cupure logo
letterstrumpelectionreformletterlabourcartoondeal2025dei

Enjoy this victory, Nigel Farage – because it could also be the start of your downfall | Polly Toynbee

This week’s election results are a huge boon for Reform UK. But success comes with more pressure, more scrutiny and the risk of bruising exposureWhat else would you expect from a byelection? Governments lose and this government is unpopular. To lose by a hair’s breadth – only six votes – is scant comfort in the forever Labour seat of Runcorn and Helsby, while Reform UK’s win of the mayoralty in Tory heartland Greater Lincolnshire is a symbolic blow to Kemi Badenoch. Both parties of the old duopoly have fallen under the wheels of political distrust and discontent.Change! That’s what Labour promised during the general election, and in Runcorn I heard that tossed back at Labour canvassers: well, where is it, then? Keir Starmer today pledged to go “further and faster”. Those changes that have been ushered in have been deeply unpopular. Labour’s mayor of Doncaster clung on, against predictions, by damning the winter fuel allowance, disability cuts and employers’ national insurance rise.Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Comments

Opinions