‘Reform are going to freshen things up’. Howard looks up from the candy crush-style game he is playing on his mobile. He, despite being a lifelong Tory, will be voting for Nigel Farage’s party today in the Greater Lincolnshire Mayoral election.
We’re visiting areas of the mayoralty with the most Tory and Labour voters, places where people steadfastly voted Conservative while the party was being decimated in other parts of the country last summer. These are the voters that Reform are now focusing on. None of our conversations are pre-arranged, as we want to get as close to people in their natural environments as possible. A team goes door to door in the most Tory streets in Grantham while another interviews people in cafes and pubs across the more Labour leaning Lincoln.
What we found is something that should scare both mainstream parties: a normalisation of the Reform brand. Even amongst those who are not voting for the party, a detoxification is underway – ‘I won’t be voting for them, but they are resonating with people’, explained a lifelong Lib Dem voter, on the doorstep in Grantham.
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