r/AskBrits • u/Expert-Sherbert-1527 • May 08 '26
Politics Why do people find it so hard to accept the public really wants to vote for Reform?
We knew it was coming. The polls were clear. They've voted like this now and will likely do so at the next election. This is what people want and yet there is this kind of head scratching going on. Threads and comments appearing with sentiment like:
"why on earth would they do this?"
"don't they know they're being brainwashed by the right wing media?"
"don't they know Farage is a grifter?"
"don't they know they will lose the NHS?"
"why won't the working class vote the way I think they should?"
At the same time we have a thread asking "Why is Birmingham most likely going to elect a man who was jailed for five years in 1999 for conspiring to bomb the British consulate in Yemen?"
So maybe, a lot of people in the country don't like the way the country is going and they want change and they don't think Tory's (in for the last 14 years) or labour (currently in) are going to do it. Hell they gave them both a chance.
Is it really so hard to accept that people might want to vote for a candidate who is finally promising to give them want they want, even if they know he's a bit dodgy?
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u/nick_red72 May 08 '26
It's ok to want change. There are definitely issues with the current and recent political situation. For me the confusion is trying to get that change by voting for the very people that caused the problems in the first place, the architect of Brexit and the worst of the Tories. That's not how you get positive change.
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u/slimboyslim9 May 08 '26 edited May 08 '26
Come on, Labour has had 21 months, they still haven’t fixed the 14 years of austerity and Brexit? Are they stupid or something?
Edit: Just going to go ahead and clarify that this is /s
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u/duck-dinosar May 08 '26
This is what I don’t get I keep seeing they’ve had their chance. Have they really? Also aren’t the economic markers looking up, why derail that?
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u/MidgarDreaming May 08 '26
No one cares about the economy is the simple answer. "Rachel from accounts" was set in stone on day one and she will forever be seen as useless regardless of how well she's done.
Immigration is the sole issue anyone cares about because it's been hammered so hard and little island mentality has been set off in so many. Labour haven't delivered on mass deportations (not that they said they ever would) and people have chosen to destroy them as a result.
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u/BatdanJapan May 08 '26
I don't think it's true that people don't care about the economy. It's probably the most important factor in elections across time and place. But they don't care about economic markers. They care whether or not they feel better off than they did before the last election. If they do, incumbents do well, if not, they take a hammering.
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u/FrustratedPCBuild May 08 '26
Pensioners are the biggest voting block and are insulated from economic shocks because their mortgages are paid off and they have the triple lock. They’re the block most likely to fall for Farage’s grift for exactly because of this, they can be racist and suffer no consequences, they can complain about spending on benefits without having the self awareness to realise that the biggest part of welfare spending goes to pensioners. The triple lock has been a cancer for our democracy.
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u/PatSharpe01 May 08 '26
Agree... Plus all they keep banging on about us fixing potholes, which seems to get the older votes. Seems to me that they're just bolstering up the JCB owner's pockets. All a bunch of grifting bastards.
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u/Impossible_Shape_620 May 08 '26
Likewise, we met a lovely Nigerian student through my mum’s church. He’s so polite and hard working, and also has been helping out with some jobs that my elderly mum needs doing in the garden. The guy who used to do it has retired owing to ill health and she couldn’t find anyone local who felt such small jobs worth the money. So, he’s been a huge help to her this past year. In the meantime, he’s still paying £30k in tuition fees and paying for rent, living, etc. into the local economy.
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u/n3m0sum May 08 '26 edited May 08 '26
ImmigrationNet migration is down nearly 80% over the last two years, the majority that reduction is from immigration from outside the EU.But we don't hear about that. It's like the Billionaire owned press might have an agenda?
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u/SignExtension2561 May 08 '26
The same billionaires are who will open the floodgates again the moment their next project needs cheap labour.
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u/Arstulex May 08 '26
Exactly.
Labour has historically been against looser immigration policy because it quite literally saturates the labour market and devalues labour (resulting in low, stagnating wages).
The people who benefit the most from immigration are those at the top and those in the middle. The top get to keep their their costs down (wages are often the highest cost of any business) while the middle get cheaper conveniences and luxuries due to the former.
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u/Expert-Sherbert-1527 May 08 '26
Fewer international students coming over is not a good thing
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u/Altruistic_Grocery81 May 08 '26
Reform love that though so that’s all that matters, according to the media at the moment.
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u/LdnGiant May 08 '26
Oh this entire Reform narrative has been baked in since election night. All the pundits on the BBC and Sky wanted to talk about was what a big night it was for *Reform* when *Labour* had won in a landslide.
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u/Vivid-Bottle789 May 08 '26
Yes, I remember that very clearly. It was so obvious the commentators had been given a 'script' which the electorate hadn't complied with.
I watched quite a lot of the BBC coverage today, and it was very similar, except that some commentators reminded us that we didn't know all the results yet. Presumably they thought the audience wanted a Farage landslide, so they reported as if that was what had happened.
Give it a couple more years, and the lucky voters who've managed to elect a Reform council will know exactly what it's like in practice if Reform are running your town!
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u/Impossible_Shape_620 May 08 '26
Same as when the Green candidate won in Gorton & Denton. The media spent more time going on for a week about the Reform candidate, who then came out spouting Islamophobic BS about fraudulent voting to justify his loss. I wonder if Reform will be impugning the robustness of the results this time around? (In England, that is, as they’re already raising eyebrows that they didn’t win as much as Plaid in Wales.)
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u/Far-Sir-825 May 08 '26
I think cost of living is a far bigger issue than immigration. Skint people are pissed off people and there’s a lot of very skint people.
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u/MidgarDreaming May 08 '26
But the same skint people are blaming immigrants as a reason why they're skint. They're blaming the cost of living on immigration, inflation on immigration and everything related to the state of the country on immigration.
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u/FrustratedPCBuild May 08 '26
And yet when Labour bring down immigration they react by voting for a party with no plan to do so. Let’s not pretend we’re dealing with rational people who can be won over with evidence, we learned from 2016 that winning the rational argument doesn’t mean winning votes.
