Farage in Downing Street or work with the Greens?The recent elections confirmed what opinion polls have been saying for some time. Unless something radically changes, we are heading towards a Reform UK government, possibly with Conservative support. To illustrate what this would mean, consider just one of Reform's flagship policies: the retrospective removal of indefinite leave to remain. People who were told by the British state that they could settle here, people who have lived here for decades, people who have worked, brought up children, bought their homes, integrated into local communities - our friends, neighbours or family - would be deported, by force if they resist. Only ... (more) |
We are not going anywhereI was seven years old when I first delivered leaflets for this party on the streets of Yorkshire. Seven years old. Running door to door in communities I loved, for a party that told me, told us, that we belonged here - that this was our country too. Last Thursday's local election results were a gut punch to anyone who believes in a fair, open, and tolerant Britain. Reform UK gained more than 1,400 seats while Labour lost over 1,100 it previously held. But for me, the results that hit hardest weren't the national headlines. They were the towns I ... (more) |
What just happened?I've been reflecting on the events of 7th May, the election cycle that dominated the entire country, especially Scotland. UK-wide, the political landscape is widely acknowledged to have changed forever, transforming from a traditional two-party system to one of perhaps four or five parties. Over time, this may become even more divergent. Westminster, as a political ecosystem, struggles to accommodate this increase in influential parties. In fact, this struggle may have been the root cause of the sea change itself. In all the constituent nations of the Union, the rise of Reform UK is, in my opinion, the result of ... (more) |
Alderdice, Thornhill and Turner spoke. Were you listening?I read Rob Blackie's post on Tuesday. Well written, but none of this is new. The difference now is that the warning lights are flashing everywhere, especially in London. Let's tell it straight. The party has a serious problem in urban Britain, and pretending otherwise will only make it worse. We keep branding the Greens as "extreme" because they are attracting attention and energy we can currently only dream about in many inner-city areas. The Greens spoke to communities in plain English. One word summed up their offer: change. Meanwhile, too often we sound cautious, managerial, and disconnected, speaking largely ... (more) |
The first thing to fix if Starmer is to surviveOkay, as headlines go, that might be a tad optimistic given the civil war that is shaping up inside the Labour Party at the moment, but if Starmer is to have any chance at all of radically resetting his administration then he needs to start revisiting the decisions that have contributed to public disillusionment with the Labour Government. There is an opportunity to make a start on this reset with the news that the Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) campaign has announced it is going ahead with a High Court challenge against the decision to deny millions of 1950s-born ... (more) |
Handing Reform a by-election victoryLabour's current leadership crisis was expected. Everyone knew Labour were heading for an absolute drubbing last week in the local and devolved elections. Starmer was going to have to accept the blame. The suggestion that Andy Burnham is the answer to Labour's problems is wishful thinking. I don't quite understand the Burnham appeal. He has, after all, twice tried to win a Labour leadership (more) |
Doncaster - the UFO capital of the UKThis one is so unusual that it deserves a post of its own. Reform Councillor Kieran Lay has claimed that unidentified flying objects (UFOs) are visiting Doncaster. Cllr Lay told a council meeting that he wants the council to set up a scrutiny committee to monitor UFO activity and the dangers posed by all these illegal aliens to Doncaster airport.I've read various posts over the past few days (more) |
The Joy of Six 1518Alexandra Hall Hall writes the big reset speech she wishes Keir Starmer had made after Labour's local elections defeats: "I know that much of what I have said today will be controversial or unpopular. But good leadership requires the courage to say the hard things. What I took from last week's election results is that I - we all - need to raise our game. We need to be more honest, more forthright, and more willing to take the hard choices." "Lowe was educated at Radley. He built a career in financial services. He owns substantial agricultural land. He was ... (more) |
Zack Polanski in a Yes to AV campaign videoI remember very little of the Alternative Vote referendum campaign except that it turned out to be a referendum on Nick Clegg instead. The only party that much liked AV was the Labour Party, and it campaigned against it. So thanks to Josiah Mortimer for posting this video from the Yes side, which turns out to feature a young Zack Polanski in the days before he joined the Liberal Democrats. Presumably he turned up here because he was still working as an actor. I don't imagine this video converted many people. Though it sets out to show that AV is ... (more) |
What last Thursday tells us about beating Reform (and where we still need to do the work)The headlines from last Thursday have largely been written around Reform's gains. Understandably so. 1,453 seats, 14 councils, a projected 284 Westminster seats if those numbers were applied to a general election. The narrative writes itself. But buried inside those same results is a different story, one that matters rather a lot for Liberal Democrats. It is not a story of comfortable reassurance. It is, if anything, a more useful thing: a reasonably clear picture of what works against Reform, where it works, and where we are still exposed. The short version is that incumbency beats protest. Almost every time. ... (more) |