If you want to beat Reform , it won’t be by upping your anti immigration rhetoric but by energetically and passionately trying to improve people’s lives - in being so terrified of anything too progressive (or that was in Corbyn’s manifesto) I don’t think they know what they are or why they are - ThreadSky

robinince.bsky.social • 23 days ago

If you want to beat Reform , it won’t be by upping your anti immigration rhetoric but by energetically and passionately trying to improve people’s lives - in being so terrified of anything too progressive (or that was in Corbyn’s manifesto) I don’t think they know what they are or why they are

Reposted from Caroline Lucas

When will Govt learn you can’t out-Reform Reform - you end up simply legitimising their toxic narrative. To see off populists, Labour needs to invest in public services & local communities, making a real difference to people’s lives - levy a wealth tax & use it to improve people’s lives *now*

Comments

jailhouse-dog.bsky.social•23 days ago

This all seems obvious, but there are some in the Labour Party that just want to out-Reform Reform. The Tories have been trying it for 20 years and look where it got them.

drvandermast.bsky.social•23 days ago

Trying to appease bigots is like trying to sweep water uphill.

gemandmoll.bsky.social•22 days ago

You are both correct. Labour will lose the next election if they don't help ordinary people.

lockfarm.bsky.social•23 days ago

The problem is both the Left and Right went through a phase of saying "These aren't valid issues, we're focussed on improving the country"... and we ended up with Brexit.

Real or imagined, immigration as a political concern has to somehow be unpicked because telling people they're wrong has failed.

lockfarm.bsky.social•23 days ago

But whenever this comes up, the assumption becomes that you should either be embracing immigration or anti- it to suit a given audience. Even worse, that unless you express a strong preference, you must be supporting the opposite view.

The debate itself needs to be addressed, instead of positioning

drvandermast.bsky.social•23 days ago

Who has been telling people they are wrong? I mean, they are, but I never hear politicians say so.

lockfarm.bsky.social•23 days ago

The Brexit debate was pretty much that - two sides telling the public that the other side was lying.

robinince.bsky.social•23 days ago

It’s not about telling people they are wrong it is about making lives better - I visit so many towns that are crumbling and desolate and I can see why they may well vote far right even though those people will probably make their lives even worse

lockfarm.bsky.social•23 days ago

Indeed, but making lives better is a generational undertaking, not something that survives the electoral cycle.

There's no easy solution that I can see here when people want something to change tomorrow, not in five years. Right now, that's why Reform do well - they're suggesting 'instant' fixes.

lockfarm.bsky.social•23 days ago

...all lies of course, but very appealing ones when you feel you're being ignored by the mainstream parties who've been promising things will get better for... forever.

bertytrouser.bsky.social•23 days ago

Not only that - but the right wing press and Tommy Robinson tweets will still say labour are soft on immigration no matter what they do
It will even mean the opposition have to be worse - they will end doing some mad plan like sending people to Rwanda!

mixie943.bsky.social•23 days ago

So with this move, even if the bloke who’s rhymes with garridge loses at the next election, he wins!
Brilliant… not 🤦🏻

drvandermast.bsky.social•23 days ago

arinissa.bsky.social•22 days ago

They’re neoliberals, selling the UK off piecemeal as SEZ’s and free ports that only benefit billionaires and the rich. We were naive perhaps to think they were in anyway left wing with Starmer, Rayner and Streeting…we wanted the Tories out but labour is holding the door open to full fash reform.

funkym217.bsky.social•23 days ago

This is what I've been saying since the Corbyn days. We have to be better. (But we still have to punch Nazis. Wil Wheaton teaches us that)

nickdrumr2.bsky.social•23 days ago

They would be much better served boring out equality and bringing the ultra wealthy into line. Close all the tax loopholes.

darrenmacey.bsky.social•23 days ago

They never knew what they are or why they are, they just knew with every fibre of their being that they deserved to be back in charge and were prepared to salt the earth to make that happen…

They don’t have a progressive principle between them, just massive confidence in their right to run things!

krohde.bsky.social•23 days ago

And right now, they still have enough time left in power to demonstrate results. The more time that passes, the less time is left to them to show why we should vote them in again next time.

Honestly, I am so angry, so much of the time.

geoffcampbell.bsky.social•23 days ago

Still, isn't it good that Cameron dealt so decisively with the threat from Farage?

(This is a genuine claim that a Tory friend of mine made when asked to explain the train-wreck that was the Brexit referendum.)

paul2626.bsky.social•22 days ago

Ok? Is that a nice planet he's living on?

geoffcampbell.bsky.social•22 days ago

He seems to be enjoying it, inexplicably.

dazbert.bsky.social•23 days ago

Unfriend?

geoffcampbell.bsky.social•23 days ago

We don't talk so much now, certainly. But I always knew he was a rabid Thatcherite and free-market economist.

One should have friends of all political alignments, I think. It's good for perspective, however mistaken they are.

dazbert.bsky.social•23 days ago

I agree with this. But it's certainly helpful if that mutual interest in each other's position is shared. I've certainly given too much quarter in the past to people who refuse to entertain a word that goes against their views.

mkay.wtf•23 days ago

Merz just tried this in Germany and came out looking stupid and incompetent (which is a fair assessment). Racists just vote for the original. All cosplaying as them does is legitimise it

tigerears.bsky.social•22 days ago

We literally just saw this happen in Germany: cosy up to far-right ideals, and the only side that benefits is the far-right.

dazbert.bsky.social•23 days ago

Very true - by aping Reform they legitimise Reform, serving only to shift Overton to the right. They need to move the debate away from twatty rhetoric and on to something that makes a difference to real lives. And despite our straitened times, there's plenty of scope for this.

maxwellshabbsby.bsky.social•23 days ago

100%

https://bsky.app/profile/maxwellshabbsby.bsky.social/post/3lhgwa4urgc2e

Comments

Posting Rules

Reply