the working class is not lost on many people. Remember the disaster that was Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage is similar in many respects.

He loves the world stage, the domestic one not so much

I'd say that describes Trump more than Starmer. Trump genuinely thought he could proclaim that Putin needed to play ball (in between belittling Zelenskyy) and he'd win the Nobel peace prize.

It's not that simple. Try and play peacemaker and it doesn't work. Throw your weight around and before you know it you have submarines in Russian waters.

Don't forget that Corbyn was called a terrorist sympathiser for trying to mediate with the IRA. He was also called a Antisemite but that seems to have been a ploy to get him out of governance. I'm not condoning Antisemitism BTW. It digists me. I don't think the new Left wing party will solve things either. For a start, the left tend to want to abandon Trident and that's not a great idea right now (if ever)

Starmer is out of his depth for sure, but I also think that most of the political leaders are atm.

The world is fucked. Japan is also experiencing a right wing swing due to immigration, low wages, high inflation and an ageing population. What's the answer?

I've been politically homeless for a long time, BTW. I'm not and never have been a Labour voter, nor Conservative. The 'new' parties don't represent me either. I'm a Centrist and no parties fit the bill for me.

I think he needs headlines to cover the mess here so uses the ‘world stage’ for that.

Following in the footsteps of Blair who did the same.

Yes . exactly
You hit the nail on the head

I'm the same
I've been voting green
But then they annoyed me with getting involved with the issue with Edinburgh rape crisis centre.and I realised they are to woke for me , despite the fact I'm vegan ..but I also don't agree with getting rid of nuclear weapons.
But I'd over looked the nuclear weapons issue , saying to myself,well they will never get in anyway.
But how mad is that ,voting for a party where you don't agree with a major issue..
But apart from nuclear weapons they were the nearest I agreed with at the last few elections.
Not anymore..
Now there isnt any party I would vote for

I want immigration limited
But I want to keep the NHS
I want my disabled children looked after when I'm gone .
We own our own home ,so I can't even make sure it's left to my children in my will ,as if I need a care home my house will be taken to pay for it .
Yet if we had never got a mortgage and had a council house ,the house could be left to my children,and I'd not need to worry about their future.
That's what I think is very unfair
My children need the security of their home when I'm dead , anyone in a council housing now gets this ,and free care in a nursing home as they have no house to sell.
But we didn't claim a council house ,we sorted our selves out and now the house can be taken away from my disabled children who will of lived there their whole lives ,to pay for my care .
My only option will be assisted dying ,so I don't need the care home

I do think that the government need to halt the council house inheritance policy. As well as stopping right to buy with immediate effect.

And they also need to stop taxing the primary residence - unheard of elsewhere in Europe - and then gas lighting people by saying it is only the richest 4% of estates who pay it. A single parent nurse with a 2 bed flat in an average to grotty part of London will end up paying.

Our council tried to nudge widows living alone in three four bedroom council housing they'd raised a family in decades ago. The media went nuts so they bottled it. The widow could stay with her empty bedrooms. That's not how social housing should work.

Yes same - my relative is living alone in a large three bedroom as a pensioner. Problem is not enough one-bedroomed single level dwellings are available.

Not just when kids leave but also when earnings change, i.e. something like a 10 year review, to review who is living there AND the job/earnings/wealth of the occupants to prove they NEED to continue living in subsidised council accommodation. Eg a senior union leader really doesn't NEED to live in a council house when they're earning six figures!