In Essex, the only way is Reform
The country is slipping away. The whole place, slowly, but London suddenly, blinding glass slabs becoming East End blocks, 'SPLENDID NEW APARTMENTS!' turning to marshland, to golf clubs, to small towns and a train station, Laindon, Essex, which has a nice 4×4 Porsche outside. Decline is the mood of Britain, and I was going to Essex to talk to people about it. Any political energy left in this country is behind Reform, and lately Nigel Farage has been using a new label for his people. 'We are the party of workers, but also the party of entrepreneurs,' he said recently. Did he mean the two simultaneously? The appeal to rich and poor and the people done good… Something in that mix sounded like an evocation of Essex.
At a car boot sale in Dunton, near Laindon, Barry has just sold a piece of Hitler-themed merchandise, a piggy bank where the coins go in the Führer's mouth.
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Telegraph
29 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Farage: We'll reopen steel blast furnaces if we win in Wales
Nigel Farage will vow on Monday to reopen Port Talbot's blast furnaces, placing the return of traditional steelmaking at the heart of his campaign to win next year's Welsh elections. The Reform leader will use a speech in the southern Welsh town to decry the collapse of the steelmaking industry and question the strategy being adopted by Labour. It is the latest attempt to outflank Labour on the Left and further build on Reform's surge of popularity, which has sent it surging to the top of UK opinion polls in recent months. Mr Farage believes his party has a chance of winning the Welsh Parliament elections next spring, in what would be a seismic result given Labour's long-held dominance across the border. The speech is an attempt to draw a line under party feuding that led Zia Yusuf to quit as Reform's chairman on Thursday, only to reverse his decision and return on Saturday. Mr Yusuf now has four responsibilities, including leading the party's 'Doge' spending efficiencies project, named after tech billionaire Elon Musk's drive to slash bureaucracy in America. A new chairman to accompany Mr Yusuf will be unveiled on Tuesday. His role has now been split in two, with a new deputy chairman also taking on some of Mr Yusuf's old responsibilities. The Port Talbot plant was, until recently, the UK's largest steelmaker, but Tata Steel, the Indian firm that runs it, announced last year that the remaining blast furnaces would be closed, leading to the loss of up to 2,800 jobs at the site. The blast furnaces are being replaced with an electric arc furnace, which will produce less steel but in a more eco-friendly way. It will not be fully operational until 2028. Mr Farage is expected to say that he wants Port Talbot's blast furnaces to reopen in the long run, while admitting the outcome is not easy to achieve. While exploring options to viability, it is understood that Mr Farage will indicate that, if necessary, he is open to nationalisation, were Reform in power. Mr Farage's spokesman said: 'Nigel will say it's our long-term ambition to reopen the blast furnaces, not the electric arc ones, as we don't believe they will ever be online due to sky-high electricity prices. '[Mr Farage] will talk about the heritage of Wales, with Port Talbot Steelworks once being the largest steel plant in Europe, and also Wales, which once produced almost 60 million tons of coal per year, exporting half. The spokesman added: 'South Wales alone was the biggest coal exporter in the world. The Cardiff Coal Exchange set the global price for steam coal. Swansea once smelted most of the world's copper. Merthyr Tydfil was the world's largest producer of iron.' The spokesman added: 'Basically, Nigel will tap into the hearts and minds of a deeply patriotic nation that feels betrayed and forgotten about by Labour.' Working-class voters Mr Farage's trip to Wales underscores how he sees the next milestone in his party's surge in support coming first in the country's parliamentary elections in May 2026. Elections will also be held for the Scottish Parliament next year. Reform insiders were left buoyed at getting one in four votes at the Hamilton by-election last week, despite coming third. Mr Farage's embrace of Port Talbot's steelmaking past is the latest sign that he is adopting an economic agenda deliberately designed to grab political territory vacated by Labour. The Reform leader called for the nationalisation of British Steel earlier this year, weeks before government ministers announced the move. He has also called for the two-child benefit cap to be lifted and for the cut to winter fuel payments for pensioners to be reversed in full, aligning himself with many Labour MPs. Both measures have since been adopted by the Government. The focus on economic interventionism has seen him position the party to the Left on these matters with Sir Keir Starmer's party, as Reform targets disillusioned working-class voters. Andy Haldane, the former Bank of England economist, said that Mr Farage had become a 'tribune' for the views and frustrations of working-class Britons. Mr Haldane told The Guardian: 'What is certainly true is Nigel Farage is as close to what the country has to a tribune for the working classes. 'I don't think there's any politician that comes even remotely close to speaking to, and for, blue-collar, working-class Britain. 'I think that is just a statement of fact, and in some ways that underscores the importance of the other parties doing somewhat better to find a story, to find a language and to find some policies that speak to the needs of those most in need.'
