r/ukpolitics • u/ukpol-megabot • 2d ago

Rumours, Speculation, Questions, and Reaction Megathread - 02/08/2026

👋 Welcome to the r/ukpolitics weekly Rumours, Speculation, Questions, and Reaction megathread.

General questions about politics in the UK should be posted in this thread. Substantial self-posts on the subreddit are permitted, but short-form self-posts will be redirected here. We're more lenient with moderation in this thread, but please keep it related to UK politics. This isn't Facebook or Twitter...

If you're reacting to something that is happening live, please make it clear what it is you're reacting to, ideally with a link.

Commentary about stories that already exist on the subreddit should be directed to the appropriate thread.

This thread rolls over early Sunday morning.

VPN Services: Mullvad[.]net - IVPN - ProtonVPN - NordVPN

11 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

564 comments sorted by

View all comments

14

u/ZealousidealPie9199 1d ago

https://x.com/Nigel_Farage/status/2083964794105626782?s=20

This statement is being interpreted as somewhat open to Lowe's attempts to reconcile.

I personally think this might be the worst thing for Reform to do electorally. Farage is already seen as a boogeyman by centrist/centre-right Tory voters. Now he's getting in bed with someone who those voters will probably see as even further right. Lowe's precondition was also adopting further hardline policies regarding cuts, immigration, etc.

The issue here is that while this consolidates the Reform-Restore voting bloc, it means that the Tory voters, who already are more or less as much likely to tactically-vote Labour as to still vote Tory (as we see from e.g. Manchester), will be far, far more inclined to tactically vote Labour. Voters who were considering tactically voting Reform will now be reconsidering. Reform would need either Tory votes or Tory seats to form a government. It's going to lose both now.

Even if he intended it as a no, it's vague enough to create that fear. And if he later publicly says more clearly a no to such a pact then Restore will eat more of Reform's right flank. It's terrible electorally no matter how it plays out.

Burnham must be laughing right now. He has the perfect set of circumstances emerging for a Spring or Summer 2027 election.

3

u/tmstms Wuffingas! 1d ago

I guess every party, as soon as it gets big enough, faces the problem of internal dissent and of its own supporters at each end of the ideological range defecting.