What I would like to ask Reform supporters what are the specific Reform policies they support?

[CurlewKate]

Just that really. I am a Labour voter, and I know what Labour policies I support. I think I know what Conservative and Lib Dem policies their supporters like. I don't know about Reform.

I reckon there is a bright side for the SNP too. We were chatting earlier and my question was “if Reform got in to the U.K. government, and SNP had an independence referendum, would you vote to leave the U.K. Every single one of us said yes. Every single one of us would previously never voted yes and think independence would be quite problematic in the short to medium term. I hate the SNP and how badly they have run Scotland, but I would rather that than living under a Reform Government. Any party who can convince me to vote SNP are seriously problematic.

Do you think green belt is the best solution? You don't think brownfield sites might be better? Especially in an area you likely know very little about?

I live in an area that’s just had a New Town rejected after much campaigning, it was going on green belt.

Literally nobody is using that land. It’s owned by a variety of farmers, who grow nothing on it and do not have animals using it either, and just live in the often large house on that property and look at their empty fields.

So no, IMO - build on some of it.

Ten years ago nobody was talking about immigration , were they?

It was a huge topic back then! Don't you remember all the sexual assaults in Germany on NYE 2015? 1200 women sexually assaulted on one night by men described as of 'Arab/North African appearance'.

The Cologne police chief 'suggested that the perpetrators had come from countries where such sexual assaults by groups of men against women are common.[19]'

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015%E2%80%9316_New_Year%27s_Eve_sexual_assaults

I'd rather see more fields tbh. It doesn't have to be covered in concrete just because it isn't being used.

I don’t think it’s right to be in the midst of a housing crisis whilst land, whatever colour it is, is just sat there unused.

People need property, that they can afford, and at the moment that’s lacking. There has to be an answer somewhere, and small groups of people owning land that could house upwards of 20 families who need it, isn’t good enough.

I'd rather people had somewhere to live.

I assume you have a house to live in?

Land actually covered by residential buildings (houses) in the UK is estimated to be just over 1% of the total land area. While total "urban land" (including roads, gardens, and green spaces) covers around 7% to 8%.

For comparison golf courses occupy more land in England than homes do.

Around 5.9% of the population claim PIP and around 3% of adults gave ADHD and about 5% of children have ADHD. Your anger about the state of the country is absurdly misdirected

I think it’s worth remembering that we’ve had this conversation before.

In 2013 UKIP won 25% of the vote in the local elections and the same conversations were being had.

By the time the GE arrived they didn’t even come close.

It’s also worth noting that while reform have gained some seats, the councils which they already ran they have lost. All of them. 10% of their existing counsellors have either quit, been thrown out or are in jail.

And people think that it’s somehow cool to make protest votes?

Anyone who votes for a party just because they don’t want someone else in is an idiot. Especially if that vote has the potential to lead that party to actual power.

One thing to vote for an independent candidate, quite another to vote for a party where power could be achieved. In that case you earn the judgement of family and friends and to be branded a racist bigot. Even if you claim not to be one.

Which groups of immigrants do you want to stop?

All groups?
The biggest groups (students and those working)?
The smaller groups (asylum seekers illegal)?

How do Reform say they will do this?
What will the impact be?

What I would like to ask Reform supporters what are the specific Reform policies they support? Asked @CurlewKate

I came on here expecting a huge number of Reform voters, sharing the huge positives of Reform policies….where are they?

There is not an EU wish to have zero nuclear power. In fact Nuclear is seen as essential to getting to net zero and they have enacted several laws and policies around this.

I assume immigration and not just to stop it but reverse it.

Only in response to the Iran war. France did it years ago and reaped the benefits.

The Iran war that started recently? No it didn’t. It was the Ukraine war that prompted it more, but member states started to see it as critical to reaching net zero.

Nuclear is a low carbon energy source. So net zero and nuclear are not at odds with each other.

If we hadn’t had so much immigration we wouldn’t be in this situation.

I live in hard core Lib Dem territory and I am pretty sure that many people who vote for them have no idea what their policies are. It is simply a vibe imo - and same with Reform, Greens, I think.

I think we probably would. Easy to blame immigration for everything.

How so?

in this situation I think it is to blame

it was better before Tony B started all the nonsense

Reform isn’t my cup of tea tbh but I do wonder if people ever reflect on the fact that being condescending towards people who do vote reform won’t actually change their minds. There has been literally one thread where a question like this was asked and most people tried to speak to each other in good faith and without insults or snideness. It’s often just stuff like “they’ve been tricked, they are stupid, they are bigots”. None of it comes from actual curiosity.

What happens is those people just don’t bother speaking to you and will go away and just vote how they like anyway. You lost the opportunity to set out your own stall as to why you believe an alternative would be better, I have a friend who would have voted green and I would have voted conservative. If I ran a country it would be like el salavador and he would probably run a giant hippy commune. We manage not to belittle or insult each other despite having very different views. Theres an extreme childishness in the way people engage with each other on politics on mumsnet.

Are you hard of thinking?

It's simple mathematics - more people = more housing (and everything else for that matter).

You can't house the world on a tiny island. Why should we?

The world?!

That’s a lot of people. More in fact than actually arrive, or ever would.

Interestingly it has actually gone up by 350million a week. Not saying it’s all Brexit mind, COVID bumped up spending.

Less than 10 percent of the 'tiny island' is built on.

Don't you care about our wildlife, or the quality of life for those people already living here?

The standard of living in this country has already dropped in recent years. People have had enough.