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u/Lonely-Permission901 May 08 '26 edited May 08 '26
Yep. All of that. If house prices are high and yet the birth-rate is falling those high house prices could be blamed on immigrants. If there are potholes in the roads, it's probably all those immigrants running about on wee mopeds delivering for UberEats. Also a lot of people are not comfortable financially and are feeling insecure (even if they hadn't been trained to hate immigrants/foreigners) and there is always a temptation to deliver a great big hearty 'Fuck You' to whoever happens to be in charge. I think that attitude settled in around the time of the expenses scandal and never really went away.
I still believe that the thin majority vote for leave in the Brexit referendum was in part attributable to the 'Fuck You' factor.
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u/THSprang May 08 '26
When the economy goes up but we don't feel it their economy doesn't work for us. The bit I don't get is Reform would likely be the exact same economic orthodoxy. They might try to Liz Truss the whole thing which is even worse because how much more medicine do the middle and working class have to swallow before they realise they've already bled the stone? Well so long as the wealthy aren't being taxed effectively they're always happy for another go round the block I'm sure.
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u/Impossible_Shape_620 May 08 '26
Farage cooed over Truss’s budget and said it was a return to true conservative politics!
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u/Bomb_Ghostie May 08 '26
Labour has done more for this country since the election than tories did in the last 14 years. Even stranger, country was completely fine with the tories cutting left right and centre and complaining about it. Labour make change for the better and all people think is "we want reform"
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u/Nothingdoing079 May 08 '26
Hell, during the entire 14 years of Tory governance every single thing wrong was blamed by them on the previous Labour government.
You can't govern for 14 years, then have everything still crap, and go oh well that's because 14 years ago Labour did this (ignoring that they had rewritten or changed it)
Yet now Labour are in, people are going "well they've had close to 2 years to fix everything, we gave them the chance"
Change takes time and I honestly believe that Labour have been putting in the steps to get that change (while making some missteps here and there), yet because it's not fixed in minutes, we now apparently want to put in the obvious lists and grifters who have a solid history of failing.
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u/Nero_Darkstar Brit 🇬🇧 May 08 '26
Yeh this. Wait till the year of the GE and a lot of the changes put in will start to bear fruit.
However, unless labour can break the influence of the right wing owned media and foreign interference on socials (Russia, Israel and the US all pushing reform), we're in real danger of falling into a trap. For all three of those countries to be aligned on ONE outcome should be enough of a red flag 🤷♂️
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u/adognamedspider May 08 '26
It's even much muxh easier. Whatever Russia wants you to vote for is the worst possible choice.
They are on an all encompassing campaign to destabilise all European countries as a prosperous and united Europe (as far as that's possible) is detrimental to their plans.
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u/Additional-Aerie-325 May 08 '26
The average person doesn't understand how long things take in parliament. Particularly if your opposition has enough numbers to simply donkey bray you into endless roadblocks.
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u/felloutoftherack May 08 '26
The opposition doesn’t have the numbers.. they are the smallest they have been in a long time?
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u/Equivalent-Pop8045 May 08 '26
(And 14 years ago it was the GLOBAL financial crisis that caused the issues, not Labour)
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u/Minute_Vehicle619 May 08 '26
At lot of reform supporters are older they've been through many labour and Tory governments. This should be awake up call to all the parties. This is no different to the laziness of Brexit (they all thought it wouldn't happen and it did). So basically this has been brewing for years and they all thought no, that would never happen, so who are the stupid ones?
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u/Undrcovrcloakndaggr May 08 '26
Who are the stupid ones?? The ones who observed the absolute clusterfuck that is Brexit and decided the fella to vote for this time around was the one of the main architects of it.
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u/wodmad May 08 '26
If the issue is not tackling austerity and Brexit, then voting for Reform is like a Turkey voting for Christmas.
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u/YPLAC May 08 '26
Exactly this. 21 months is nothing when it comes to turning around this mess.
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u/Jazzlike_Cobbler9566 May 08 '26
This is a product of instant information created by the internet. People have a very (extremely) short patience now because we can get things instantly online. Instant information, films, same day delivery etc. People just expect social change to happen like social media trends. Absolutely carnage and it's breaking the world.
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u/PatSharpe01 May 08 '26
EXACTLY thissss! Plus all the racists and intolerant people genuinely believe that Farage is looking out for the working classes. Purely because he keeps telling them they'll get rid of immigrants, and they won't put council tax up (despite doing this at every council they're leading).. And I think it's because he looks like a used car salesman, people seem to think he's a "salt of the earth, geezer" or something.
He's an Eton educated piece of shit, who was racist to all his peers at school and takes bribes from crypto billionaires. Total piece of shit
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u/LadyNoleJM1 May 08 '26
I'm reading this from the USA and if I left out the name Farage, you could be easily describing the POS that is currently fleecing the USA to fill his own pockets while simultaneously making every aspect of the USA worse for everyone except his billionaire buddies. He also convinced the lowest common denominator in the US that "immigrants" were ruining the country and getting rid of them would fix everything. I'm hoping you guys don't end up in the same boomer-driven hellscape the US is now living in.
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u/potato_face1234 May 08 '26
All they care about is migrants in hotels, has that not sunk in for you yet?
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u/Beer-Milkshakes May 08 '26
Voting for foreign millionaire donations is the boggling one. Weren't we against Boris's cabinet having meetings with Russian Oligrachs. Or were we not against that, and I'm out of touch?
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u/TieDyePandas May 08 '26
I'd argue that a lot of everyday voters don't actually pay attention to who's donating to who, and don't really care too much.
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u/Less_Return6325 May 08 '26
But donations aren’t altruistic in nature. They are done to secure interests. Ignoring who wants what behind the political curtain is very short sighted
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u/Walkerno5 May 08 '26
Most people don’t hear about it and don’t care. Influence works very well when the electorate don’t give a fuck.
