Political Cynic comments.
Apr 27, 2025
Editor: The headline of Miranda Green’s would-be commentary is exhausted in a marriage of the headline & sub-headline, that trades on the well worn political place holders , wedded to current jargon.
Opinion UK politics
Headline: What makes ‘Reform-curious’ Labour voters so hard to woo back
Sub-headline ; Downing Street fears Starmer will lose support to Farage but imitating him will alienate other groups it needs on side
https://www.ft.com/content/deb23c48-aa90-4af2-8124-a86fce88c53f
Editor: The first paragraph sets ‘the tone’ Green’s exploration of ‘Reform-curious’ in its various hues.
First we had the “red wall”, then the “blue wall” and now the “turquoise wall” — the one Nigel Farage promises to erect for his Reform UK party across traditional Labour areas. Electoral turbulence in Britain is marked by analysts repainting the political map. But these broad brush descriptions conceal complexity — and the challenge for Labour attempting to woo voters who are willing to switch allegiance. It also throws up intriguing policy dilemmas.
Editor: Green offers a textbook analysis of the emotions of the potential voters in the next two paragraphs. Could just a veiled mention of Freud added balast to this chatter?
Local elections this Thursday could increase already high jitters. So many of the voters who backed Labour in July’s general election have cooled towards the party that vast energies are being spent pondering how to tempt them back — especially those targeted by Reform UK.
These “Reform-curious” voters might be hard to retain without repelling others, however. And it’s even more of a challenge than some of the cruder stereotypes suggest. A purely “Faragist” agenda is not to their taste — according to Steve Akehurst at research initiative Persuasion UK, who commissioned polls and focus groups to find out what makes them tick.
Editor: The veiled apperance of “Faragist”to the final labored paragraph, heightens the political tension?
Concern about immigration is the main issue prioritised by both Farage’s core supporters and wavering or actively switching former Labour voters — particularly small boats and asylum hotels. But while this confirms Downing Street is right to be worried about Reform attacks on the agenda, Akehurst’s research reveals significant differences on other topics.
Editor: with the appearnce of Farage and his consern for ‘small boats and asylum hotels’ renders moot any possible discussion of British toxic Imperialism, over centuries. Miranda Green and her empolyers The Financial Times, would find that more than inconvenient, and really irelevevent, to the carefully managed political chatter of this newspaper!
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Editor: A selection of the remaining sentences and paragraphs of this would be political anlysis
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With a risk of even more support peeling off to the left of Labour’s winning 2024 coalition, Akehurst argues it’s a “free hit” to maintain momentum on the green energy agenda, keeping both sets of waverers on side.
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The research picked up unease among these voters on other aspects of Reform. They like Farage but dislike his friendship with US President Donald Trump and his stance on Ukraine, and they wonder if his party is fully respectable.
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Offering more hope to Labour MPs, there are also signs in Persuasion’s data (see chart) that anti-Farage tactical voting might buoy up support for their party: enough voters in red wall areas could decide to back the incumbent explicitly to keep Reform out — even Conservatives seem willing to do so.
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The party’s left flank is seething with discontent but gets less attention at Westminster as MPs and apparatchiks obsess over Farage. Keeping these disgruntled voters happy while appealing to the Reform-curious is possible but it will require a careful policy mix.
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Unfortunately for a government whose spending options are so constrained, there’s one more thing that Labour’s left flank and those tempted by Reform have in common: they are repelled by anything that resembles austerity. And that’s Labour’s real dilemma.
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Editor. Provided by Financial Times:
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Political Cynic.
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