Reform, and the death of the Tory Party

[icowden]

I wonder who the car park belongs to 8 spaces for £600k, that is £75,000 per space, presumably, per annum.
My brother lives in Kent, and, pays his Council tax to the. Council in question, he tells me this story is not exactly factual.

I think it is, but there is a bit of spin on it.

Firstly the council spent £600k reinforcing and refurbishing an existing courtyard at the council offices. I can't see *when* that work was commissioned. However, the courtyard had always been used as a parking spot for senior officials but was closed due to subsidence.

The courtyard can house 8 cars and is reserved for senior officials. There is a separate carpark which is fee, but the Reform council are (or were) proposing to charge people £4 per day to park in the main Council car park which has 1400 spaces. Reform say that this was an early plan which has been dropped.

The good news is that they have achieved savings by removing pot plants and bottled water from the offices and it plans to freeze the value of its contracts with care homes.

 

[BoldonLad]

What sort of shoes?

My typing skills 😂 even my expensive Apple MacBook cannot fix them 😂 shares, obviously

 

[BoldonLad]

I'm always a bit more inclined to pay attention to bookies as they have a financial interest in getting the right result...

Quite, as my dear departed Father used to tell me "you don't often see poor bookies" 😂

 

[Shortfall]

This is my issue now, we are well beyond the realms of a protest vote. If you are still voting Reform at this point you are doing so out of choice and because you agree with what they are pushing policy wise, in my opinion (which is their democratic right, of course). I think the argument of don't criticise Reform voters because they are just voting for a change has sailed really. If you are now choosing to put people in charge who have no proven track record of governing at any level, and you end up getting shafted, then that really is on you.

Reform now has several former Conservative cabinet members. Labour has (I think) only four with previous cabinet experience (Yvette Cooper, John Healey, Douglas Alexander and Ed Milliband) so I think your point is moot. There are many reasons why people might vote Reform but I think probably chief among them is having been lied to and let down by the main parties for the last knows how many years. Is it any wonder that people might seek an alternative?

 

[secretsqirrel]

Reform now has several former Conservative cabinet members. Labour has (I think) only four with previous cabinet experience (Yvette Cooper, John Healey, Douglas Alexander and Ed Milliband) so I think your point is moot. There are many reasons why people might vote Reform but I think probably chief among them is having been lied to and let down by the main parties for the last knows how many years. Is it any wonder that people might seek an alternative?

I think all the current cabinet members have experience.

 

[BoldonLad]

This is my issue now, we are well beyond the realms of a protest vote. If you are still voting Reform at this point you are doing so out of choice and because you agree with what they are pushing policy wise, in my opinion (which is their democratic right, of course). I think the argument of don't criticise Reform voters because they are just voting for a change has sailed really. If you are now choosing to put people in charge who have no proven track record of governing at any level, and you end up getting shafted, then that really is on you.

In most instances, it is Local (Council) elections which are being contested. The general view (not saying it is correct. and/or sensible) is that booting out Labour or Conservative Councillors (who in many instances, certainly in this area) have been a shoe-in for many years.

In the case of bye-elections for Parliamentary seats, they are not going to produce a change of Government, or, even, significantly dent Labour's massive majority, so, I would guess that many people feel they can still "protest" with impunity.

Personally, I am not convinced that such "protests" will survive in a GE situation. However, I am not a prospective Labour or Conservative MP, so, my job is not potentially on the line.

 

[briantrumpet]

It's no wonder liars don't like Wikipedia... it'll usually work it out eventually. They've removed Matt Goodwin's claim that he was the first in his family to go to university, as consensus is that his dad had a PhD and an MBA. Not least as Matt Goodwin previously said so.

 

[matticus]

I'm always a bit more inclined to pay attention to bookies as they have a financial interest in getting the right result...

One of the benefits of a Free Market system!

 

[Shortfall]

I think all the current cabinet members have experience.

Yes very droll. The point being they didn't when they came into power, and lack of experience appears to be the objection to Reform made by Midlands Grimpeur

 

[BoldonLad]

Yes very droll. The point being they didn't when they came into power, and lack of experience appears to be the objection to Reform made by Midlands Grimpeur

True, but, performance todate is not re-assuring 😂

 

[Shortfall]

True, but, performance todate is not re-assuring 😂

Well yes. If he'd said the current Labour government had very few MPs with government experience when they came into power and look at the state they've made of running things so why risk the same mistake with Reform, then I might have had more sympathy with his argument 😁

 

[secretsqirrel]

I quite enjoyed this…..

 

[C R]

Reform now has several former Conservative cabinet members. Labour has (I think) only four with previous cabinet experience (Yvette Cooper, John Healey, Douglas Alexander and Ed Milliband) so I think your point is moot. There are many reasons why people might vote Reform but I think probably chief among them is having been lied to and let down by the main parties for the last knows how many years. Is it any wonder that people might seek an alternative?

But I thought that reform voters were all very unhappy with all those bringing cabinet experience to reform. It is all a bit confusing.

 

[TailWindHome]

Well yes. If he'd said the current Labour government had very few MPs with government experience when they came into power and look at the state they've made of running things so why risk the same mistake with Reform, then I might have had more sympathy with his argument 😁

They would have had experience as MPs and as Shadow Ministers and in those roles had briefings from the civil service

I don't think.it should be underestimated what an undertaking it will be for Reform to go from 5/6 MPs to 350+ and all the infrastructure (spads etc) around them.

 

[Shortfall]

But I thought that reform voters were all very unhappy with all those bringing cabinet experience to reform. It is all a bit confusing.

Sure. Some Reform fanboys don't like the Conservative interlopers and (rightly) point out that some of them were active participants in the cabinet that stuffed hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants into hotels and granted many more the legal right to become citizens. I don't have a dog in the fight so it's up to them to decide what they're going to do about it, I'm merely making the point that there is probably more experience is in the Reform shadow cabinet than there was in Labour's when they won the election.