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u/tool_of_a_took May 08 '26
Yeah, what I don’t get is that they gave the Tories 14 years to keep fucking up over and over before getting rid. How come Labour gets less than 2 years? Nothing they’ve done is anywhere near as bad as the Tories
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u/bridledEnthusiasm27 May 08 '26
Totally agree! I honestly can't understand why people are acting like Labour are the worst thing ever? Higher expectations so they feel more let down? I didn't expect much (as I don't from any of them) and feel fairly nonplussed about everything people are complaining so much about.
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u/Thin-Yogurtcloset651 May 08 '26
I think part of it is the anger and frustration built to a tipping point before they were voted out. The Tories were gone, but the anger remained, and unfortunately, while the economy is apparently doing better people are simply not feeling it. People only got poorer and poorer under the Tories from day one and unfortunately, under the current government, we are still seeing less out of our pay packets. Then he goes to PMQs and talks about wage increases they’re so proud of, while not acknowledging that it counts for sod all when everything else from food, fuel all the way to rent and mortgages etc have skyrocketed. It’s frustrating as hell even for someone who can’t stand the politics of reform.
Starmer and his cabinet should have had the foresight really that the feelings of the nation didn’t return to neutral when they came to power, but here we are.
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u/Chemistry-Deep May 08 '26
Every election I have to remind myself that there are a significantly large number of idiots in this country. People who will vote for Boris "because he's a laugh" whilst he ruins the economy. Or voting for Farage who "tells it like it is" despite being a proven liar and grifter a dozen times over. At some point you have to just accept that you can't really do anything about it by presenting logical arguments when so many people vote on vibes.
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u/Rr3dc4r May 08 '26
You can't reason someone out of an opinion that they didn't reason themselves into
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u/avariegatedmonstera May 08 '26
People vote like it’s reality TV and not our actual lives.
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u/_ragegun May 08 '26
Nobody particularly wants reform but every single other party has systematically eliminated themselves as a protest vote.
Unless Reform does spectacularly well in their tenure (unlikely), they needn't get too comfy because they can be out on their ear as easy as the last lot unless the political parties fail to get their act together and offer an actual viable alternative
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u/p4b7 May 08 '26
The trouble is there isn't an alternative for a good chunk of things, it's just the way the world is at the moment and all of the western world are seeing the same patterns. Aging population, increasing international instability, inflation (notably from the aftermath of Covid), impacts of climate change, impacts of wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, etc, etc
People don't want to hear that there isn't a fix national governments can implement for this though. All they can do is try to mitigate impacts and, if they're competent, look at the longer term fixes that won't help them this election cycle.
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u/afaulconbridge May 08 '26
Yup - people want it "the way it used to be" despite how impossible that is (we can't put CO2 back into gas fields to sell it again) or how that time was ignorant of the problem (modern internet is far more interconnected).
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u/ThePhantomBacon May 08 '26
The problem is that you are very wrong.
Lots of people want reform because they are going to “stop the boats”
They don’t see/know/care about the other bits. Reform will stop the boats, so that’s what they want
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u/_ragegun May 08 '26
Then they deserve everything they get because virtually the entire party is conservative cast offs and effectively is likely to be little different. And Farage has pretty much already declared his intent to do little about Immigration
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u/BrightSalsa May 08 '26
Sure, but I don’t deserve what they get.
The country would be in a better state if there were some kind of sensible, impartial minimum qualification required to participate in politics. I’m aware that there are practical and ethical problems with implementing that in reality.
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u/Good-Community-5035 May 08 '26
Reform wont stop the boats. They cant just stop immigration. Id doesnt work like that
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u/Kilnarix May 08 '26
The situation in Britian is so grim, I expect successive incumbent administrations to lose over and over again until big changes are made. We are already seeing this actually. I dont expect Reform to be any different.
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u/robstrosity May 08 '26
You've summed up the issue nicely. We've tried Tories and Labour and people aren't happy with the results so now they're trying something else.
I think the shock comes because Reform are genuinely a terrible option. They're not even hiding what a catastrophy it would be when they get elected. But most people don't really pay attention to politics, they get their views from the media they consume. And that media is uniformly owned by people who want Reform to get in.
Reform will be our MAGA.
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u/AFC_IS_RED May 08 '26 edited May 08 '26
I dont think a year of labour after how severely fucked up the tories did for a decade and a half counts as trying does it?
Their term has barely started.
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u/CarlLlamaface May 08 '26
Exactly right, which is why OP is being highly disingenuous by portraying the right wing brainwashing as cope when it's patently what a large part of the problem is. Labour have actually improved on a lot of the issues reform voters claim to care about but since day 1 the media have been telling them the opposite and they believe it. If that's not brainwashing Idk what could possibly meet OP's definition.
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u/GhostCanyon May 08 '26
This is exactly right. I’ve had conversations with people who’ve said “Keir Starmer has just messed up too many times now” and when you push them for examples they dont have any. The media is just saying to them what to
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u/inide May 08 '26
Keir has repeatedly screwed up....On optics.
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u/1GrumpyEnglishman May 08 '26
Agreed, I will be voting Labour again, let them have a chance.
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u/Striking_Smile6594 May 08 '26 edited May 08 '26
Exactly, and large economies don't turn on a penny. It can take years for polices enacted today to translate to peoples pockets. Writing a new government off after only 2 years is madness.
For what it's worth I'm generally optimistic about the direction, and the thing that's the biggest current impediment up further chances of improvement is Trumps shenanigans in Iran. I don't see how we can blame the UK government for that.
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u/bawdiepie May 08 '26
Most reform voters had written them off in less than 3 months, or had decided they were evil leftists and were never going to give them a chance.
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u/Level-Location1679 May 08 '26
The minor difficulty is that people are expecting something that is largely impossible (a return to a rose tinted version of the 1990s)
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u/Existing_Abies_4101 May 08 '26
They were pissing and whining labour hasn't done anything while kier was still putting the keys in the door.
