Reform UK Party Snatching Seats from the Tories! And Labour!

ah, yes. the link ...

We don’t care, you tiresome Brit. Be gone and get your own fucking discussion forum.

R2 - you ALWAYS make me laugh! I can use that on this rough Saturday morning!!!!

OP, these were local elections with one special by-election for an open seat, which Reform won by 7 votes giving them their 1st MP in parliament. There’s already pronounced regret within that borough that 8 more of them didn’t get off their asses and go vote for Labour but, oh well.

The big takeaways are low turnout, electorate is demotivated, dispirited and disengaged from politics - which could be interpreted more as a consequence for Brexit as much as anything else - and it was a terrible result for the Tories who were nearly gutted in these local elections by their further right nemesis, the Reform Party, led by the odious Nigel Farage.

Reform also won a Mayoral election in Lincolnshire by a known moronic incompetent who has been failing upwards for years, Andrea Jenkins. Of course, the problem for Reform is that now they have to govern which has proven to be a complete disaster previously as their fully ideological policies clash with the realities of local government, as well as they’re endless infighting and jostling for media attention commences. Observers are already popping the popcorn as its predicted Farage and Jenkins will shortly be at each others throats, wrestling for control of the party. Jenkins will no doubt be a mayoral disaster for Lincolnshire where they probably don’t have any trans people for her to demonise.

As for Starmer, he’s not going to call the next General Election until Spring 2029, after the 2028 election in the U.S. He needs to be careful of alienating his own centrist base by playing too far to the right and Reform. In his favour? The dead would rise from their graves on Election Day to vote against Farage as Reform PM, especially with what we see happening across the pond.

Reform’s claim to governance or change has always been that they have some special relationship with Trump and could get some great new post-Brexit trade deal with the U.S. (that would only include selling off your NHS and importing chlorinated chicken). I’m not sure how much of an appetite there actually was for that previously (the NHS unites us all) but there’s certainly no appetite for that now. And the UK stopped short of renditioning undocumented immigrants, migrants and asylum seekers to Rwanda during the last Tory government and the UK courts actually shut that down so I’m not sure what wiggle room Reform has there. Their current initiative seems to be housing them in tent cities rather than hotels or centres but the rest of Europe has already been doing that for a while. It’s like they want to be more European.

The big unspoken takeaway which nobody is speaking to directly is that British conservatives don’t want that “black lady” leading their Tory party. But that’s a message no one will acknowledge no matter how obvious it is. Is the result a jab to the Tories to get their act together? Or does it indicate a long-term desertion of the Tories and the end of the party? We’ll see.

All of this - all of British politics right now - is just a re-arranging of deck chairs if not on the Titanic at least on a craft that is rapidly taking on water. Because until they re-engage relations with the EU, the UK is sinking. They all have to do it, regardless of party, because there’s no other way to expand the UK economy which has been shrinking for the last 5 years. Shrinking. Starmer is moving on this direction on trade and defence which will likely be agreed from the 19th of this month at a European convention. They’re also agreeing freedom of movement for 18 -30 year olds - an age when people get in relationships, get married, have children, start families, buy properties - so that freedom of movement will have to be extended fairly quickly. But he mustn’t scare the horses. The results of these agreements will be touted in quarterly economic reports but won’t be shouted from the rooftops directly - he mustn’t raise Trump’s ire either. This is where it helps to be an otherwise dull figure in need to little attention.

Carry on.

"there’s no other way to expand the UK economy which has been shrinking for the last 5 years. Shrinking. "

The Guardian says the economy is growing.

I've read that it's been nine months and the budget still hasn't been passed. How does that even happen?

r5 It goes up a bit one month then goes down the next. The general trend the last few years is economic stagnation and inflation, and with what economic growth there is not keeping up with population growth.

Did you actually read the article, R5?

O.5% of growth while revising the 0.1% of growth reported in January down to 0.0% growth. That’s PATHETIC.

What will that 0.5% be revised down to in 3 months? That’s not growth. That’s fumes.

[quote] The Budget and the Finance Bill are usually annual events, in part because income tax and corporation tax are annual taxes which have to be renewed by legislation each year. By contrast, most UK taxes including all indirect taxes, petroleum revenue tax and taxes on capital are ‘permanent’.

r6 It passed last month. Months long debate on a Finance Act (the budget) isn't that odd it has to go through the same stages as any other act of parliament, and some of the changes kick in immediately. They are still vaguely debating things like changes to the Winter fuel allowance to the elderly and disability payments because Labour reduced them in this budget and its not exactly proved a popular decision with voters.

"Did you actually read the article"

No, I didn't. Like most DLers, I just googled the result I wanted to find and then I found it.

To be honest, I can't really see differences between UK Tories and Labour. They seem pretty close on the broad left-to-right political spectrum. In the US, they'd be pretty closely crammed together on the center-left wing of the Democratic Party.

shnatching sheatsh from the Toriesh!

So many Britons are no-hope losers, it's not a surprise that they will latch on to Farage and his party. Just like here in the US.

Shit like this is part of the reason Labour didn't even crack triple figures:

[Quote] Montgomerie then asked Powell if she "saw the documentary on Channel 4 about rape gangs", to which she responded: "Oh, we want to blow that little trumpet now do we. Let's get that dog whistle out shall we."

The New York Times is taking note this week: "After 100 Years, Britain’s Two-Party Political System May Be Crumbling - Nigel Farage’s right-wing populist party, Reform U.K., is presenting a serious challenge to the governing Labour Party and to the opposition Conservatives."