Reform uk

Tom Gordon, Liberal Democrat MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, joins James Heale to discuss his campaign to improve working class representation in politics. Tom, newly elected in 2024, explains how getting his mum involved in local politics in West Yorkshire led him to think about the structural issues that exist preventing more people from getting involved in politics. Plus, with both the Liberal Democrats and Reform UK challenging the traditional Labour and Conservative duopoly, what lessons can both parties learn from each other? Produced by Patrick Gibbons and Oscar Edmondson. Photo credit: House of Commons.

Scottish Labour have a new MSP today as Davy Russell won the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election, taking the seat from the SNP. Labour won with 31.6% of the vote with the SNP second on 29.4%, Reform close behind on 26.1% and the Conservatives a distance fourth with just 6% of the vote; this marks rare good news for both Keir Starmer and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar. Both SNP and Reform will be disappointed not to have won, but Reform have been quick to highlight how close they came, considering how new the party is. Plus, there are signs that Reform took votes away from the incumbent SNP, demonstrating

Dissatisfaction with the established political parties is driving a ‘tartan bounce’ in Scotland for Nigel Farage’s Reform UK. Far from being an English phenomenon, Reform is polling favourably with Scottish voters. There will be a by-election next week for the Scottish Parliament seat of Hamilton, in what will be Reform’s first big test inside the politics of devolved government.  For councillor Thomas Kerr, who defected from the Scottish Conservatives to Reform earlier this year, Reform’s appeal in Scotland is no surprise. He joins Lucy Dunn to explain why he thinks the ‘sky is the limit’ for Reform, why Farage is an asset to the party in Scotland and to explain

Legendary pollster Prof Sir John Curtice joins the Spectator’s deputy political editor James Heale to look ahead to next week’s local elections. The actual number of seats may be small, as John points out, but the political significance could be much greater. If polling is correct, Reform could win a ‘fresh’ by-election for the first time, the mayoralties could be shared between three or more parties, and we could see a fairly even split in terms of vote share across five parties (Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the Conservatives, the Green party, and Reform UK).  The 2024 general election saw five GB-wide parties contest most seats for the first time. These set

Happy St George’s Day! To celebrate, we thought we would discuss who is the most patriotic political leader — and why some struggle to communicate their love of country. Keir Starmer declared in an interview with the Mirror this morning that Labour is ‘the patriotic party’. This follows a more concerted effort from those within the party to become more comfortable with the flag. But is Keir Starmer actually a patriot? How will the ‘battle of the Union Jack’ play out at the local elections? And does Reform have a point to prove when it comes to patriotism? Oscar Edmondson speaks to James Heale and Claire Ainsley, former executive director of policy

Former Labour MP Jonathan Ashworth and Patrick Maguire from The Times join Katy Balls for her penultimate Coffee House Shots podcast as The Spectator‘s political editor. Since losing his seat at last year’s general election, Ashworth has been CEO of Labour Together – but not for much longer as he exclusively reveals on the podcast. Less than two weeks to go from the local elections, and only a few months away from marking one year in power, what is morale like in the Labour Party? While Patrick reflects on who might, or might not, be feeling happy, Ashworth provides more reasons for Labour supporters to feel bullish – particularly when thinking about the

It’s World Tariff Day – or Liberation Day, depending on what you prefer to call it – but we won’t know for certain what levies Donald Trump will impose on the world until around 9 p.m. this evening. Sources are speculating that Trump still isn’t 100 per cent sure himself. But as the UK awaits its fate, what is the polling saying: should Starmer stand up to Trump? Also on the podcast, it’s just under a month until the local elections, and we have seen big launch events from Reform UK and the Liberal Democrats. These are the parties expecting to do well – potentially winning upwards of 400 council

Donald Trump’s latest comments on Ukraine and its leader have united the British political spectrum in condemnation – almost. Nigel Farage has tread a careful path given his friendship with the U.S. President, but also the fact that the majority of the British public disagree with Trump’s critical attitude towards Ukraine. Can he keep this up? Cindy Yu talks to Katy Balls and James Heale. Produced by Cindy Yu.

It’s happened. Reform are now ahead of Labour, according to a voting intention poll by YouGov. Reform leads the landmark poll with 25 points, with Labour languishing all the way down in second place on 24 points. Meanwhile, the Conservatives place third on 21 per cent, the Liberal Democrats are on 14 per cent and the Greens on 9 per cent. While there have been a handful of polls to date putting Reform in the lead, they have so far been regarded as outliers. It’s a slim lead, but does it point to a long term shift in UK politics – or can it be dismissed as a blip? Does

Reform MP Rupert Lowe has called for the death penalty to be re-established in the wake of the sentencing of the Southport killer Axel Rudakubana. With the Assisted Dying Bill still making its way through Parliament, it has been decades since the topic of death has been so hotly debated by MPs.  Katy Balls speaks to James Heale and Isabel Hardman about the political reaction to Rudakubana’s sentencing. How popular is the death penalty with both MPs and the public? Should we even be debating the issue? And could Reform officially back its return soon? Produced by Patrick Gibbons and Natasha Feroze.

New voting intention polling today puts Reform neck and neck with Labour. The YouGov/Times poll reveals that support for Starmer’s army has plummeted nine points, with just over a quarter of Brits backing the government – while Nigel Farage’s Reform party has seen its support soar by 10 points. Kemi Badenoch’s Tories have lost two points, while the canvassing of 2,279 adults – carried out between 12–13 January – shows the Lib Dems and the Greens both gained one. Perhaps the most damning news, however, is that only half of those who backed Labour in the 2024 election would vote for them next time. Where is Reform drawing these votes from?

Santa will have had a tricky time this year fulfilling all the Christmas wish lists in Westminster. Keir Starmer is desperately hoping for a change in the political weather, and Kemi Badenoch would like an in with Donald Trump. Ed Davey dreams that Labour’s electoral troubles will get so bad that proportional representation starts to look appealing. Nigel Farage, meanwhile, wants to avoid what usually happens with him and keep his party from falling out – or perhaps Elon Musk will give him a Christmas bonus in the form of a generous donation. What’s certain is that 2025 will prove to be one of the most defining in recent political