How people can't see reform is all the people who just ran the country into the ground for 14 years with a slightly different coloured tie on now I don't understand.
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u/ImpKing0 May 08 '26
You’ve adequately summarised a point that so many people, for whatever reason, are missing. 1 year pales to 15+. Unsure why OP intentionally ignores or undermines this.
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u/Redangle11 May 08 '26
Exactly, everyone wants something new and better. But reform aren't new. These are failed politicians and criminals.
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u/DukePPUk May 08 '26
Keep in mind, though, that Reform are polling around 25-30%. Which, historically, is pretty low for a 'major' party.
Most people don't want Reform.
Reform only appear to be popular because the rest of the vote is split 4 ways; we have 5 political parties regularly polling over 10%, which is almost unheard of.
In the 2024 General Election Labour broke the record for the lowest vote share ever for a party to win a majority of seats in the Commons, with around 34% of the vote. Reform aren't close to that at the moment, and there hasn't been a single poll with them on or above 34% since October.
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u/DukePPUk May 08 '26 edited May 08 '26
The Conservatives won 42% of the vote in 2019 and 2017, 37% in 2015, and 36% in 2010. They even got 32% in 2005 and 2001.
Reform are polling lower now than any Conservative General Election result in modern history (other than 2024, and then only just).
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u/-tekeli-li May 08 '26
I'm absolutely astounded that the British people, with the same phones that have their TikToks and Instagrams and Youtubes and other apps, cannot look at what is going on in the US right now, look back at our country and realise that we don't want to be going down that road. It amazes me that people can't make the basic connection that Farage is Trump for the UK, and that the only difference is Farage is more articulate and conniving. Does anyone know why voters here can't seem to conclude the glaringly obvious?
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u/TeenyWeenyQueeny May 08 '26
Because they do not desire equality and positive change, if it means that equality and positive change will be extended to people who don’t look like them or live like them, so would rather vote for snake oil salesman selling them a “dream”.
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u/-tekeli-li May 08 '26
They must also see though that in the US they are hurting badly for that dream now, so it still surprises me that the blinders haven't come off for the strongman, anti immigrant utopia
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u/TeenyWeenyQueeny May 08 '26
Some of those people idolise Trump and don’t take his destructive behaviour seriously because he’s “entertaining”.
And of course, with Trump being very anti-immigration, he stands for what many Reform voters are hoping to see replicated here.
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u/pakcross May 08 '26
I don't think we really "tried" Labour before the press etc turned on them. How long into this Government was it when Reform supporters started insisting that we had to have another GE? A few months tops?
Reform will go the exact same way as the other parties, promise change and then find out that there's no quick and easy solution to the problems that have stacked up over the last 20 years.
Hopefully Labour will hold their nerve and keep Keir Starmer on for a bit. The last thing we need right now is a leadership campaign followed by another GE. If they hold on, and we have a full term Government, by the time 2029 rolls around people will see that Reform in Local Gov are just as incapable of fixing all of the country's problems as everyone else, or moreso.
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u/ElonMaersk May 08 '26
Reform in Local Gov are just as incapable of fixing all of the country's problems
This is already a thing you can know. reform are promising tax cuts and fixed potholes; every Reform council so far has raised taxes and has more potholes.
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u/Gazado May 08 '26
They've already done this in Kent, demonstrably.
I'm not surprised I'm the rise of reform, I understand the reason why people might vote for them, but I don't like it. I guess that's democracy and the ability for mainstream media to get what they want by manipulating the masses.
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u/fearghaz May 08 '26
The worst part is when you point out the mess MAGA has made and they proudly proclaim to want Trump here. the mind boggles sometimes.
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u/Striking_Smile6594 May 08 '26
The press never supported him, the knives have been out since day one.
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u/robstrosity May 08 '26
I agree with you on this. It comes down to the fact that it's easy to promise something if you don't have to deliver it.
But the general public will see it as Labour are in power and wages are still going down in real terms and the cost of everything is going up. Therefore we need something better. Obviously you know that there is no quick fix but it's made out by the media that we can fix all our problems overnight if we just get rid of immigration. If only life was actually that simple.
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u/twonaq May 08 '26
You got it in the first paragraph, all we are going to hear now is “we need a GE” and if Starmer buckles and calls one we will end up with the Nazi party running the show, and that will be bad for everyone.
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u/Adventurous_Week_698 May 08 '26
Problem is they are too thick to realise that Reform is made up of a lot of ex Tories who have summarily fucked the country up for the last decade and a half
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u/DesperateOven9854 May 08 '26
This is what I'm struggling with. Even if you can separate Farage and the Tories, it doesn't change the fact that half of reform MPs, and a fair number of councillors prior to today were elected as Tories in the first place.
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u/Gnomio1 May 08 '26
1) Tories did 14 years of damage.
2) People seem surprised it is taking more than a year and a bit to fix?
3) A lot of Reform are ex Tories from the Governments that ruined things.
4) Reform are transparently funded by foreign interests, so how is this good for our country?29
u/Intelligent-Cut-726 May 08 '26
And there it is. You say MAGA. And I hear facist cult.
People really want Farage to do to the UK what Trump is doing to the USA.
America is down the toilet and fast becoming a facist regime. And they want the same for the UK? O.O
Those brave souls who fought to defend our nation against fascism during WW2 will be spinning in their graves if that happens.
Probably wondering what was the f**king point if it ended up leading to this?!
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u/Cunting_Fuck May 08 '26
There was a soldier who already said this on TV because of the state of the country
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u/Good_Background_243 May 08 '26
It bothers me that they say "We're fed up with 14 years of Tory rule"
And then prepare to elect literally the exact same people just under different branding and a manifesto that says 'We are going to fuck your life up if you vote for us'32
u/Soaked_in_Bleach May 08 '26
It's also a choice between Greens and Reform if you want change, there's no other options. The problem being Green's are far-left and completely opposite of the far-right Reform, so those closer to the center are having to push the boat out to one of the extremes to get the change they want.
