We're Cooked - UK Elections 2026

[llydia]

No words, just take a look. I can't believe we are going to be seeing Nigels mug for a few years now. As a trans woman, might as well just flee the sinking ship...

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[Negamuse]

It's not great is it. It'll probably be a lot better in 20 years for one reason or another but (for similar reasons as yourself) I kinda resent the time they're wasting.

Just got to keep believing there are better times ahead and look out for each other, all we can do

[Cupz]

Yeah holy shit. So I guess people are happy with Farage's brexit and want him to quadruple-down. I still blame the pocket demons.

Though right-wing populism is growing everywhere, you could probably do worse than move to the EU. If anyone needs someone to translate dutch for them to move here they can pm me. Bitterballen are on me.

[rodox_head]

At the risk of sounding like an out of touch fool, would anyone mind giving me a bit of a run down on what's been going on over there? As one might imagine, I've been busy dealing with a mess in my own country at the moment and don't know much about how UK politics/elections work.

Although I am dealing with the fact that someone who worked under David Cameron is a top 3 contender to be my state's next governor, so there's that.

[zeoevil]

At the risk of sounding like an out of touch fool, would anyone mind giving me a bit of a run down on what's been going on over there? As one might imagine, I've been busy dealing with a mess in my own country at the moment and don't know much about how UK politics/elections work.

Although I am dealing with the fact that someone who worked under David Cameron is a top 3 contender to be my state's next governor, so there's that.

Britain was only a couple of elections away from potentially becoming a caliphate where free speech would be banned, only state-sponsored thought would be allowed, and individuals could be jailed for mean tweets; however, the fear of being labeled negatively prevented action to the contrary, which led some people to become frustrated and vote for opposing candidates. As usual, no accountability or self-reflection has occurred, so nothing will be learned as to why this happened because everyone else is stupid. Now, the situation is dire, with people threatening to shut down all the Chinese takeaways and kebab shops run by immigrants, seemingly because we lack recipes and can't make these things ourselves or something; I'm not sure.

Spoiler: show

Lighten up. It's a joke. Kind of.

[fujee]

'If you don't like the changes we've made, I say the door is open and you can leave'.

A masterful gambit, sir.

[jcnporter]

At the risk of sounding like an out of touch fool, would anyone mind giving me a bit of a run down on what's been going on over there? As one might imagine, I've been busy dealing with a mess in my own country at the moment and don't know much about how UK politics/elections work.

Although I am dealing with the fact that someone who worked under David Cameron is a top 3 contender to be my state's next governor, so there's that.

Successive governments have been desperately propping up the corpse of Thatcherism - public services and state capacity destroyed through privatisation and lack of investment, renteirism pushing up housing costs and gutting town centres. Meanwhile the rich have got much richer.
Now, after a couple of decades, the results are obvious and people are desperately looking for alternatives.
Any left-wing alternative that might start to invest and reduce economic inequality is monstered by the entire press, while right wing alternatives, either within Labour or the Tories, or in the form of Farage's various projects, are promoted by default, including the culture war stuff that they've been importing from the US.

And now we are where we are.

[Cupz]

well explained, jcnporter

[A_Northern_Soul]

This has been coming for ages - it's been blindingly obvious what has been coming down the line, but the mainstream parties have been so blind to it - they've both been so sure of the security of their voter base.

What isn't helping is so many good and clever people completely failing to address why people are voting Reform and instead branding anyone who does so a thick racist (with the usual caveat - all thick racists will vote for Reform, but not all Reform voters are thick racists). People are sick of the status quo and looking both Right to Reform (and Restore?) or Left to the Greens.

The mainstream political establishment/media (all 3 "main" political parties - although the LDs have never felt less relevant, the BBC, Times, Guardian, Sky...) has never in my lifetime felt *so* detached from day to day life in the UK. There's a political vacuum and Reform are filling it. If the Tories/Labour continue to fail there will be far worse things coming down the line. Like it or not, British elections are won in the centre ground - people don't want radical solutions, they want to work to afford a decent home and a lifestyle and they want a society that functions.

