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> Reform UK is highly likely to win the next election. No it is not highly likely at all. People who say this simply do not understand the depth of the struct
by exasperaited 1y ago
> Reform UK is highly likely to win the next election.
No it is not highly likely at all.
People who say this simply do not understand the depth of the structural challenge involved in getting from four MPs to 326 (or 325 or so if you delete the odd non-active MP).
Even if they get close but no cigar and secure a coalition it would be with the Conservatives, whose failures will not be forgotten soon.
I think it is wholly possible, alas, that Reform will see a hundred or so MPs and be the official opposition. But it should not be overstated that the Liberal Democrats will sooner offer to be in a coalition with Labour, and the country tolerate that again from them, than allow Reform the chance to undo Labour's work.
And that is before you consider that, ahem, the shine is off Reform's chums in the USA already and that situation is not going to get better soon. Reform would need a massive amount of money -- Musk money and sketchy crypto money, basically -- to get anywhere, and Trump's orange thumb on the scale with US social media firms. And we don't like that stuff. I cannot stress enough how badly that kind of intervention would go for them.
There are not many people in the UK who would say that Starmer's win was a "huge win for the left". Especially Labour voters. The "left" doesn't have much to do with it. Centrism, sanity, and the hope for an end to grift and stupidity and cruelty do. The failings of the right -- of idiots like Liz Truss and Brexit -- have more.
Reform fielded a candidate in essentially every constituency in 2024 and got five elected. One of them is sitting as an independent already because he's under investigation for corruption.
Yes, Reform got a huge swing in the local (council) elections, and some people think that is predictive. But historically it's nowhere near as predictive as Reform voters would like.
- qcnguy 1y agoYou might be behind the times. Current polls show Reform gaining a huge majority and the Conservatives dropping to a few dozen seats if an election were held tomorrow. Labour would also be slaughtered.
- exasperaited 1y agoThis is predicated on something the polls do not and cannot convey: the selection of electable candidates. This is imaginary. Reform fielded candidates in essentially every constituency in 2024 and only five of them were elected. One is already sitting as an independent because he’s being investigated for pretty serious fraud and the party will not stand by him. Again: the polls do not and cannot reflect just how difficult it would be to get from four MPs to 326.
- qcnguy 1y agoCandidates don't matter much. Labour routinely put forward absolute loons and they get elected anyway. The lack of seats in 2024 is because the election was called with three weeks notice and Reform didn't even exist at that point. Getting any MPs at all was remarkable. Since then Labour have messed up so badly that people are saying they will vote Reform without even knowing who the candidates are.