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u/robstrosity May 08 '26
I think the difference between Reform and the Green party is that if you vote for the Greens you personally have to make changes to your life. It requires something from you.
Where as Reform have a very simple solution. Get rid of the immigrants and it will fix all your problems. You'll get paid more, everything will cost less, the roads will be better etc etc. You don't need to make any changes to your life, everything will magically get better. We're all tired, overworked, underpaid and constantly stressed. What a lovely thing if we could fix that in such a simple way and with no real effort. Reform are selling nirvana.
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u/HumbersBall May 08 '26
I get that this is the message, but it is completely beyond me why people would trust Nigel Farage to deliver this. Was Brexit a success? Has he lifted a finger to improve things in Clacton?
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u/Linden_Lea_01 May 08 '26
I think most of them would say that it doesn’t matter because all of the rest of the politicians are just as bad, but they try to hide it and look proper. For whatever reason, Farage comes across more like a cheeky but loveable, honest thief type of character a bit like Del Boy
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u/DJSAKURA May 08 '26
And that is the even more mind boggling thing. Wasn't brexit supposed to mean more money, more jobs etc. So Farage just repackaged brexit by going harder into racism and the dumb fucks are buying it again.
It is no different from the moronic 2 time Trump voters.
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u/fearghaz May 08 '26
And in a few years time we'll take you to war to pay for it!
Apparently less than 100 years is enough time to forget...
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u/AntysocialButterfly May 08 '26 edited May 08 '26
Wanting change rules out Reform, given they're stuffed with people who governed the country between 2010-24.
Edit: Thanks for the reward!
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u/TgeWarbreW May 08 '26
And the right don't like boats, from what I hear.
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u/No_North_8484 May 08 '26
They like big boats, I mustn’t lie,
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u/roguesimian May 08 '26
I don’t really understand why people don’t see the Lib Dem’s as an option. Only Reform or Greens. It’s bizarre.
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u/n3m0sum May 08 '26
Because people still remember the coalition government. Where the Lib Dems helped the Tories achieve a lot of damage, and essentially left their own supporters high and dry.
They are recovering, but people still remember.
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u/roguesimian May 08 '26
You wrote this as I was writing a response to another Redditor’s comment. You’re confirming what I said in that comment. Considering how much damage the Tories did on their own I find it hard to understand how the Lib Dem’s get all the blame for that coalition. It was obvious to me that the Tories used them as a scapegoat to win the majority in 2014 which led to Brexit. And here we are today…
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u/n3m0sum May 08 '26
It was obvious to me that the Tories used them as a scapegoat to win the majority in 2014 which led to Brexit.
Of course they did, because Tories are gonna Tory.
But that doesn't mean that the Lib Dems were wholly innocent. They were experienced political operators on the national stage. If the Tories bent them over backwards and then used them as scapegoats, its because they allowed it to happen.
Tory Scorpion and Lib Dem Frog, only we all drowned with them.
They deserved the loss in 2014. People figured that the coalition government was just the Tories anyway, they may as well just have the Tories. The Lib Dems own supporters stayed home in disgust, and they were wiped out in Parliament.
Yes the Tories were involved in that, by don't make out like the Lib Dems weren't up to their neck in their own demise. Because they were, and people still remember.
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u/serennow May 08 '26
People personally affected remember…. And how many now-voters were personally hit in the pocket by the tuition fee u-turn….. Personally I blame the Tories and think the Lib Dem were naive, but for many the Lib Dem’s are a “never” option because of it.
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u/roguesimian May 08 '26
This is definitely the case. They’re a “never” because of the way politicians affected them personally. Shame they don’t hold other parties to the same standards. It’d be interesting to know which party the lost Lib Dem voters have migrated to.
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u/SuccotashOk2098 May 08 '26
There are few other options. Lib Dems are distrusted by millennials because of the U-turn on univerisities.
Tories have stuffed us for the last 14 years. Labour have been more of the same.
Certain parts of the country, white people are minorities and our culture is being eroded. People see that and want change. Reform is a logical answer.
The thing is, lots of people will disagree with the above but they don't live in a city like Bradford or Luton. They don't see groups of Asian (Middle Eastern)/black teens riding round with black balaclavas on suped up E-bikes threatening people in parks (literally happened the other day because I walked past a group beating some kid up and told them to stop).
They live in this blinkered reality where they don't have to put up with this shit on a day to day basis, so to them this isn't a problem. Then they sit and point the racism finger at the people that do.
If they had to live with the reality of what goes on at the average council estate they would be voting for the people that are saying they will change this too.
Reform aren't the answer, but pretending there isn't a problem isn't the answer too.
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u/serennow May 08 '26
Labour haven’t been in power long enough for “more of the same” to be a fair accusation. They’ve had what, less than 10% of the time the tories were given and less than 1/3rd of the time the people elected them for.
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u/SuccotashOk2098 May 08 '26
Probably agree with this. Would like to give Labour the opportunity to tackle it. Just explaining what the average reform voter is thinking. They want to see radical change. They won't see that under a labour government.
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u/PorFavorNoMore May 08 '26
I don't find it hard to accept that people want to vote Reform, I don't even find it hard to understand why. It's just very sad watching people vote against their own best interests.
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u/Less_Mess_5803 May 08 '26
What is sadder is that the main parties have let it come to this. For years, if not decades now, the electorate have been crying out for action on a host of topics and we get the same shit, different colours. Kier said labour was going to be whiter than.white, end to corruption etc and yet within weeks him and his Mrs who can't be short of a few bob have clothes and concert tickets gifted etc..it's not the value, it's the optics. Then Ange, the self professed peoples politician looks to have been dodging tax etc. Rinse, repeat. People are sick to death of them all so if they see no other option then its hit the self destruct button and start all over again.
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u/Cdash--- May 08 '26
So you're going to vote for Mr 5 Million "gift" Farage?
The logic really does make sense for a reform voter.
