Why do you think that Reform are low achievers? Based n their enormous vote share it is probable that they are representative of the English population as a whole.
Reform won seven councils - some counties have several councils. There are 48 counties and 317 councils in England.
That's because it's a case of two different things being the same. Mass legal migration is what happened here when the EU expanded and Tony Blair didn't use EU rules to manage the numbers and duration Eastern Europeans could come here for.
It also happened during Covid when the NHS was stretched beyond the limit as well as large numbers of jobs in care homes going empty but that was managed migration - the UK needed workers or old people would die in care homes and the NHS would have broken.
I've read Reform's proposals for the NHS and care homes and I think they are very naive in thinking they can turn around the situation without huge pay increases to doctors, nurses and staff to stop them leaving for better pay and conditions in Australia / New Zealand and Canada.
Policies Reform UK
www.reformparty.uk
Their proposal of removing tax and student fees will help but then they talk about private healthcare and a voucher scheme so that you can take your treatment (and cover) into private providers - is pretty much a back door into private healthcare.
It was 1984-85 that I watched a Conservative MP talking about how British taxpayers wanted great healthcare but didn't want to pay higher tax for it - we are nevertheless and ironically heading there as people will end up paying through private insurance policy or these vouchers. The "average joe" has moved on to complaining about lack of NHS dentists but they also didn't want to pay the taxes that paid for NHS dentists 20 years ago.
Some day, we need politicians who can explain these things to the average joe and without political bias because the average joe needs to understand the consequences of underfunding services we currently blame immigrants for. (ignoring that without those immigrants - what's left of our healthcare system would collapse within months.)
theconversation.com
Make up your mind. Are Reform voters poor low status people or are they wealthy employers seeking cheap labour. You cannot have it both ways. I think they are a cross section of the English population.Immigration is an easy stick to beat a sitting government or a previous government with. Popular feeling among Joe public is that there are massed groups of boats across the channel just waiting to set off here and Reform are doing a lot of the pushing of that narrative.
Immigration under the Conservatives
Hostile environment, Brexit and missed targets: 14 years of Tory immigration policy
The 2010 general election put immigration front and centre of the political landscape for the next 14 years.
The problem for the Conservatives (including those who defected to Reform) is that they publicly want to reduce migration but they are also the "party of business" and business people need cheap migrant labour. Reform may take over from the Conservatives at the rate they are progressing - but they will face that same problem in Government. Many Brits just don't want to do the jobs that migrants come to do.
Based on experience they are generally disaffected tories who think the conservatives are woke. They are all folk with a grievance who generally revere the british empire and look down on immigrants.
www.bbc.co.uk
www.bbc.co.uk
This is our local reform candidate. This is the calibre of people.I'll add to what @panic buyer wrote and repeat myself. The "Conservatives who defected publicly want to reduce migration but they are also the "party of business" and business people need cheap migrant labour." Why else would immigration be the main talking point for the last 14 years of Conservative rule and yet immigration numbers ballooned in those 14 years?
It's not like there aren't millions of Brits unemployed or economically inactive that could take those jobs.
UK jobs market weakens as employment costs grow
The number of job vacancies and people on payrolls fell ahead of changes to National Insurance and wages.
Who are the millions of Britons not working, and why?
About a quarter of the working age population - those aged 16 to 64 - do not currently have a job.
You have zero evidence for this : its merely snobbery and prejudice.
Its mrely listening to him reciting a cue card full of ignorance.
You said "Probably at the higher end of the ability range" without the slightest trace of evidence. Snobbery and vulgar prejudice.
Experience.
Like the experience of your smug, sneering posts,dripping with spite and malice directed at anyone outside the far left bubble.
No. The experience of living with and observing these grifters over many years. It doesnt make me a genius by any means. But if there were large gaps in my understanding I wouldnt advertise them like you do.
Meanwhiile back in kipper land.
Reform won't suspend councillor who shared Hitler meme during VE Day commemorations
Councillor Joel Tetlow appeared to compare the small boat crossings in the Channel to Hitler's invasion of Europe in a post he has now deleted. He told Sky News he did not mean "any disrespect" to soldiers who fought in the two world wars.news.sky.com
And remember hes been vetted as part of the profesionalism push.
dorseteye.com
So .
No nazi efficiency on display here.
Yes, that's 3 out of 801. Pretty good for a new party imo.
Its not new..been around for decades under different names...and calling it a party is a stretch...a corporation is a better description.
Its early days. There will be regular reports. The real fun will be when they find that they cant implement their crazy policies.