Reform. 140,748 members and counting. The Tories are well and truly in trouble!

If you read interviews with Farage you will notice it is All About Me. Witness what happened to Richard tice, who remained loyal which is more than Farage did.

FriedGreenTomatoes2

^So what in your life isn’t working for you that Brexit has spoiled? Do you not have a home? Health care? Education for the children in your family? What do you think rejoining the EU can do that will improve your life and mine? Oh and, by the way, I love and believe in my country too^

There you go MayBee
Fixed it for you.
😁

Did you not have all of those things when we were still in the EU? Oh and, by the way, although I wanted a people’s vote because the leave campaign was based on lies and misinformation I do not believe that we should be rejoining the EU in the foreseeable future. But I do think we need to be rebuilding our relationship with Europe. In what way has leaving the EU improved people’s lives?

Thank you OldFrill, I'll take a look.

Perhaps FriedGreenTomatoes2 could confirm or let us know if it's a different one?

In the Farage article in the Telegraph posted earlier on page 2 as regards what Reform actually has to offer, very little is actually laid out as to policy and what a "Reform" government would be like. It doesnt yet again answer the question that it has a policy of "pushing the boats back and immediate deportation to France" without saying how. It doesnt say, if you cut civil servants, who will operate a care and benefit system. It doesn't say how we can raise money, just promises emptily we wont pay so much tax.

All it does is to repeat "war on waste" and "private not public" services.

It ends on a grand rhetorical "call to arms", long on rhetoric, short on detail, completely absent when it comes to foreign policy and our place in the wider world.

Fortunately some of these policies are about to be tested in the USA, we can look on it and see what happens when Musk cuts his "2 trillion" in the budget.

OldFrill

PoliticsNerd

I've had a quick look through the posts (very quick!) And I can't see whose poll is being quoted. Could someone update me please?

I assume the Reform membership figure originated from their live tracker on their website
www.reformparty.uk/counter

And he has already said he will let an independent company verify the figures…🤓

Jeanathome

Bixiboo

It’s interesting the number of young people who Farage said are joining Reform. I wonder if it’s because they are disillusioned with Labour and Conservatives.

Weimar Rebublic plus Racism plus Social Media.

Weimar Rebublic plus Racism plus Social Media.

... yes - "Tomorrow Belongs To Me" 🧑‍🎤🧑‍🎤🧑‍🎤

Membership of the three main parties has dropped considerably over the last couple of years, according to the BBC.

Dickens

Jeanathome

Bixiboo

It’s interesting the number of young people who Farage said are joining Reform. I wonder if it’s because they are disillusioned with Labour and Conservatives.

Weimar Rebublic plus Racism plus Social Media.

Weimar Rebublic plus Racism plus Social Media.

... yes - "Tomorrow Belongs To Me" 🧑‍🎤🧑‍🎤🧑‍🎤

That's a neo-Nazi song, isn't it?

The Weimar Republic was not Nazi.

The was a poll out by Opinium just before Christmas, so I wondered if that was the reference. It makes more sense that the OP relates to Reforms own figures though.

Reform will withdraw from climate change initiatives, following the Trump/Musk climate change denier format. ""Saving money" at the mere cost of saving the planet.

Allira

Dickens

Jeanathome

Bixiboo

It’s interesting the number of young people who Farage said are joining Reform. I wonder if it’s because they are disillusioned with Labour and Conservatives.

Weimar Rebublic plus Racism plus Social Media.

Weimar Rebublic plus Racism plus Social Media.

... yes - "Tomorrow Belongs To Me" 🧑‍🎤🧑‍🎤🧑‍🎤

That's a neo-Nazi song, isn't it?

The Weimar Republic was not Nazi.

I understood that the song wasn't even a nazi song. It was written for the original play on which Cabaret was based.

And yes, Wiemar wasn't nazi. They were the ones who caused the hyperinflation which made Germans vulnerable to Hitler's fascist populism.

I think that will be quite popular to be honest. It's not that ordinary people are climate change deniers but rather that they need to be able to drive/get to work, etc. Climate change is a luxury way down on their priorities. My local city (red wall area so prime reform target) is a case in point, I have just read their consultation on their vision for transport in the city. Lots of opportunities to express a view on environmental proposals, not at all addressing the elephant in the room that moving around the city has become almost impossible. To ordinary people climate change policies seem to impact them and have little impact on those with resources and wealth. I think it is a perfectly understandable source of resentment.

