What can an individual do to keep Reform out?

[Thepoliticsofchaos]

I have a young friend (a university student) who is getting depressed about the prospect of Reform getting in next election. He thinks that the UK is fucked, basically. He's left-leaning, I assume a Labour voter. I've advised him to get politically engaged (so that in the future he'll at least be able to feel that he did what he could). He's not the most outgoing of people, though is interested in politics. Can anyone suggest how he could become usefully politically engaged to try to reduce the Reform vote? Not just joining a party and turning up to meetings, but actually doing something?

I have a job too so can't spend my time sending you lists to pass onto someone else. If he hasn't got the nouse to investigate why people might be turning to Reform then he really isn't serious about engaging.

Indeed, and therefore why would people vote for Reform to get “ more of the same”

Are you saying that parties can’t change policy positions from one manifesto to the next?

Reform have campaigned on both GE and local elections with a promise of lowering tax. Then just minths after they have won votes they have gone back on what they’ve promised on the campaign trial. With local government reform have campaigned to lower council tax - yet just a month after taking control of Warwickshire they voted to allow raises if 5% each year for the next 5 years, with Kent CC they are raising the council tax.

reform position themselves as the party of the “working class” and helping those workers, but that not happening. Reform declare they are different from the two major parties in saying how it is, yet they aren’t saying how it is and appear to be changing their minnnnd when elected. All the financial figures are there to see before the elections as they are public documents

Do you have links to where they have said they will withdraw it? I’ve googled and can’t see anything but that could be my search criteria aren’t quite right.

Their position on the two child tax credit cap does put them on the side of the working people as this would only be offered to people in work which I think is sensible. Removes accusations of supporting ‘feckless’ non working families with loads of kids and encourages those who are working to have bigger families which is what we need with a declining population.

😂 feels like this might be projection. No nerves hit on my account but I did think it a bit silly to post an article that actually confirms the drop in numbers when you are trying to prove the opposite😂.
Let’s stick to facts.
So you are trying to claim that removals are screwing the data and inflating Labours progress in reducing numbers, but this has been part of the process since the referral to treatment launched in 2007. These "unreported removals" (patients taken off without treatment) are transparently included in monthly public reports to keep data accurate and reflect real system pressures, not to manipulate figures.
This is far from some new Labour manipulation tactic, despite what you are trying to suggest. The practice continued and actually intensified under the Conservatives from 2010 to 2024, including a 42% rise in removals during their 2022–2024 "Forward Flow 20" backlog-clearing program. Recent averages of around 245,000 removals per month (about 3% of the typical 7.5 million waiting list) follow the same longstanding rules, accounting for just 15% of the 260,000 list drop seen since June 2024 hardly evidence of fiddling the books.

Under the current Labour governments "Plan for Change” there is an additional £26 billion in extra funding, enabling 3.6 million additional hospital appointments and boosting "Advice and Guidance" schemes (diverting patients from lists) by 12% year-on-year. This has led to more people being treated -a record 1.5 million treatments in May 2025 (up 4.5% from the previous year) and over 12.5 million cumulative treatments from January to August 2025 (an 8% increase on 2024). Long waits have fallen sharply too, those waiting over 52 weeks are down 34% (96,678 fewer people) and over a year waits to 191,500. This shows tangible gains for patients regardless of any claims that it’s down to removals which ( in this case relate to a small number in terms of the data) and appear in historical Conservative figures too.

No projection here. It’s not even me that’s done any of the number crunching so I’m not claiming anything. I’m relying on the minds of two reputable health sector think tanks.

The Health Service Journal also reported on the same issue but I won’t bother posting those links as they are behind paywalls.

If numbers were really coming down in the quantities that Labour claims because ‘their plans are working’ which is what Streeting has said, why are many others looking into the data and finding some fault with it?

I think that he should visit places particularly affected by high levels of immigration (illegal or not) and see what it's like for himself and listen to the opinions of those who live there. It's important to try to see all sides rather than just dismiss people's views. If you try to impose your opinion on others, you will push them in the opposite direction. I blame both the far left and the far right for the rise of Reform.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/nigel-farage-reform-manifesto-tax-cuts-economy-b2844223.html

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/politics/36984835/nigel-farage-economy-tice-rachel-reeves-tax/

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/politics/36984835/nigel-farage-economy-tice-rachel-reeves-tax/

Reform have stated previously they will make savings, yet every council they have taken control they have not made savings ( as the last 14 years of austerity have pared everything back to the bone) and are now rising taxes

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/oct/13/eform-uk-abandoning-manifesto-pledge-tax-cuts-deputy-leader-admits

Another one 😂

Reform savings are actually cuts to public services - cutting services that working people rely on, NHS, social care, all the types of services those that have money just pay for

"Working people" 🤮 a meaningless slogan because you simply don't mean every single person who works do you? You only mean the narrow lost of public sector workers Labour use.

We need to cut spending, it's out of control eg welfare bill. At the same time we need to grow the economy and get more people working, which is the opposite of what Labour is doing.
We simply can't spend our way out of the shit.

Oh and in Warwickshire savings couldn't be made so they talked about flags for 4 months.

The Nigel Farage lied on the Laura Kuenssberg show, he said Doge wasn't working because it was being stopped by other authorities and on the show he quoted Warwickshire county council as an example.NF was clear he had wanted to see all the accounts and he was being stopped from doing it. Though NG or anyone from reform had put in a request to see anything. As a freedom of information request, seen by the new statesman, the council was asked which reform councillors had asked to view WCC financial accounts, books records and credit card receipts - the council stated No requests had been made for this information by anyone

You're on shaky ground talking about lying, Labour have a clear track record of this over last 15 months.

Working people" 🤮 a meaningless slogan because you simply don't mean every single person who works do you? You only mean the narrow lost of public sector workers Labour use.

I thought I had made it clear who I meant by working people by writing who I meant using that comment

cutting services that working people rely on, NHS, social care, all the types of services those that have money just pay for

So you include people on 500K in that definition? Because workers on 500K also use NHS etc but I suspect you don't mean them.

What does labour lying have anything to do with Reform lying?

This is a post about savings that reform would make if in power, im stating they can't make savings and why they aren't interested in making savings - it'll be cuts

No, thats why I put people with money will just pay for the services

No, this thread is about what an individual can do to keep Reform out. As all MN threads do, it has branched out. Plenty of other references to Labour on here so it's entirely in keeping.

So they both lie?

But they don't do they?
Plenty of millionaires use state schools/NHS. They all use council services etc.

People who work to earn money are by definition working people. It's a trite, divisive slogan to show that Labour only care about people who rely on state handouts/public sector workers.

Pretty much yes.

But they don't do they?
Plenty of millionaires use state schools/NHS. They all use council services etc.

and if those services are cut, who will it affect most? the person who is earning £500k or the person earning £37k who NF is supposed to represent

So why would you vote for either of them? NF is making out he is different from labour - but if they are both lying why would you give either of them your vote

I've got to go and have a shower