All is not well in the world of Reform

Reform is a change party something different but not politically significant in this parliament, yet they are generating probably 100 times the publicity of all the other small parties combined.
I have no idea what their policies are and nor do most others, yet they polled 14 % of the vote in the GE, thank god we don’t have PR.
In 5 yrs time with proper organization and finance they could hold the balance of power, as we saw in the Brexit vote there are a lot of voters who think the Tories are too soft. They believe migration is the root of our problems in the UK and will vote for them on that policy alone.

Cossy

GrannyGravy13

Doodledog Labour won the majority of seats but didn’t get get an overwhelming amount of votes.

Lowest turnout since 2001 according to statistica.

Indeed, but the point is under our rather antiquated and flawed system, they did win with a good majority.

I think people are drawn to Reform for a number of reasons, certainly immigration is very near the top of the list.

I think Farage fans like him because of his “blokey, pie and a pint” facade.

Cossy we met him many years ago, he was articulate, intelligent and very polite.

I can understand why people are drawn to vote for him, especially when looking at the two main parties who appear to be so similarly to each other.

I really struggle with the insults on the N & P threads, it is just point scoring against posters with different views as opposed to discussion.

Farage has lost his focus now that he thinks he is besties with Trump and Musk. Behind closed doors I can imagine them having a good laugh at this gullible twerp from Reform.
Nige reckons he has patched up his friendship with Musk after he said Reform needed a new leader. Why does he care what Musk thinks? Or could it be the little matter of the $100m donation that Musk is considering.
Musk is right, though. Reform does need a new leader. One who spends their time in the UK working for those who elected them rather than one who loves nothing better than being in the US with his 'mates'.

petra

vegansrock

What are reforms policies on health? Education? Transport? The economy? The environment? Does anyone know?

Their manifesto is on line to read.

If you are talking about the election "contract", it was ditched just two months after the election as unworkable. The Independent:

When the “contract with the people” (so-called because Mr Farage claimed manifestos were considered to be lies) was launched at Merthyr Tydfil it was lampooned for being “Liz Truss economics on steroids”.

The party promised £140bn in tax cuts including raising the threshold of income tax to £20,000, claiming it could find £156bn in spending cuts. But there were serious question marks over the mathematics.

At the time the Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank said that Reform’s plans were based on “extremely optimist assumptions” about growth and the sums “do not add up”, meaning the manifesto as a whole was “problematic”.

But speaking to The Independent, [Zia] Yusuf said that the contract with the people should now be considered “more as the philosophy of what the party wants to achieve rather than policy details.”

Addressing the sums in the “election contract with the people”, Mr Yusuf said: “They don't add up on the basis that you implement everything in there on day one for arriving in Downing Street. That's fair. But that was never going to be the plan.”

[Which is interesting as they said: Our Contract with You is not just another party manifesto. It sets out the reforms that Britain needs in the first 100 days following a general election and thereafter. It's not specified what they proposed to do in the first 100 days.]

Some at the time saw the policies as a list to help win over Tories with no real expectation of winning; a claim that Mr Yusuf acknowledged was true.

Here's are some questions for supporters of Reform.

The party has just five MPs. Assume the next election is in 2029 and Reform does win more seats. Unless experienced MPs have defected from other parties, anyone newly-elected would need to serve time on the backbenches and in junior roles, learning how central government works. They wouldn't even have the experience being in oppostion. They couldn't just hit the ground running with a Cabinet position. So how could Farage as PM even form a Cabinet?

Among the five serving MPs, assuning they were re-elected, what Cabinet position would you give them and why? Bear in mind that the most experienced MP, defector Lee Anderson, never held a Cabinet post under the Tories.

Sarnia

Farage has lost his focus now that he thinks he is besties with Trump and Musk. Behind closed doors I can imagine them having a good laugh at this gullible twerp from Reform.
Nige reckons he has patched up his friendship with Musk after he said Reform needed a new leader. Why does he care what Musk thinks? Or could it be the little matter of the $100m donation that Musk is considering.
Musk is right, though. Reform does need a new leader. One who spends their time in the UK working for those who elected them rather than one who loves nothing better than being in the US with his 'mates'.

It’s not so much Reform needing a new leader, as Farage doing the job he’s paid to do, looking after and being available to his constituency.

