What is the best way to vote to stop Reform at next GE

[HedgeKnights]

As a more left leaning voter, I am happy to vote Labour, Lib Dem or Green. I am worried Reform will win the next GE and think Lib Dem might be the way to go, to keep them out. Not just as a tactical vote as I do like most of their policies.
Do people who don't want Reform in power need to to come together now behind one party, or is it more difficult than that
Edited spelling

Another saying, check your local area, look at tactical voting options. To the extent that if in my area it’s a choice between Tories and reform I might feel I have to vote Tory.

(can I also suggest you go on the websites of right wing papers and hunt for their hidden stories about Farage’s £5m gift- show them the public is interested in this story. Ultimately they need to sell advertising and if articles negative about Farage gets them clicks, they’ll print them. The ideal situation if you don’t want reform to do well in the next general election is for those failed Tories to get emboldened that Farage isn’t as popular as they thought and arrogantly thinking they could do a better job as leader, a good old backstabbing leadership challenge in a year or so would be good.)

We were all told it was an "invasion" by the Conservative government in the House of Commons.

This. I used this at the last election, as it varies by area who is the best tactical choice.

I used to vote Conservative but haven't since Brexit. But I'd vote for them if I was in an area where they were the party who could keep out Reform. Reform are full of the worst ex-Tories imo so I don't understand how anyone can think they'll solve the problems that the Conservatives caused in recent years. I hope that the Conservatives can find their way again and recruit more good candidates. Our local Conservative MP was good but resigned after Brexit.

This rhetoric was mostly UKIP and Farage. It fueled Brexit - controlling our own borders. It greatly pre dates Reform but appeals to the same people.

One of the wasters voted in said he was proud to be representing UKIPyesterday. One has resigned as it suddenly dawned on him he would have too much work and one was sacked because he denied the holocaust existed. They are already showing themselves to be a bunch of grifters and losers. You couldn’t make it up!

I would say that the best way to keep reform out is to rely on facts and publicise the many red flags surrounding Farage. But as Brexit showed us emotions seem to be more important than facts.

As I posted on another thread yesterday I just don’t understand why we ignore red flags in politics. Especially as use of this (18th century) expression has snowballed since the late 2010s, and is now common parlance even on on Love island, MAFS etc.

To keep Reform out let’s be alert to Red Flags.

Red flag 1:
Reform has anti environment policies. Fact. They are focused on maximizing fossil fuel extraction, abandoning net-zero targets, reversing green subsidies, and accelerating fracking. Yes really, I think they even proposed a windfall tax on wind power?

Red flag 2:
Farage sometimes masks it, but his true position is to dismantle the NHS. He will pretend he will keep it for electoral positioning but has revealed his true position often. In his memoirs he states that the NHS almost killed him, and a private health care diagnosis saved him. He has often praised privatisation of healthcare, in particular a French-style insurance health system.

Red flag 3 (should be 1)
He has displayed hard wired racist and antisemitic behaviour since childhood including actually saying “Hitler was right” and “gas ’em” about Jewish people. (This shows you who the person is, and has been expressly confirmed by several school contemporaries.)

Red flag 4: Lies in the Brexit campaign including extremist propaganda including about Turkey joining the EU which was a complete falsehood, as it is a frozen Turkey. Basically it would need to meet 35 criteria, and can’t- ever, largely due to Cyprus.

With Farage ( and Trump) when some-one shows you who they are, then believe them. ( That list doesn’t even include the financial red flags.)

True.
Poor people with few choices.

But nobody who lives in these areas are going to want to live in hotels now are they. What they need is proper affordable housing. That’s what labour is trying to do but they get so much bad press about building on the green belt blah blah blah. If there’s pressure on school places or doctors surgeries that needs to be addressed through the education department or the health service. Allocate money where it is needed. Previous govt yes pandered to reform by calling it an invasion but the majority of immigrants come through proper channels.
The country needs immigration, we need to prop up the falling birth rate to pay for our ever growing elderly population so it’s difficult to get the balance right.
but as ever there is no point in debate because the views of some people are so entrenched that they could never believe they may be wrong.

I know it sounds like special pleading-but it is important to remember that, of the people who voted, more than 70% DIDN’T vote for Reform…

You are right - the best way to shut them down is to mobilise those who didn’t vote previously, getting the vote out will be the most important thing and what Reform have traded on, is in poorer areas, people who don’t normally bother to vote because they view all politicians as not caring about them, have been persuaded to vote for them.

Yes please do encourage them to vote but don’t influence them on who to vote for! Tell them to read manifestos and decide for themselves.
We live in a democracy, let’s keep it that way!

The country needs immigration, we need to prop up the falling birth rate to pay for our ever growing elderly population so it’s difficult to get the balance right.
but as ever there is no point in debate because the views of some people are so entrenched that they could never believe they may be wrong.

Yes this is exactly right. You only need to put into AI or Google
‘ Which are the wealthiest countries by GDP and to what extent do they rely on immigration’ and you will get an accurate analysis of why we need immigration. However people either won’t do the research to properly understand it or just go with their feelz.

