Reform is a private company owned by Nigel Farage that masquerades as a British political party. It was founded in 2018 and has in recent times become increasing popular with the British electorate.

None of that makes it inherently bad I suppose. But in practice, I think Reform is dangerous in at least two ways.

First, in policy terms. What they have could mostly be described as the typical concerns that are espoused by the typical modern-day right-wing populist ideologue. These days, that includes:

• A virulent hatred of immigration – beyond that of any other mainstream British party, which is saying something.
• A despising of any policies that could be deemed as pro-environment. The phrase “net zero” has become a bogeyman as far as they are concerned. They’ve no concern for the climate or the horrors that damage to it will do, is doing.
• A tendency towards tax-cutting and deregulation; policies that would in practice favour corporations and the uber-rich over the everyday person the falsely claim to represent.
• A strong distaste for social welfare and public services. Perhaps most famously their leader seems to want to abolish the National Health Service as we know it. Once again this style of policy favours big business and the rich over anyone who is remotely vulnerable to the implosion of the social state – which is most of us. Some of the above are policies associated with the progressivism. But even if you don’t consider yourself a progressive and are sympathetic to the views that they espouse, I think you’ve still a lot to be worried about.
• They show no sign of fiscal responsibility. Their policies tend to be unfunded, there’s no sense of a balanced budget.
• They’ve little respect for what has made Britain what it is, as flawed as that is. There’s no sense of conserving what works. They want to burn it all down.
• They’re divisive in tone, causing unnecessary aggravation, wasteful conflict.
• Their leader at least seems to be drawn towards the “strong-man authoritarian” type of foreign politician. He likes, admires and courts the sort of president that would wish to see our country shrunk even further on the world stage.
• He’s also a liar, no stranger to misrepresenting things to suit his arguments; the “cost” of Europe, the “scourge” of immigration et al – all things where there are legitimate conversations to be had. But only when all parties are committed to the truth.
• And at present the party seems to have basically eaten the previously-dominant UK Conservative party for lunch. The recent election results and polling should worry anyone who has any inclination at all towards the British Conservative party.

My second fear is less around ideology and more about competence. Many of their representatives have never governed before. Or even lived in the place they’re supposed to be running. For the ones of them that are presently still teenagers, well, I suppose it’s hard to expect them to have meritoriously risen through any ranks of the party or played a deciding factor in their home geography if they’re only just done with their schoolwork. But I’m not sure it’s very responsible for the party to have put them in harm’s way.

Beyond the individual, the party seems to be basing many of their supposed plans on entirely uncosted policies that haven’t been serious review. Some of which appear to be photocopies of new laws from the increasingly diminishing United States, often of little relevance to our country. They make speeches and take actions that show a thorough misunderstanding of what Britain is, how it works, what should be done to fix it.

Simply; they are unpatriotic, seemingly having little sense of pride for Britain and its place in the world; what it has done in the past, and what it could do in the future.

Some of this is probably because party is stuck with the viewpoint of one man, its owner, Nigel Farage. Being a private business that he owns the majority of, there is no obvious way for the party to curtail him should they come to dislike his excesses. There’s not an obvious route to the constant evolution and adaptation that’s necessary to modern-day politics. Even if you support the party in every way so far, you are still relying on one man being inclined to do good things.

So that’s the why this. Why now? Well, mainly because the recent local election council results shocked me. They made huge gains from the set of wards that were in play last time around, ousting many incumbents from previously-dominant parties.

One of the Guardian’s many charts on the subject:

They won the single parliamentary by-election that took place – if only by 6 votes, and in an area where the incumbent had previously been prosecuted for assaulting a constituent. But they nonetheless, it’s not nothing to have overcome a Labour majority of 15,000 votes or so.

They also won 2 of the mayorships on offer – Greater Lincolnshire and Hull & East Yorkshire.

They are, on paper at least, becoming impossible to ignore.

Only a relatively few wards were in play during that election, and they heavily tended towards the conservative. Plus local election results don’t predict the nationals. So that’s not to say a set of councillors today reflect tomorrow’s national government. But it’s certainly not good news for those of us who see a potential threat here, or, if I am right, for those British citizens currently represented by Reform either locally or nationally.

Perhaps I am wrong. I hope I am. Perhaps, following their recent success, Reform will govern well – making local government great again. Many of their policies that I find to be most harmful are not actually something that local councillors have much say over anyway, so in practice maybe their excesses will be constrained as they settle down to the nitty gritty of providing competent and efficient local services that don’t involve small boats. Perhaps, in short, I’ll have nothing to write about on this blog. But if that turns out not to be the case, then I’d like to keep track of what actually happens.