Why would mumsnet leftists vote Green over reform?

[Wizeman]

Now I have your attention

What are the substantive political reasons for voting for the Green Party over Reform UK?

Please avoid responses based on personality or tone (e.g., claims that one leader is “nicer” than the other). Instead, I am interested in clear policy-based arguments and ideological reasoning.
Reform UK is led by Nigel Farage, a businessman with a long-standing role in national politics. The Green Party is currently led by Zak Polanski, whose professional background includes work in theatre and as a hypnotist.

With that in mind, I would welcome serious explanations focused on policy positions, governance approach, economic strategy, and long-term outcomes, rather than personal character assessments.

And I agree that the character of these ‘leaders’ absolutely should be a central point for discussion. Are you seriously telling me the average Reform voter is digging down into policy?

I’ve lost count of the conversations I have had with some bloke (usually a bloke) who parrots some shite they read online about ‘the boats’ and says some sheepish thing about Farage being the only one who ‘can sort this mess out’ and Trump having it right in the USA. All vague, ill informed and predictable crap. Policy isn’t driving these people.

The argument for legalising cannabis is strong, not least from a taxation POV. Harder drugs like heroin etc, I can see a good argument for it, I could also see downsides, depending on how it is managed.

I like the idea of having safe injection sites, where users can go to inject under supervision, access clean needles, and test the purity of their drugs. It could be funded easily by legalising and taxing cannabis.

The Green Party policies don’t actually seem half bad to me.

net zero, free personal care, £15 minimum wage, 4 day week, better public transport, wealth taxes.

All things that would really benefit the country. No wonder the media are so against it.

Farage on women -
“no employer with a brain in the right place would employ a young, single, free woman”

"maybe it's because I've got so many women pregnant over the years that I have a different view."

"If a woman has a client base and has a child and takes two or three years off work, she is worth far less to the employer when she comes back"

"In the big banks and brokerage houses and Lloyds of London and everyone else in the City, I do not believe there is any discrimination against women at all. I think that young, able women who are prepared to sacrifice the family life and stick with their careers do as well, if not better, than men."

So many of these threads started by Farage shills.

Agreed. If anything, OP has changed my opinion of the Green Party for the better. They haven't done anything to change my mind on Reform. All they've managed to do is show that Reform is all soundbites, no research or evidence.

Nige needs to start giving better training to his PR peeps. This is backfiring massively.

I'm slightly wondering if this one is actually a sneaky pro-Green thread, because Reform really isn't coming out of it well whereas I'm now quite motivated to consider the Green Party!

I don’t much like Polanski but as a general rule I would vote Green if I couldn’t vote Labour. Nothing good will come from Farage, he’s a snake oil salesman.

Yes very clearly they were expecting a load of people to go “you’re right!!! Nigel all the way”, but it appears that the reform bubble may be bursting already.

Their undoing will be admitting so many Tory leavers to their ranks, then going on and saying that the tories broke Britain. The most glaring example is them being angry about immigrant hotels, and then welcoming Jenrick with open arms.

Good point. Let's have some more 'Reform are ace if you ignore all they say, all they do, their history, characters, MEP records, the company they keep and the few members who are actual racists/criminals/holocaust deniers' threads.

4 day working week, How would we fund it? 15 pound minimum wage, how would we fund it? Taxing the rich more? What happens when they leave? Its just printing money and increasing inflation, I could understand if gdp was growing substantially but its not. Part of our problem is we pay for services we cant afford, so you either cut funding. Or tax more that can lead to a death spiral of rich leaving and tax needing to go up to compensate.

Do you have any evidence that the rich will leave if taxes are raised, because research seems to suggest otherwise?

https://taxjustice.uk/blog/debunking-5-common-myths-about-wealth-taxes/

Immigrants don't stay young, fit and healthy forever though, do they? So, when they become old and sick, what happens then? Import more immigrants to care for them and work in the nhs? And where will these new immigrants live, send their children to school, access a gp? So, we need to build more houses, open more schools, create larger waiting lists for doctors surgeries...The cycle continues as the population grows, yet the infrastructure remains the same.

And what of other waiting lists?

i work in a head and neck team and more than 50% of our waiting list is white kids whose parents don’t brush their teeth properly.

And what of them? I don't understand your point; only white parents neglect their children's teeth?

Im more right wing than left but im not a reform voter, still unsure.

I don't think I'm allowed to vote Reform as I have no interest in badly painting red crosses on mini-roundabouts 😕

I've said this to them and they dont understand. If your bath isn't draining with the tap on full blast just turn the tap off.

Lots of immigrants are only here for a few years. I'm not convinced that the effect of immigration on the NHS is anywhere near the effect cause by the Covid backlog and our aging population, but I am willing to be swayed if you have some stats to share?

That it’s not just immigrants driving the waiting lists up but a general disregard for our health? Plus a stripping of NHS services meaning that people end up with long term conditions.

We lost 10800 net millionaires in 2024 and even more in 2025, thats billions lost per year. And then we welcome dependents who cost money into the country in droves.

For any leftist, I imagine it would be because the Green positions themselves and their policies closer to what is currently described as on the left, while Reform openly mocks their idea of the left and positions themselves actively as their opposite.

I live in a part of the country that has had a Reform mayor and I have three Reform councillors. They win largely due to being more visible than other parties, but that bar is in the crust of the earth. They are aware of this, their campaigns are largely around not voting for people whose names you don't recognise. They've done very little in those positions, I think they were more active in the community before they got into power. I'm aware some living in Green areas make similar complaints about their councils.

I'd look at how either is working and voting in Parliament now more than policies which can change as the wind blows. I'm aware Greens have come out stronger in that regard at least in being active, though that's easy to do compared to Reform - they've had some issues with actually attending.

A Reform councillor on LBC said that they appreciate Tories joining them due to their experience, which Reform candidates won’t have.
So it isn’t even going to be something new - which is good/bad depending on your viewpoint there.
I do agree with this councillor (first time for everything!) that experience is needed - we are seeing the impact of little-no experience in councils now. I also think there’s an awful lot of just running the country we don’t see, wouldn’t be interested in, doesn’t need political bias as such, and personally think a serious and experienced cabinet is needed.
But de facto it won’t then be ‘new’.
Anyway, I won’t vote Reform ever, I particularly don’t want us to leave the ECHR, I want to continue Net Zero, I don’t particularly want a privatised health service, but most importantly I don’t want a US one for sure, and I can’t believe we’d have a European style health service from Reform (reminds me of the Norwegian type Brexit mutterings from Farage). I don’t agree with their immigration policies. As more Tories enter Reform I could also say that I won’t be voting for what experience has taught me is a sack of cats fighting for personal gain either, but that’s irrelevant as I wouldn’t consider Reform either way.
I vote Lib Dem or sometimes Labour or sometimes Independent and have voted Green as well previously.
I was completely onboard with nearly all the Green 2024 manifesto, but not sure how the figures stacked up in reality - I tactically voted anyway to ensure the Tories went so I didn’t have to weigh that up too hard.

What's the cost/loss in tax revenue of the terrible departure of these millionaires - please provide this info and show where you got your figures from.

Surely flooding the country with extra people doesn't help though?