As for Farage being polite, articulate and intelligent, no one is doubting his public persona. He’s been very well educated, that does not mean he’s a “good guy”

I see that the Mirror have dubbed him ‘Nine Jobs Nige’ as their headline this morning. That could stick, it has echoes of ‘Two Jags’. ’

I do not want the abuse that is directed at posters who admit to voting reform directed at me

GG I really don’t see “abuse” towards Reform PLC supporters - certainly not any more than is levelled at Labour supporters.

It is beginning to appear that criticism / ridicule of those who voted Labour is deemed as justified on GN; but criticism / ridicule of those who support Reform PLC is deemed “abuse”.

Whatever happened to the free speech Mr Farage is such a fan of?

Claremont

Today in the Daily Mail, Littlejohn is advising Trump to buy Britain!

All in the name of Sovereignty. Selling out NHS and most of our utilities too, is Farage's grand plan.

By the look of it, Reeves will flog us all to a communist China.

As for Farage being polite, articulate and intelligent, no one is doubting his public persona. He’s been very well educated, that does not mean he’s a “good guy”

That's what used to attract Gnetters to Rees Mogg.

LizzieDrip

^I do not want the abuse that is directed at posters who admit to voting reform directed at me^

GG I really don’t see “abuse” towards Reform PLC supporters - certainly not any more than is levelled at Labour supporters.

It is beginning to appear that criticism / ridicule of those who voted Labour is deemed as justified on GN; but criticism / ridicule of those who support Reform PLC is deemed “abuse”.

Whatever happened to the free speech Mr Farage is such a fan of?

I criticise the MP’s (whatever their colour) not those who voted for them.

MaizieD

^As for Farage being polite, articulate and intelligent, no one is doubting his public persona. He’s been very well educated, that does not mean he’s a “good guy”^

That's what used to attract Gnetters to Rees Mogg.

It is possible to like a person without supporting their politics.

I have friends who have always voted differently to me, doesn’t make me like them any less.

Freya5

Claremont

Today in the Daily Mail, Littlejohn is advising Trump to buy Britain!

All in the name of Sovereignty. Selling out NHS and most of our utilities too, is Farage's grand plan.

By the look of it, Reeves will flog us all to a communist China.

doesn't China own quite a lot already? As do other countries. Mostly courtesy the tories who spent their time flogging off our national assets on the global market...

This is all a distraction from what is happening inside this Labour Gov. Reeves in China with her begging bowl, selling off more of our country.
The Labour minister, Siddiq, being investigated by Bangladesh for money laundering. See she's still in post.!
See a Labour MP going against the status quo re child abuse gangs, and its still going on I would say.
Yet all you can do is gaggle on about how bad you think Reform is. Well there's a Gov who is proving to be very bad, perhaps you should look at them.

Freya5 the whole Musk/Trump/Reform circus is proving to be an excellence distraction from the Labour Party’s woes

I think you’ll find that the average person is more than capable of understanding and debating effectively about many topics at the same time Freya5. Your attempt to shut down this discussion will therefore fail.

GrannyGravy13

Doodledog Labour won the majority of seats but didn’t get get an overwhelming amount of votes.

Lowest turnout since 2001 according to statistica.

But voters can't be responsible for a low turnout - by definition, voters did turn out, and like it or not, the LP did win - by a landslide.

You could argue that amongst those who are interested in, and who care about how the country is governed, the LP is the most popular party. But you can't argue that those who could have (but didn't) vote would have changed things in any direction, as we just don't know how they would have voted. Presumably those who don't vote don't care what laws and policies are in place, so even if we could canvass their opinions they would be unlikely to have any.

My post was in response to one saying that the new government is 'shite', and have 'no plausible alternatives resolutions'. Admittedly they aren't exactly specific criticisms, but I was pointing out that the government was voted in by a landslide, and that they have brought in a number of initiatives in their 6 months of power.

Doodledog it is the U.K. system, which at the moment is the best we can do.

PP would have given Reform many more seats, so I doubt that the Whitehall Gnomes are going to recommend a change in our voting system anytime soon.

I didn’t vote for Labour, but as a business owner I am bitterly disappointed in their fiscal decisions to date.

If they manage to pull of growth good on them, cannot see it myself, particularly in the house building department.

Those I know who voted reform are proud that they did, in this constituency they weren’t Labour supporters they were disenchanted Tories, more of those voted LD to overturn a 22k Tory majority.
Labour vote remained small as usual.

If there had been PR in 2024 though there would still be a Labour led coalition government, so Reform would not be in power.

Freya5

Claremont

Today in the Daily Mail, Littlejohn is advising Trump to buy Britain!

All in the name of Sovereignty. Selling out NHS and most of our utilities too, is Farage's grand plan.