🤣

Look, I’m not pretending DH is a genius, but he’s pretty smart and has a degree in politics from a Russell Group uni and I agree with what he’s saying: this election is not necessarily a bad thing and it’s good it happened now. Incompetent parties like Reform have been given enough rope to hang thenselves, and they will before the GE. In this single way, Farage is a lot like both Obama and Trump - better at campaigning for a role than performing that role (of course, which side you’re on politically will affect which you think is/was more incompetent).

The ONLY benefit of career politicians is experience (cronyism is a huge and ever-present danger when politician salaries are higher than national average salary). I’m worried for councils controlled by both Reform and the Plaid AND the Greens (I appreciate the Greens but Jesus Christ are they unrealistic; if you give a fuck about the environment, you’re pro-nuclear energy) - they don’t have the experience and in about a month or two, it’ll be wall to wall articles about schools falling apart and them being unable to collectively bargain efficiently with teachers or bin men or other council employees, and for Reform specifically, seems to always be racist tweets or comments uncovered.

Of course, I hope the newly elected Plaid Cymru and Green politicians are smart enough to know they’re inexperienced and ask for advice and guidance. Reform asking for advice and guidance? They’d rather be stuck in a migrant hotel they lit on fire.

But yeah, don’t look at me. This election is proof that complete devolution is coming within the next 20-50 years. If Reform wants to be who broke the union, more power to them, I guess?

They are two sides of a decidedly harmful coin, that’s for sure.

Like it or not, we teach our kids our values. Mostly if they ask about something- flags on lampposts- I'll explain my understanding of why people do it and why I disagree and tell them they don't have to accept my view. Sometimes- a swastika painted on a local school- I'm not even going to try and explain the other sides perspective. I explained the history and why no decent person should ever do that. Or less absolute, when rioters were threatening the safety of asylum seekers I explained why people might feel angry but that violence like that isn't acceptable. Because as their parents I do need to teach them right from wrong.

Regarding Devolution- wouldn’t Reform be happy to preside over breaking up the union provided they could personally milk the English part they were left running?!

The electorate seem to turn a blind eye to the extreme self serving nature of Reform

Overall let’s stop ignoring the many Reform red flags (as listed in my earlier posts). My final Red flags, for now, is the financial self - serving - dodgyness of Farage including:
🚩£32,000- spent on one single trip flying to the USA to try and fawn over Trump in July 2024 immediately after being elected as the MP for Clacton. He rushed to the States to see Trump referring to him as his ‘ close personal friend’ who had just been shot at. Except on that visit Trump refused to see him! Trump has refused to see him again recently too.
🚩Just under £500,000 personal support from Arron Banks in return for supporting Brexit including a chauffeur & a Land Rover Discovery (valued at £32,300) plus £20,000 for a driver. Plus the rent and bills for a £4.4 million, three-bedroom Chelsea house and garage, rented for an estimated £13,000 a month via Banks's firm, Rock Services, plus furnishings for the house.
🚩£2 million in EU salaries, allowances and expenses while simultaneously being anti-EU . He lost part of his MEP salary, after an official enquiry discovered funds for parliamentary staffing were entirely misspent.
🚩 £380,000 undeclared payments -recently apologized to Parliament for failing to declare this sum.
🚩£5,000,000 recent personal gift from billionaire Christopher Harborne, apparently triggering his u turn on his decision not to stand as an MP. The Electoral Commission and parliamentary standards authorities are investigating.

Lets stop the short memories. Is this the kind of ‘ statesman’ we really want at the helm?

Lest we forget, with Farage ( and Trump) when some-one shows you who they are, then believe them.

Edited to correct a typo as had partially repeated my post on another thread.

The EA2010 is taught, British values are taught. School rules exist. It’s up to the child to navigate within those. They are good at debate and are more politically aware than you think. That doesn’t mean to say they’d vote Green

They’re not angry because they want to live in hotels.
They’re angry because it’s no longer safe to use parks or for women/ girls to walk around in the day time.

Don't forget Farage changed his tune about Trump being a close personal friend after Trump started the war with Iran . Suddenly Trump was someone he just "happened to know".

@user2848502016yes I’m intelligent enough to work that out myself thanks!

@FatterthanBarbieLet’s not forget that much was sacrificed and suffered by women for that ‘just one vote.’

Reform now have a couple of years to prove what they can achieve for the people who voted for them in their local areas.

It will be interesting to see how that pans out.

If you feel threatened by that then I don't know what to tell you.

In a town near me one of the Afghan immigrants housed in a hotel was beaten to death by 4 men.

Men are incredibly dangerous.

They’re dangerous to other men and they’re dangerous to women and children.

Prioritising some men shouldn’t be a reason for women and children to have to be put in increased danger.

PS I haven’t been able to find this story in the UK. There were however, multiple stories of asylum seekers murdering British people. Only one such instance in the Netherlands of four men and one asylumer being the victim though. Could you link an article, please?