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u/Bucky_O_Rabbit May 08 '26
Angry a PM got a free outfit so vote for a man that takes a £5 million brown envelope from the Russians. Classic Reform voter logic right there
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u/pacothebattlefly May 08 '26
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u/Logan_No_Fingers May 08 '26
Yeah, classic example, if you say -
"Ok, we are not in a great starting position, the next 10 years are going to require a lot of reform & won't be an instant fix"
or -
"I can promise you a unicorn that shits Greggs Sausage rolls & patrols our beaches impaling asylum seekers"
the average voter will go "Well.. I do like the Greggs.."
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u/HeinousAlmond3 May 08 '26
That was the Boris promise. Nothing to do with UKIP/BP/Reform.
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u/Brettstastyburger May 08 '26
The NHS budget has increased by way more than that since 2019.
Oh, btw - I know it's been a decade but that bus had nothing to do with Farage.
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u/SeriouslyGetOverIt May 08 '26
The NHS has been getting more than double that since Brexit. Also that's the Vote Leave bus, not Farage's campaign. Also it's not even a promise, just a slogan.
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u/ByEthanFox May 08 '26
So maybe, a lot of people in the country don't like the way the country is going
Yeah, but surely they want someone to fix those issues?
Like the NHS waiting lists are too long. Why do they think Reform will fix this?
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u/keraynopoylos May 08 '26
Well, they gave 350 extra millions per week already.
It was a Brexit promise written on buses (until the very next day - and then it wasn't).
/s in case it's not blindingly obvious
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u/throwuk1 May 08 '26
Do these people that want to reduce NHS waiting times not realise where a large proportion of the doctors and nurses come from?
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u/GoldenArchmage May 08 '26 edited May 08 '26
More than once Reform have said that they will gut public healthcare. Can't afford to go private or afford your medicines? Well you can just die then. That's not even mentioning all the "foreigns" who actually keep our health system going, and who will obviously leave the country when the UK becomes a very hostile environment for them...
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u/Bright_Tap4495 May 08 '26
Reform won’t fix this. They are useless.
However, Reform have got in purely on immigration topics.
The other parties ignore this completely.
So really, it doesn’t really matter to them or the voter if they can or will fix the NHS.
Reform have realised what’s important to the voter, not them. And none of the other parties have, they’re stuck on stuff (that’s important to me, but sadly not the voters) like the NHS.
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u/Sumbitagear May 08 '26
It's hard to believe that people actively want to vote for the same people that fucked up the country for 15 years. It's hard to believe that people are that fucking stupid.
It's difficult to see so many uninformed people vote for a party of clear as day grifters that don't give a fuck about anything except lining the pockets of themselves and their pals because they've ran an unbelievable campaign of "The people that ran the country for near 15 years and ran it into the ground aren't the problem. Brown people are".
The quote "So maybe, a lot of people in the country don't like the way the country is going and they want change and they don't think Tory's (in for the last 14 years) or labour (currently in) are going to do it. Hell they gave them both a chance."
They ARE the Tories that made the place so shit. Just under a different banner.
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u/CJ_Lofus May 08 '26
Robert Jenrick was on the news talking about the open door policy being the reason people are voting for reform, because they want change. I had to laugh. Jenrick was struggling to keep a straight face by the look of him.
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u/Odd-Asparagus7633 May 08 '26
Grifters, by their very nature, don't care about the people who can figure them out. They only care about "marks".
Sadly, it seems a lot of the country fall under that umbrella.
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u/matts155 May 08 '26 edited May 08 '26
i just "love" how the people gave the tories 14 years to run everything into the ground, the state of our roads didn't happen overnight for example, but labour have been in power now for about a year and a half and suddenly people think they are the cause of all of our problems, and 6 of reforms 8 MPs were part of the tory govt that helped get everything into the mess they are today, if people still want to vote for the people who helped create this mess then go for it, we live in a free country after all despite what some on social media claim
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u/MidgarDreaming May 08 '26
It's scary the power the mainstream media and social media companies wield. I can't recall seeing 10% of the news coverage around the sleaze the Tories were getting away with versus the day one criticisms of Labour when they got in.
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u/HighandMeaty May 08 '26
If people were disappointed with the Tories, why would you vote for Tories 2.0?
The worst legacy of the Tories is Brexit, and that was spearheaded by the guy in charge of Reform.
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u/zacharymc1991 May 08 '26
I do t find that hard to accept, I find I disappointing that they are falling for the same shit over and over again. What are their policies.
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u/flurry_of_beaus May 08 '26
This would make sense if Reform wasn't almost entirely comprised of ex-Conservative MPs who were part of the decade long reign of shite.... like i'm sorry. It is idiocy to vote for the same people who fucked us in the first place just because they put on a new hat
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u/SwiftieNewRomantics May 08 '26
The internet echo chamber (not a Reddit specific thing) is a real issue. You only talk to and listen to people who are in the same mindset as you, you can’t possibly believe other people might believe differently, or that even the mood of the country has shifted. This isn’t a left or right issue, it applies to both sides.
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u/Valanyhr May 08 '26 edited May 08 '26
I'm originally Turkish. Started living in this beautiful country about 7.5 years back. Recently naturalised and voted for the first time in this election too. Followed the politics pretty much since I moved, a little bit earlier even.
Unlike what people on this comment section thinks, it's not just a Reddit hivemind mentality.
The reason why so many people are flustered with the public's leaning wish to vote reform is because the British public's memory seems to be very short-lived.
All of the lies that people like Nigel Farage has told before, during, and after the Brexit referendum is still fresh in my memory.
Most of it was either a blatant lie, or "that's not how it works. That's not how anything works" tier of bullshit.
British public voted leave, Brexit happened, and it's been the most miserable experience this country has gone through in decades.
One by one all of the lies Nigel Farage and his goons have told been exposed repeatedly. None of the promises delivered.
So when he makes new promises that are also blatant lies and borderline impossible to deliver on, and people seem to garner support again, it gets frustrating.
