Why this centrist dad is (probably) voting Reform

I am a liberal, centrist dad Remainer. I desperately wish we could rejoin the European Union. I really don’t like Donald Trump. I could go on. But if a general election were held tomorrow, I would seriously consider voting Reform. In fact, Nigel Farage’s party is increasingly likely to get my support.

That I’m flirting with voting Reform might surprise you, but I’m not alone. Reform’s success in last week’s elections was no fluke: the latest YouGov survey puts the party on 29 per cent. The reason why is simple: the other parties are offering more of the same when Britain is badly in need of change.

Let’s start with Labour. Despite being a Remainer, I am basically centre-right in political outlook. I support capitalism, free markets and free trade (which is why I don’t like Brexit, but I digress). I really don’t like wokeness at all (having experienced the worst of it firsthand in my professional life). Given that, I feel preternaturally tilted against Labour. I don’t mind Keir Starmer, but I still don’t like Labour. They are the party of unions and big government and have demonstrated that repeatedly already in government. Their ridiculous decision to impose a National Insurance tax hike on employers exemplifies what I don’t like about them.

Still, I like them more than the Lib Dems. I should feel more of a kinship with Ed Davey’s party given they are the most obviously Remainery of the lot. But their actual proposals on Europe would spell disaster. They want to rejoin a customs union with the EU, which strikes me as the worst of all possible worlds. It’s a remake of Theresa May’s Brexit, and look where that got us. But certain Remainers cling to this as the only port in a storm. No thanks. Plus, the Lib Dems are woke as hell and seem to get away with that with voters who don’t realise.

Then we come to the Conservative party. Oh dear. They are easily the least appealing of the parties. Their strategy at present under Kemi Badenoch could be summed up as: “Let’s be a really, really boring, unappealing to anyone imaginable version of what we think is the Reform party, even though we’re way off on even that”. Why would anyone in their right mind vote for that?

This brings me to the specific appeal of Reform. You might not like them, but it’s clear what they stand for. Their pitch is essentially that The Tories and Labour have both screwed up repeatedly, so why trust them again? It’s a convincing message. I have spent a reasonable amount of time with Reform activists and organisers over the last month, and can I let you in on a little secret? They aren’t fascists or, in most instances, even particularly right-wing. They are mostly just people who are sick of how politics works and are looking for something different to get behind. They feel ignored and discarded – which you can’t blame them for because, for the most part, they are ignored and discarded.

Reform seem serious about curbing the worst elements of wokeness, which the Tories resolutely failed to do while in government. They appear to actually believe in Brexit, which I’d prefer to what we’ve had before and what we have now: an awkward in between. I’m a rejoiner, but I’m firmly of the opinion that we either rejoin full stop, or genuinely try and make the most of Brexit. Farage seems to be the only leading politician who genuinely wants to attempt the latter in any meaningful sense. Let’s either give Brexit one more go or abandon it. I’d prefer we abandoned it, but given no party is proposing that, why not give Nigel a go?

I’ve come to this position out of exhaustion. I so thoroughly dislike the offer from Labour and the Lib Dems (and the Tories don’t, in fact, have an offer) that Reform looks good, just by dint of having a clear direction of travel. Every other party seems to be saying to me, “Look, Nigel Farage was right, Brexit was always inevitable, we just need to go with it. Trust us over him.” If that’s the case, why not put Farage in charge? If he was right about Brexit, what else might he be right about?