By the look of it, Reeves will flog us all to a communist China.

UK Companies that are already owned by China or they have shares in.

Logicor (CIC owns a 60 percent stake; other Chinese investors own 30 percent).
Hinkley Point C Nuclear Plant (China General Nuclear Power owns a 33.5 percent stake).
UK Power Networks (owned by Chinese business mogul Li Ka Shing).
Three UK (owned by Li Ka Shing).
Greene King (owned by Li Ka Shing).
Northumbrian Water (owned by Li Ka-Shing).
Neptune Energy (CIC has a 49 percent stake).
Heathrow Airport (CIC has a 10 percent stake).
Thames Water (CIC has a 8.68 percent stake).
20 Fenchurch Street, the Walkie Talkie building (Owned by Lee Kum Kee).
Chiswick Park, London (owned by CIC).
Superdrug (owned by Li Ka-Shing).
Savers Health & Beauty (owned by Li Ka-Shing).
British Steel (owned by Jingye).
The Perfume Shop (owned by Li Ka-Shing).
Clarks Shoes (Viva Capital has a 51 percent stake).
Cineworld (Liu Zaiwang has a 3.48 percent stake).

Just for info.

ronib

I thought Reform was a possibility until Ben Habib was thrown out. Habib has some potential and real value. Farage continues to remind me of a barrow boy. He’s certainly making himself richer on a daily basis it would seem. Farage is facilitating the continuation of Labour in power. Probably suits some?

Yes I thought Ben Habib was good for Reform, he was my favourite! Shame he’s gone.

PP would have given Reform many more seats, so I doubt that the Whitehall Gnomes are going to recommend a change in our voting system anytime soon.

Not necessarily. The referendum in 2011 was for or against the Alternative Vote system. The majority did not want it.

Alternative Vote is based on voters ranking candidates in order of preference.

www.electoral-reform.org.uk/voting-systems/types-of-voting-system/alternative-vote/

How to vote

The voter puts a number by each candidate, with one for their favourite, two for their second favourite and so on. They can put numbers on as many or as few as they wish.

How it is counted

If more than half the voters have the same favourite candidate, that person becomes the MP. If nobody gets half, the numbers provide instructions for what happens next.

The counters remove whoever came last and look at the ballot papers with that candidate as their favourite. Rather than throwing away these votes, they move each vote to the voter’s second favourite candidate. This process is repeated until one candidate has half of the votes and becomes the MP.

This You Gov poll showed that Reform is the least favourite party as a second choice. The Lib Dems are.

yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/50091-how-do-britons-rank-the-main-parties

Of the five main GB-wide parties, the Lib Dems are the least likely to be somebody’s favourite party, at 13%. But looking at wider preferences suggests they have broader favourability than the other options – being in the top three choices of 79% of Britons, more than any other party.

Reform UK, conversely, is more divisive, with nearly half of the public (48%) ranking the party as fifth or lower.

JudyBloom

Reform are doing fantastically well, their membership is increasing by the minute! Check out their Conferences this weekend. You cannot believe the mainstream media as they are too far left. Well done Nigel, standing for free speech, democracy and the British people and our values. He doesn't care what your skin colour is, or what orientation you are. Only Reform can bring back common sense and decency to our declining country. Reform all the way!

You cannot believe the mainstream media as they are too far left

... yes, the wokey-leftie ownership of the Daily Mail, Daily Express, The Sun, Telegraph - I see what you mean.

Well done Nigel...

Not that 'well done' though obviously as Musk doesn't approve of him as leader anymore.

What do you think 'Nigel' should do?

Casdon

I think you’ll find that the average person is more than capable of understanding and debating effectively about many topics at the same time Freya5. Your attempt to shut down this discussion will therefore fail.

Hear, hear.

GrannyGravy13

LizzieDrip

I do not want the abuse that is directed at posters who admit to voting reform directed at me

GG I really don’t see “abuse” towards Reform PLC supporters - certainly not any more than is levelled at Labour supporters.

It is beginning to appear that criticism / ridicule of those who voted Labour is deemed as justified on GN; but criticism / ridicule of those who support Reform PLC is deemed “abuse”.

Whatever happened to the free speech Mr Farage is such a fan of?

I criticise the MP’s (whatever their colour) not those who voted for them.

I honestly do not understand this concept. If people vote for people who have certain views, it is very probably because they themselves support such views, and as such are partly responsible for the consequences of their vote.

J52, thank you so much for this list- I have been looking for such a list for some time.