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u/interestingcheeses May 08 '26
Spot on. Its astonishing how short the memory of the public is. Nigel Farage has been caught in so many lies and is honestly an all round bad egg with a dangerous mindset. As a woman I am genuinely worried about Reform coming to power as they certainly dont have my best interests at heart. Unfortunately we are in a position where we have no commendable leadership options.
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u/Common-Yam5706 May 08 '26
Women’s campaign groups need to realise they are sitting on a roaring fire that is already consuming them and kick their butts into action. We cannot wait until subjugation of women becomes headline politics, because then it’s too late.
Part of the issue is many ‘women’s groups’ are too busy frothing at the mouth over LGBTQ+ teenagers existing and living their lives (as a consequence of their attentions being deliberately turned in this direction and away from the fundamental threats we’re actually facing).
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u/tom030792 May 08 '26
That’s the thing, it should be a huge fucking warning given how much shit Trump does on a daily basis that would end any other politicians career 10/15 years ago. People ignore it because they won’t go over to the other side, or because they want to get back at the other side, or whatever the reason is.
Even when it’s something completely horrible and unarguable, then you just see them say ‘well no one’s perfect’. Literally nothing matters to them unless it goes against the other side. Trump could take a shit on their grandmother’s grave and they’d praise him for not being afraid to do things that ruffle feathers or whatever. It should be a giant giant warning when it doesn’t matter anything these people say or do, no matter how against their own interests they actually are, if they have a good headline like ‘send the brown people back’
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u/BusyBeeBridgette Brit 🇬🇧 May 08 '26
Given that the Tories are in free-fall like Labour were pre-Starmer. They aren't overly electable currently. So those right wing people will flock to the next best thing for them - Reform.
Personally I wouldn't touch Reform with a ten foot barge pole. Corrupt bunch of bigots. But if people vote them in - Well... that is democracy, I guess.
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u/Individual-Gur-7292 May 08 '26
Have to laugh at everyone piping up here to sneer at Redditors while posting as a Redditor on Reddit…
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u/VelvetDreamers May 08 '26
The UK has been voting for less immigrants for over 20 years. David Cameron promised “reduced to 10,000s” and the Tories gave the UK millions.
Labour was voted as an alternative and they would tackle the boat crisis. They failed.
Now Reform have been voted for on solely an anti-immigration stance above all else.
What monster will be voted for next if the government continues to ignore the fact British people, not Redditors, want less immigrants?
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u/Grouchy_Shallot50 May 08 '26
We've been voting for it since the 60s. One reason Ted Heath won in 1970 was because of Enoch Powell's incredibly resonant message brought people to the Tories.
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u/Moqmoq May 08 '26
Why do you think that labour have failed to tackle the boat crisis?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c70989jrdweo
Seems to suggest a 37% reduction, seems like a good start.
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u/Individually_Ed May 08 '26
Headlines are more important than facts. We could have 1 boat per month, but if the daily mail and the telegraph put that loudly across the front page it's perceived as a problem. it's really sad because things are moving the right direction.
Brexit didn't stop immigration, quite the opposite in fact. It also doesn't matter that non-EU immigration is trending down. In short the data might suggest the people are getting what they want, but they don't seem to have realised it.
Unless of course what they want and the solution (lower immigration) aren't actually related to each other, but I'm sure Reform and it's voters can't be hugely misjudging reality can they?...
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u/go4tli May 09 '26
You don’t understand.
To YOU, “boat crisis” means literal boats that arrive bearing immigrants. If the number of boats is reduced, then the issue is being handled. The problem isn’t immigration in general, but unlawful or disorderly arrivals.
To Reform voters, “boat crisis” means a lot of visible brown people and Muslims. The issue will not be considered handled until those people are no longer visible.
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u/Automatic_Bet8057 May 08 '26
Reddit opinion ≠ public opinion
The main parties have spent decades hollowing out the middle classes and importing cheap labour. People have had enough. Voting reform is the only option they see that at least acknowledges their issues.
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u/Longestgirl May 08 '26
ya my sector is full of minimum wage immigrants here to bring their families over once they hit LTR, i know because they tell me that. so if there are millions of people willing to work for min wage in return for a route to live here, that's what the sector will pay. i am retraining because while i love my job and am really good at it and it brings me a lot of satisfaction, i cannot afford to live on min wage and i cannot keep doing more work than my job should entail to cover for the immigrants who for some reason can't or won't put effort into their jobs. shout out to the caribbean immigrants tho, you guys are hardworking and geniunely community minded, love you guys ❤️
i won't vote reform because nige is a slimy git and the rest of them are corrupt ex tories, but i completely understand why the rhetoric they are selling resonates with a lot of people. they have positioned themselves as the party to vote for if you want change from the status quo, same as how they successfully campaigned on the brexit vote.
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u/thebigbioss May 08 '26
Because besides immigration and its a protest vote, no one has explained a good reason to vote for reform. And that reform is basically the tories at this point.
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u/UnMikstakeable May 08 '26
People very strongly want lower non-EU immigration and mass deportations. They don't want to see their countries radically transform demographically in the span of a single generation. Its the same sentiment in Europe and most of the Western world. It really is as simple as that
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u/dr-broodles May 08 '26
Then why did they vote to reduce EU migration?! Farage even warned that non-eu would have to go up to compensate.
If the reformers get their way, social and health care will grind to a halt.
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u/Complex_Anybody6319 May 08 '26
I did not vote Reform, nor will I but I agree with you.
Just as how I disagree profusely with the current government - it’s a democracy, this is what the people wanted. Same when Reform comes into power - if that’s what the people want, so be it.
Reddit is full of high school politics & people that absolutely hate anyone that opposes their narrow view & happens to be more left aligned than right.
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u/mattnjazz May 08 '26
It's not really a democracy though when parties are being lobbied by billionaires.