STV News
an hour ago
- STV News
Reform voters in Hamilton by-election ‘angry', not racist, says Swinney
John Swinney has said Scots who voted for Reform in a by-election last week were 'angry', not racist. The First Minister was asked on the BBC Scotland's Sunday Show if those who backed Reform were 'gullible' or 'racist' – a term the SNP leader has previously used to describe the party. Swinney said the 7,088 people who backed Reform – more than a quarter of the vote – in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse ballot were 'neither', but were instead 'angry at the cost-of-living crisis'. He added: 'I think that's what motivates the Reform vote. People have got poorer because of one central thing – Brexit, and the author of that is (Reform UK leader Nigel) Farage. 'I'm standing up to Farage. I'm going to make no apology for it.' PA Media John Swinney said those who voted Reform in Hamilton were 'angry' (PA). He said the SNP is 'in the process of recovery' and he had come into office as First Minister a year ago 'inheriting some significant difficulties' within the party, and that it needs to get stronger before the Holyrood election in 2026. He said voters are 'having to work hard for less' and are concerned about public services, particularly the NHS. Swinney was asked about comments he made prior to the vote saying 'Labour were not at the races' and claiming it was a 'two-horse race' between the SNP and Reform. Labour's Davy Russell gained the seat from the SNP with 8,559 votes, while SNP candidate Katy Loudon came second on 7,957, ahead of Reform's Ross Lambie. The First Minister said that since the general election campaign last year, people he has met have pledged never to vote Labour due to the winter fuel allowance being cut, while Reform's support increased. PA Media Reform UK came third in the by-election (Jane Barlow/PA). Swinney said: 'People were telling us on the doorsteps, they were giving us reasons why they weren't supporting Labour. We could also see that Farage's support was rising dramatically and that's happening across the United Kingdom, it's not unique to Hamilton. 'I positioned the SNP to be strong enough to stop Farage, and that's what we were determined to do.' Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has branded the SNP's campaign 'dishonest and disgraceful' and said it had put the spotlight on Reform. Those comments were put to the First Minister, who said he had previously been allies with Mr Sarwar in a campaign to 'stand up to far-right thinking'. Swinney said: 'That was months ago and then we found ourselves in the aftermath of the UK local authority elections, the English local authority elections where Farage surged to a leading position and won a by-election south of the border. 'So the dynamic of our politics change in front of us. 'I've been standing up to Farage for months, I've been warning about the dangers of Farage for months, and they crystallised in the rise of Farage during the Hamilton, Stonehouse and Larkhall by-election.' Get all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
The Independent
2 hours ago
- The Independent
Swinney – Reform voters in Hamilton by-election ‘angry', not racist
John Swinney has said Scots who voted for Reform in a by-election last week were 'angry', not racist. The First Minister was asked on the BBC Scotland's Sunday Show if those who backed Reform were 'gullible' or 'racist' – a term the SNP leader has previously used to describe the party. Mr Swinney said the 7,088 people who backed Reform – more than a quarter of the vote – in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse ballot were 'neither', but were instead 'angry at the cost-of-living crisis'. He added: 'I think that's what motivates the Reform vote. People have got poorer because of one central thing – Brexit, and the author of that is (Reform UK leader Nigel) Farage. 'I'm standing up to Farage. I'm going to make no apology for it.' He said the SNP is 'in the process of recovery' and he had come into office as First Minister a year ago 'inheriting some significant difficulties' within the party, and that it needs to get stronger before the Holyrood election in 2026. He said voters are 'having to work hard for less' and are concerned about public services, particularly the NHS. Mr Swinney was asked about comments he made prior to the vote saying 'Labour were not at the races' and claiming it was a 'two-horse race' between the SNP and Reform. Labour's Davy Russell gained the seat from the SNP with 8,559 votes, while SNP candidate Katy Loudon came second on 7,957, ahead of Reform's Ross Lambie. The First Minister said that since the general election campaign last year, people he has met have pledged never to vote Labour due to the winter fuel allowance being cut, while Reform's support increased. Mr Swinney said: 'People were telling us on the doorsteps, they were giving us reasons why they weren't supporting Labour. We could also see that Farage's support was rising dramatically and that's happening across the United Kingdom, it's not unique to Hamilton. 'I positioned the SNP to be strong enough to stop Farage, and that's what we were determined to do.' Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has branded the SNP's campaign 'dishonest and disgraceful' and said it had put the spotlight on Reform. Those comments were put to the First Minister, who said he had previously been allies with Mr Sarwar in a campaign to 'stand up to far-right thinking'. Mr Swinney said: 'That was months ago and then we found ourselves in the aftermath of the UK local authority elections, the English local authority elections where Farage surged to a leading position and won a by-election south of the border. 'So the dynamic of our politics change in front of us. 'I've been standing up to Farage for months, I've been warning about the dangers of Farage for months, and they crystallised in the rise of Farage during the Hamilton, Stonehouse and Larkhall by-election.'