[Cupz]

I wonder if there were a more extreme left party, as marxist/leninist left as far the current conservative is fascist/nationalist right, people might see how moderate the current left actually is. Free groceries for everyone! No more bills!

[Negamuse]

What isn't helping is so many good and clever people completely failing to address why people are voting Reform and instead branding anyone who does so a thick racist (with the usual caveat - all thick racists will vote for Reform, but not all Reform voters are thick racists).

The timeline is this: stop spending money on public services and amenities -> people's lives get harder and worse. That's how it's been since the sixties, which is when the post-WWII concensus that "we should tax people fairly and spend the money making people better" started to be dissolved. That's why your council run leisure center and your library and your hospital ward looks as old and run down as it does: they were built in the last era we cared about doing that kind of thing.

Of course people whose lives get worse (most people) are going to be upset about and want change. This doesn't make them thick, or racists.

But if a party comes along and says, you know, maybe not explicitly, but in as many words "the reason everything's shit for you is because of these minority groups and if they weren't here, you'd be alright", I'm gonna point out that a) that argument is a lie and b) that is a racist party, and I'm gonna point at the things the people running it have said that show their motivation to be racist in nature.

people don't want radical solutions, they want to work to afford a decent home and a lifestyle and they want a society that functions.

We've had what, 40 years now of politicians ripping the copper out of the walls of the country bit by bit for the benefit of a very few and it's never been more obvious the disparity of wealth. Go to any large city and look up. But they've done it in such a way that they've managed to convince people "hey there's no magic money tree we can shake" "oh you can't just spend your way out of a problem" "well taxing the rich just punishes success" all of which are to some degree false but you know, for reasons that are complicated to explain in a way that "that guy being here / on benefits / being protected by a law is the reason you're choosing between feeding your kids or heating".

It's INSANE that "we need to stop enriching the already super rich and spend money on services for the other 99% of people that live here is considered radical. It's honestly mad that this is where we are. But it's the magic trick that makes racist parties work, finding ways to divert people's eyes away from the deliberate cruelty of encouraging wealth inequality.

I don't care why people vote for racist parties, I just care that people doing it allows racist policy to get enacted. And I think its a tragedy that it's gonna hurt a lot of people in minority groups before it helps a single person that's voting for them. I hate that people that know they are lying about the causes of the problems are getting away with it. I hate that it'll waste a fuckload of time and energy that could be used to solve the problem, but by then even more copper will have been ripped out of the walls of the country and used to enrich racist assholes with the gift of the gab who will be laughing all the way to the pub.

[llydia]

It could have been great. We could have had a real country. Now we just get "Trump" politics and a few more years of mediocracy. The only way forward is to change how the game works, how the country operates, radically. Kicking out all the immigrants and starting an international pissing contest with Europe and China is what an idiot would think works. I'm sorry, but Reform voters have been tricked (again) by the same man who tricked you with Brexit. You know, when the stupid Nigel (I want England to be National-Neo-Capitalist) man said he could patch the sinking ship? Made you all feel comfortable by smoking and smashing pints in front of the camera? Created the Tommy Robinson worshippers... What a bunch of fools!

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Our future

[fujee]

Like it or not, British elections are won in the centre ground

The reason we are here is entirely down to the failings of the liberal centre. Populist politics will continue to thrive until we actually address fundamental imbalances across the UK - mainly growing wealth inequality. Calling for a return to the centre sounds sensible - and I think most would prefer it - but it's essentially kicking the can down the road because none of the parties that occupy that space are willing to reckon with it in a meaningful way.

[Mexicola]

It does feel like a shitty rock and a shittier hard place at the moment. I agree to a point that more of the same solves nothing. Fugee, you and me have had sharp words with each other over Starmer in the past and, frankly, he's on borrowed time with few (me included) wanting him to hang on.

The problem, as I see it, is the people currently backing Reform simply don't care about many of the arguments either centrists parties or more progressive parties make, or need to make. We're still at the point where we're talking at them, not trying to listen first. And I know how repulsive that probably sounds. I have to hold my nose too.