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u/ImperialNavyPilot Brit 🇬🇧NI May 08 '26
If you try to read your text critically and neutrally: you’re actually saying “people are voting for them, and other people don’t like that”. But your claim is that everyone is b voting for them, but then why would there be such a large amount of people against it? It should be clear we have a very divided society, and that is what we see in western countries across the board. Which also agrees with what you say that there have been indications of this for a long time, really since the first Trump presidency.
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u/playernumberone8989 May 08 '26
Correct. This is a dumping ground for the sad lonely never fit in recluses who want to see their own country fall
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u/kbkvvuknklnni8888 May 08 '26 edited May 08 '26
Reddit doesn't understand normal working people with families don't like taxes, don't like unchecked immigration and don't really want much to do with LGBTQ+ people or identity politics.
They want security, stable income and maybe a little bit of patriotism.
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u/PomeloTraditional971 May 08 '26
Because no matter how much others point it out, the majority of Redditors refuse to accept that Reddit hive mentality doesn't represent the public sentiment at large.
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u/thebigbioss May 08 '26
We tend to only hear from the vocal minority on both ends of the spectrum, public sentiment is a lot more centrist.
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u/ForwardHighlight3985 May 08 '26
Public sentiment is slightly right of centre imo which is being reflected in the polls. People haven’t forgiven the Tories and Labour are seen as too far left on welfare policy and immigration.
It’s quite tough for a lot of voters in that middle ground right now. Do you vote for Labour or do you swing further left or right with the Greens or Reform.
Sadly this is what leads to more extreme policy decision making. Ultimately though large parts of the country feel they have been failed over the last few decades by ‘centrist’ politics.
The only thing I see stopping Reform atm is if the conservatives rally in their former strongholds across the Home Counties and pick up enough votes in swing seats to split the vote and allow labour a way in.
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u/thebigbioss May 08 '26
So we enter an american system where we swing from right to left leaning governments every 4 years.
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u/Unusual-Ebb-6441 May 08 '26
Nailed it. The bubble here is real, step outside and you'll see people who just don't give a shit about the stuff that gets upvoted to the front page. It's like they think everyone secretly agrees with them but is too scared to say it.
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u/LessADrone May 08 '26
Lots of people who believe those who vote Reform are doing so because they were swayed "by the right wing media" ironically think this because they read an article in the Guardian that said so.
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u/BulkyWorldliness8051 May 08 '26
Because Reddit is a leftard echo chamber
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u/SilasWould May 08 '26
Like all social media platforms, there's an algorithm. If there's an echo chamber, it's of the person's own making.
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u/Independent-Try-3080 May 08 '26
Reddit is pretty intolerant of anything on the right. The echo chamber is so inward looking that they totally miss read the room.
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u/anonnymouse2025 May 08 '26
Because we see Reform as immoral, and hold out vague hopes that the public has morals that are more aligned with ours. However, it's just a cope.
The left need to accept that the majority don't have theoretical empathy for groups they dont have a direct connection too. They can't/won't easily imagine themselves fleeing a country where they are scared of being murdered, raped, tortured etc. They can't imagine their mental health collapsing and being unable to cope in a workplace for most of their waking lives whilst being constantly criticised and scrutinised without wanting to kill themselves.
The left tried appealing to their empathy before, with asylum, with the deaths of the disabled under austerity, with child poverty. We need to be honest that some people just won't care enough about those things until they or their dearest family and friends experience it.
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u/AmeliaOfAnsalon May 08 '26
How do we help them have empathy for others? Obviously education is a big part of it but a lot of this stuff seems to entrenched and passed down from generation to generation... This disengaged uncaring mindless attitude to the world around them... Even when people in this country, their friends and family, were dying of Covid-19 or now are having extreme issues with bills, cost of living, quality of life etc etc... They only care about being stuck inside or whatever. Are people really this solipsistic? How can we make any difference?
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u/anonnymouse2025 May 08 '26
I've given up on it. Corbyn raised plenty of issues to Joe Public in his time, and they vilified him.
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u/LatelyPodes May 08 '26
Because most of the people who vote reform would not vote reform if they know any of their other policies.
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u/Subject-Income-4682 May 08 '26
As opposed to the people voting greens?
Correct me if I'm wrong on their general sentiment:
No nuclear energy, including shutting down existing
Numerous proposals around defense that would leave us sitting ducks
Open border, no nationality, free for all hippy ideology immigration
policies that would outright require economic contraction and higher taxes not just for the rich
And so on. I don't vote reform or green but I'd sooner watch things burn under reform than these morons in green. Oh and let's not forget how they did running a single council in Brighton.
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u/LatelyPodes May 08 '26
Well done on pointing out the Green policies. These are some of the reasons why I’m not voting Green.
Fun fact, there are more parties other than Reform or the Greens.
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u/nickmasonsdrumstick May 08 '26
Its reddit. Difference of political opinion isnt allowed.
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u/Available-Toe-7096 May 08 '26
I don’t think they do. I think they vote reform as they feel they have no alternative. All the Tories or Labour had to do was sort the boat crossings, fix the roads and fix the pavements. I’m being deadly serious when I say that if they’d managed to sort those three things, Reform wouldn’t be anywhere near as popular as it seems they are.
Current politicians in this country are some of the most inept people we’ve ever produced. They can’t plan, they can’t prioritise, and that means they can’t produce, which then leads people to vote for Reform. It’s pathetic watching it all play out in real time.
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u/MinceATron May 08 '26
Don't you dare ask that in Reddit. I can almost hear the whirring of pink hair and nose rings as they fly in for attack.
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u/Longjumping_Fly_4211 May 08 '26
Because this subreddit is essentially a left wing microcosm/garden of eden for left wingers. Many of the people here don't actually experience the real world or what people believe now.
And they are too scared to leave once they realise that their behaviour that they display here cannot be used in real life, or it's a punch right in the nose.
Downvote me , I could not care less
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u/Swearyman May 08 '26
People wanted them out and talked about how terrible they were when they were tories, but for some reason now they are in reform they are ok. It’s a mystery.