Full disclosure, I have been more or less ignorant to all of UK politics apart from the headlines we've been served over the years. I totally recognise that neither Labour or the Conservative party have done what the general public expects, which may be the primary fuel for Reform's surge, but am I missing a bigger picture?
Everything I've seen from Reform up to this point has been negative (in my opinion). It's effectively been a repeat of Farage's Brexit tour. My (limited) understanding is that they effectively run on 'us versus them' with regards to immigration which seems to actually have such a low net-impact in the fiscal sense, and I am struggling to understand how we effectively cut taxes for the average joe without increasing taxation for the wealthiest without funding that shortfall in some other way, but how?
People are pissed because they're paying more money in tax, and public services aren't necessarily improving, but this seems to ignore the impact of global trade, and other factors. I am sure there is money to be saved by making some cuts and re-organising some things, but my back of the napkin math struggles to reconcile where all the money is going to come from to improve the current situation based on lowering taxes.
Does this just boil down to people wanting something different and taking a shine to the new thing on the block, or is there something in their approach that I am ignorant to that has created so much interest? Are people simply seeing 'pay less tax' and making a decision based off that alone?
I am fearful we're going to evolve (probably at a slower rate) into the current state of America... incredibly divided, more xenophobic, selfish and ignorant, blindly following the promises of a media-trained stage performer.
Am I missing something, or do I have reason to be concerned?