How Reform UK is profiting from the chaos caused by Brexit
Voters, particularly those in the Makerfield by-election, need to beware of Reform UK’s deceptive, divisive and empty promises
Chaos. It has dogged British politics since Brexit. It has to end, for all our sakes. For the past ten years, our two traditional governing parties have stumbled from internal war to internal war in a seemingly perpetual political psychodrama which has undermined public confidence.
Ironically, the man who stands to benefit is the man who’s grinning, pint-downing, and empty-promising has caused much of it: Nigel Farage. He and his fellow Brexiteers led the country down a path which has proven costly in terms of our economy, social cohesion and politics. Now they capitalise on the dissatisfaction that they created.
Of course, Brexit is not to blame for all of it. Covid, the war in Ukraine and Trump have also played a part, but there is no denying that leaving the European Union has had a massive impact domestically.
In 2016, inflation and unemployment were both lower, and we were the fifth largest economy in the world. We then slipped to sixth and while the current government will go into the forthcoming by-election in Makerfield pointing to the recent upswing, we all know that the vote will be about much more than that.
Labour is in a bind, and a lot of their party is hoping that an Andy Burnham victory will be enough to put them back on track. Winning a seat they have held, in different forms, since 1906 would perhaps indicate that they have someone committed to the sort of policies that were expected from this government.
Quite a lot to ask of one person. Particularly when they are defending a seat where Reform got to within 6,000 votes of victory two years ago. But at the moment, we do need something to persuade the public that there is more to our politics than hypocritical hyperbole and questionable motives.
In the same week that Farage has been reported to parliamentary authorities over an undisclosed £5million ‘gift’, Zack Polanski, the Greens’ leader in England and Wales, has been discovered to have neither paid a council tax bill nor voted. Ironic for two men who delight in pointing an accusatory finger at other politicians while stirring up division.
That’s why I took so much delight this week in witnessing in the Scottish Parliament the best antidote to some of the bile that has been nothing short of racist in the recent campaign. Among the MSPs taking the oath, there were those who took it in Gaelic, Scots, Polish, Dutch, Mandarin, French, Hindi – and even English.
They demonstrated once again that part of our strength lies in our diversity. We have to use that strength to deny success to those whose ill -conceived Brexit sowed the seeds of the divisions and chaos we are now experiencing.
The dissatisfaction that people feel and has propelled Reform to between 15 and 20 per cent in recent Scottish polls. We have to get beyond that and re-establish some stability in politics.
To do that, we have to ensure that Reform’s deceptive, divisive and empty promises do not win the by election in Makerfield when it happens. We need that not just for the people of Makerfield but for all of us. Anything else would simply be the route to more chaos.
Christine Jardine is the Scottish Liberal Democrat MP for Edinburgh West
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