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 don’t think they can cut council tax support, that’s in district councils’ remit and they don’t run any of those.

Well, you can debate people as well. That's also democracy.

The last time I checked, my tax burden wasn't 51% plus

Don't talk to people like that - it's rude.

Point out what is precisely wrong with his arguments, and don't waste our time taking up space on the thread venting spleen.

We need to be getting out of oil. We need to stay with global efforts to cut green house emmissions. If you have second thoughts about this, you should go and read or listen to the scientists who study these things. They will be eager to talk to you.

As long as the other person is happy to enter into debate. And as long as you aren't ramming your own political views down other people's necks. Unfortunately these days those two factors are often ignored.

That's all well and good as long as there is the infrastructure in place to replace it.

And that it is suitable for everybody, not just the city dwellers.

Reform MP Danny Kruger says Reform UK will “change the law to put the police under the control of elected politicians.”

A Police State.
He's describing a Police State.
Reform Policy is to create a Police State. Deeply troubling.

I don't think it's particularly troubling. The police seem too scared to do much policing these days.

Anyone who doesn’t think a police state is troubling really hasn’t thought about it.

What global efforts?

A Police state?? Judges eliminated and plans to abolish the JAC and have government appointed Judges.
No fall back position of the ECHR and the Human Rights Act 1998 would be scrapped.
Does none of this trouble you at all?
Sounds like a tinpot dictatorship in the making to me. Judge, Jury and Execution?
Fuck that.

No it doesn't trouble me. Reform (as I understand) are aiming to put Parliament etc back to before 1997 when Blair got in and destabilised things. All parties will end up leaving the ECHR. (Labour will eventually have to). We can and should run our own legal system and make our own laws.

I wouldn't get too hyped up.

So Undermining Judicial Independence doesn’t concern you? Abolishing the JAC (designed to insulate selections from political influence) would allow a Reform government to appoint judges. Creating a judiciary that defers to the government rather than acting as an impartial check. This would be the politicisation of the judiciary risking biased rulings weakening the rule of law by prioritising "public opinion" over professional merit likely echoing Trumps tactics to curb judicial oversight.
A less independent judiciary is a core threat to democratic accountability.
Reform is ( as it does in so many ways) looking to the U.S Trump model of electing judges. This would make the judiciary responsive to voter sentiment but at the cost of legal expertise and neutrality. It risks incentivising populist rulings rather than evidence based justice,
effectively eroding the rule of law. It could limit judicial scrutiny of executive actions, normalising "emergency powers" that bypass democratic debate. Elected judges are likely to prioritise short term popularity over long term stability.
In systems where judicial elections exist it generally correlates with higher corruption or bias.
Scrapping the Human Rights Act 1998 and withdrawing from the European Convention on Human Rights would remove key tools for courts to challenge government overreach. It breaches international obligations, destabilises devolution (Scotland and Northern Ireland incorporate ECHR rights into their frameworks) and threatens the Good Friday agreement. There will be devastating consequences for UK unity and trade ties.
Reduced human rights safeguards disproportionately affect vulnerable groups. It risks stifling free speech and assembly which are pillars of democracy. It also signals a retreat from multilateralism, isolating the UK geopolitically.
Only Reform and the Conservatives want to leave the ECHR.
I think we should all be VERY concerned about this.

You should, if you are interested in this, watch David Starkey's podcast on what needs to be done re the instruments of State. He will know more than many of us on the history of Parliament. Very interesting. A "Restoration" I think is what he describes it. Going back to 1997 before all this Blair madness took shape and led to minority interests superceding the interests of the majority. It should put your mind at rest as although a Conservative I think he's advising Reform. As a lawyer myself I think it would come as a relief to the country.

You might not be the only lawyer on here. The same David Starkey who claimed that the transatlantic slave trade was an “complete fabrication” and that anti-racists are "trying to destroy white culture" and accused left-wingers of being "jealous" of Jews because of the Holocaust? Sadly he has gone from grumpy professor to full on fascist troll, so I wouldn’t be taking his wisdom on the subject. As I recall he also said Camilla would never be queen so his foresight might be more than a little questionable…..

I don't think he's a "full on facist troll" at all.
I also don't think I'm the only lawyer on here either, of course.

Self-control in argument is always advisable.

Police state. The hyperbole is ironic in view of what we are going through at the moment with speech crimes incurring greater prison sentences than actual violence. But that's just me I suppose, hoping for a single tier justice system.

Thats quite condescending, I think you’d do well to take your own advice.
Do you agree with Starkey’s statements?

To entrust this to Reform would be a grave mistake. They are so hypocritical and audacious in their Free speech narratives.
Did you see Nigel Farage talking outside court after an Afghan migrant who threatened to kill him on a tiktok video is jailed for 5yrs.
Farage said it’s “deeply concerning that he will be released in 18 months”
This is the SAME MAN who hugged and platformed Lucy Connolly who was convicted of inciting racial hatred and was calling for violence "set fire to all the fucking hotels full of the bastards"
They are only concerned with protecting speech THEY approve of.

I'm just suggesting that if you are a lawyer as you are implying, then calling someone a "full on facist troll" isn't usually a winning argument. But I suppose it depends on who you are attempting to persuade.

Re the statements, they aren't really "statements". Perhaps provide the full context of what he said and we can judge. I'm always suspicious of people pulling words out of thin air and then being - how did you put it? "Judge, Jury and Execution?."

Do you agree with his arguments regarding a Restoration being needed? And that the rights of the individual have since Blair overridden the rights of the majority? Hence leading to the bind we are now all in. Don't worry if you havent heard the arguments but they are very interesting and could be judged on their own merits and shouldn't be written off because you don't like the cut of his jib perhaps?

I don't see much wrong with that. Nigel Farage was in clear fear for his life from a very specific threat. Unlike Lucy Connolly.

All that happens is by making energy more expensive in the UK, manufacturing jobs simply move to China and India where wages and energy prices are much lower (but more polluting).

If anything it increases global emissions not decrease it as UK energy production from fossil fuel and manufacturing processes are less polluting than China and India.

If environmentalists genuinely cared about climate change then they would be protesting outside the Chinese and Indian embassies.

That graph looks made up, @1dayatatime . There's a per capita graph here, which is also more up to date. It shows the United States and Canada way ahead of China.
CO₂ emissions - Our World in Data

Mine is 38% on Income Tax and NI alone. That is before what I spend on council tax, VAT, fuel duty etc.