A case in point which, I hope, illustrates what I'm trying to say. A good friend of mine is Reform. We often talk about this down the boozer and I guess I consider him my pet project in some ways. I know there's a good person in there, but he's been spoon fed anti-immigration bullshit for years. One night, we're going around the same circular arguments we usually do when, possibly booze fueled, he came out with this line which floored me

'I know that I'm wrong ...but it's what I believe.'

And that, right there, is the problem in a nutshell. He admits he's wrong, but it's a narrative he finds easier to swallow.

I live in one of the most dyed in the wool Tory areas of Little England. Old people, farmers and squaddies. Labour are nowhere. The Greens are nowhere. So...what to do? Vote Lib Dem?

It's depressing frankly.

[WATER_CAN-_-]

[fujee]

I think this is where I see it a bit differently, at least right now.

In an age of populism, you need to appeal to people's feelings rather than reason, especially when the fiscal options are limited as we're so often told. If you can't materially improve people's lives, then at least speak a language that gets through to people. Sadly, we live in a time-poor, distracted world and in that environment it's not necessarily the intelligent arguments that land. It's a sad state of affairs, but this is the field we're forced to play on.

And they're never truly sharp words, Mex. I know I'm further to the left than you and Northern Soul, but I see where you're both coming from and genuinely respect your takes as I know they're made in good faith. My ire is reserved for those within Labour who have engineered this situation and are now reaping what they sowed. Starmer and his faction thought they could disregard the progressive vote, but that is clearly irreconcilable when Reform are better at taking votes from both Tory heartlands and traditional Red Wall areas, i.e. the places Labour must focus on when binning the left.

Starmer's legacy is a likely Reform majority.

[Mexicola]

Oh dude, I know, fear not. Takes more than 'this' to fall out chap! Irony is I've been a member of both Labour and Greens at various points. I've said it before, I think I want broadly the same things as you at a guess. It's just how we get there is all. The truly depressing thing is that I don't thinks more radical Labour party would have prevented Reform. Replacing Starmer with Burnham won't either though. Again, we're scuppered.

[jcnporter]

Like it or not, British elections are won in the centre ground - people don't want radical solutions, they want to work to afford a decent home and a lifestyle and they want a society that functions.

Depends what you mean by radical. The Overton window has moved so much that the post-war settlement - NHS, welfare state etc. would be considered insanely radical and unaffordable now.
Most of Labour's policies under Corbyn were standard European social democratic fare, as are current Green policies. Other European countries are enacting policies that the UK press would consider utopian and economy-destroying.
Beyond that, we're facing existential crises - fascism, AI, potential ecological collapse - 'normal' is gone and part of the problem I believe is centrist politicians desperate to pretend that the neoliberal consensus with tweaks (that they and their class personally do very well out of) will be enough.

[jcnporter]

What I want is more democracy, education and culture and arts accessible for everyone, respect and rights for everyone.
I want to see investment in modernisation of housing available to all, public transport and education, a rapid energy transition, pedestrianisation of cities, planning and policies that prioritise nature recovery, food security, energy independence, ecological resiliance.
I don't think those are radical aspirations, I think they're essential to preserve our way of life, in fact I think they'll improve life for most.
But the key is they're all being done, right now, by at least one country in Europe or elsewhere. Finland have ended homelessness and it was cheaper than any alternative. The Mayor of Paris has transformed the city and cut air pollution in half or more.
We're constantly lied to in the UK about what's possible.

[jcnporter]

The truly depressing thing is that I don't thinks more radical Labour party would have prevented Reform. Replacing Starmer with Burnham won't either though. Again, we're scuppered.

If both were reported on truthfully and fairly, and if the under 50s voted in the same numbers as the over 50s, a more radical Labour or the Greens would wipe the floor with Reform, utterly destroy them.
If Reform get in, it's because that what the 'establishment', for want of a better term, want. Not because they love Reform, but because Reform are tolerable - they threaten their interests less than the alternatives.