Non voter

Ideally I'd support a political party to the left of a Starmer led Labour but not a Corbynite,unelectable,perpetual protest party.  It disturbs and worries me  that some on this thread are giving clear indications that  they have no problem with Labour's intended actions against the disabled and/or vulnerable. The idea that it can be deemed acceptable, because of the damage caused by 14 years of Tory ineptitude, horrifies me. Have we really sunk so low, as a nation,  that punishing those less fortunate for the behaviour of those far more fortunate is regarded as morally acceptable?

No one is saying we’re happy about it.

What we are saying is that there is no better option available and going off in the huff and not voting will mean a Tory/Reform government which would be vastly worse.

It’s just realism.

Please advise what policies of the Tory and Reform parties are worse than Labour? I think they're all as bad as each other. The reform party wanted to raise the personal tax allowance to 20K which would have helped millions of poor people. The Tories said they would raise it a bit for pensioners. Labour kept it frozen, and took away the fuel allowance for most.

You can’t massively cut almost every tax and increase services.

Their own manifesto has a vague statement about “cutting government spending”.

And these are the people who told us Brexit would give us £350m a week for the NHS.

They are rich people funded by very right wing billionaires and they have absolutely no interest in improving life for ordinary people.

TheCatWoman said:

I too wonder how Reform intend to pay for all this?

An outline of this is at the end of the document here:

Reform Party policies

I too wonder how Reform intend to pay for all this?

Also what do they mean by make school ciriculum patriotic? Would that mean they would want schools to teach that Boudicca was a patriot trying to expel the evil European invaders? Or that Rome was a good thing because of all the "free trade" it bought with it?

Fine universities for political bias, so how would that effect the the teaching of philosophy, politics and economics? How about history?

I wonder how many of the people who vote Reform actually realise what they'd be voting for? Would they just listen to Farrage twaddling on about how well "we" could do? Or would they realise that they are exactly the sort of people Farrage and his ilk want to punish?

I can't find anything in their manifesto about the second one. Could you please share where you've seen that, as I'd like to read more?

I can only find references to that idea having once been floated, but since dropped.

Eg from a June 2024 Spectator article: "A decade ago, Nigel Farage and Ukip worked this out. Both shed their libertarian image and dropped talk of replacing the NHS with an ‘insurance-based model’."

They have two separate proposals.

One is tax relief on private health care.

The other is a system where people could top up their health coverage by making additional payments. Which is a good way of having a two tier service - one for the well off and another for the poor.

Deleted User said:

Require people to have additional insurance to fund the NHS but provide tax relief on it. Happy with that?

I think you've misunderstood? The policy says:

"Despite record extra funding in recent years, NHS healthcare outcomes have declined. While still free at the point of delivery, our healthcare needs major reforms to improve results and enjoy zero waiting lists."

One of the related, proposed reforms says:

"Tax Relief of 20% on all Private Healthcare and Insurance. This will improve care for all by relieving pressure on the NHS. Those who rely on the NHS will enjoy faster, better care. Independent healthcare capacity will grow rapidly, providing competition and reducing costs."

Reform Party policies

Sorry for the tone earlier Lotus .

Caught me at a bad time.

Hopefully my post about Reform’s manifesto will demonstrate why I have such contempt for them.

Sometimes evils are so great that you have to side with something that’s less bad.

And Reform and Trump really are evil. Not misguided or from a different political tradition, evil.

Sorry for the tone earlier Lotus .

Caught me at a bad time.

Hopefully my post about Reform’s manifesto will demonstrate why I have such contempt for them.

Sometimes evils are so great that you have to side with something that’s less bad.

And Reform and Trump really are evil. Not misguided or from a different political tradition, evil.