The Guardian view on Labour’s drift and Tory collapse: Reform fills a vacuum they created | Editorial

Faragism’s rise isn’t a surge of enthusiasm – it’s a symptom of exhaustion with two parties failing to offer vision, justice or renewalSir Keir Starmer promised change – and, in a way, he has delivered it. Gone are the days of bold, expansive pledges; in their place are cautious, measurable goals: 6,500 new teachers, 40,000 extra NHS appointments a week. Yet voters, oddly ungrateful, remain unmoved. Perhaps it is because these modest gains barely scratch the surface of national decline. The government has touched lives, just not in the ways it promised. Cuts to winter fuel payments for pensioners and proposed reductions in disability benefits have landed with jarring force. Sir Keir’s managerial style may promise stability, but voters expected transformation. The result: disillusionment with a government delivering change – but not the change voters thought they had chosen.Labour’s poor local election showing could be shrugged off as low turnout in the shires. The party won the West of England mayoralty on less than 8% of the electorate. But the hammer-blow for Labour was the Runcorn and Helsby byelection. Reform UK, the hard-right party led by Nigel Farage, beat Labour by six votes. The swing towards Mr Farage closely mirrors the Tory collapse, suggesting that almost all the lost Conservative support in the seat shifted to Reform. Meanwhile, Labour’s base in the north-west largely stayed home. The result was a tight two-way race – driven by a rightward realignment and a lack of enthusiasm for Labour. Reform fed on Tory collapse and Labour’s weakened hold. Continue reading...

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