Any politician can promise the world when not in power. When the manifestos are published before an election is when you know what they are actually planning to deliver on.

Allira

Dickens

Jeanathome

Bixiboo

It’s interesting the number of young people who Farage said are joining Reform. I wonder if it’s because they are disillusioned with Labour and Conservatives.

Weimar Rebublic plus Racism plus Social Media.

Weimar Rebublic plus Racism plus Social Media.

... yes - "Tomorrow Belongs To Me" 🧑‍🎤🧑‍🎤🧑‍🎤

That's a neo-Nazi song, isn't it?

The Weimar Republic was not Nazi.

... apologies, I wasn't referencing the Weimar Republic observation, rather mulling over news media / social media reports that young people are, apparently, in some numbers, being enticed by Reform - and that episode from that film came to mind, ie, the sentiment of a kind of 'new dawn' era of political governance.

FriedGreenTomatoes2

KB has judged this wrong. It’s free publicity for NF. Gives him an open goal.
Silly KB. A knee jerk reaction. I think she’ll regret passing a comment.

I agree, by picking this fight, Badenoch has given Farage some great publicity which was possibly his aim in the first place.

Galaxy

I think that will be quite popular to be honest. It's not that ordinary people are climate change deniers but rather that they need to be able to drive/get to work, etc. Climate change is a luxury way down on their priorities. My local city (red wall area so prime reform target) is a case in point, I have just read their consultation on their vision for transport in the city. Lots of opportunities to express a view on environmental proposals, not at all addressing the elephant in the room that moving around the city has become almost impossible. To ordinary people climate change policies seem to impact them and have little impact on those with resources and wealth. I think it is a perfectly understandable source of resentment.

I understand that, but the issues are far wider, like being pro-fracking/drill baby drill as per USA, and on the other hand finding ways ahead with cleaner energy in the long term.

Just today in the Times front page:

" Millions of homeowners could be offered grants and cheap loans as incentives for solar panel installation, according to The Times"

Casdon

Any politician can promise the world when not in power. When the manifestos are published before an election is when you know what they are actually planning to deliver on.

Starmer and co promised rather a lot and have reneged on a lot of it
Liars and cheats….

HousePlantQueen

FriedGreenTomatoes2

KB has judged this wrong. It’s free publicity for NF. Gives him an open goal.
Silly KB. A knee jerk reaction. I think she’ll regret passing a comment.

I agree, by picking this fight, Badenoch has given Farage some great publicity which was possibly his aim in the first place.

Maybe she knows something we don’t, that is quite possible? A showdown is coming in the next few months, whether on this issue or something else.

So …. Not fake news!

But now, Badenoch’s tweets have been hit with a “community note” – a feature written by users of the social media site who sign up to write and rate notes.

Underneath her tweet, a note now says: “This claim is false. It’s not a ‘fake ticker’ – the website code clearly shows data being pulled via an API.

“Sky News has independently verified the source of the API data and confirmed that the membership number is accurate.”

Surely the best thing Kemi can do now is to provide an effusive and meaningful apology to draw a line in the sand.

Farage:
“All I’ve said is I want an apology. If I don’t get an apology, I will take action.”

We’ll see, won’t we. Neither of them are backward at coming forward with their viewpoints.

Shinamae

Casdon

Any politician can promise the world when not in power. When the manifestos are published before an election is when you know what they are actually planning to deliver on.

Starmer and co promised rather a lot and have reneged on a lot of it
Liars and cheats….

Didn’t the Conservatives government actually remove existing incentives/grants to install solar power? ( along with removing gas storage facilities which made us vulnerable to international events).

Yes, Maybee in 2015. Here is an article that shows how they axed 9 green policies

"Onshore wind, solar, green homes ... we round up the measures that have gone under the knife in what some are calling the worst period for UK environmental policy in 30 years"

www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jul/24/the-9-green-policies-killed-off-by-tory-government

They removed the gas storage facilities in 2017.
www.gov.uk/government/news/rough-gas-storage-facility-undertakings-to-be-removed#:~:text=The%20CMA%20has%20confirmed%20its,undertakings%20from%20Rough%20gas%20storage.&text=Removing%20these%20will%20facilitate%20the,deemed%20unsafe%20by%20its%20operator.

Casdon

We’ll see, won’t we. Neither of them are backward at coming forward with their viewpoints.

Getting to feel like something in the playground I'm afraid.

All the party memberships seem low. Less than 200,000 out of 60 billion. And yet we are all enthused by these political threads. It just doesn't translate into paying subs.