Reform rides the wave of poverty and inequality to political power in England
Reform UK has won the by-election in Runcorn near Liverpool and is dominating the English local government election results. The Westminster seat that they won used to be a Labour safe seat. But is this really a surprise? History tells us that poverty and inequality are fuel for right-wing populism.
Once known as ‘The Brexit Party,’ Nigel Farage’s group promised that leaving the EU would increase Britain’s prosperity and opportunity.
That has not happened of course. Brexit continues to cost the UK more as time goes on. Non tariff trade barriers grow, opportunities fall, services are affected as well as goods and inequality worsens. The brunt of Brexit pain disproportionately impacts the poorest in society. They are the ones who have to put back the aubergines and buy carrots instead - courtesy of Nigel Farage’s crusade against EU support for farmers.
Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp the founder of Believe in Scotland said:
“Westminster's GDP growth-obsessed economic model has failed and now the only thing it grows is inequality. Inequality leads to a loss of hope within communities and that creates fertile ground for the politics of blame and hatred. The answer is to adopt the Wellbeing Economic Approach and ensure people can thrive, not just survive. That's how you face down hate. Wealth doesn't trickle-down, it surges upwards through a society that benefits from equal access to opportunity and wellbeing.”
Reform used to be the Brexit Party - it talked nonsense then
If Scotland were an independent country and inside the EU it would have free trade with 27 allied countries. It would benefit greatly from being part of the world’s largest economy, one of the top three in terms of global trade.
Outside the EU, the UK whines for favours from Donald Trump
Instead, Scotland is represented on the world stage by people with no option but to grovel before Donald Trump: Hormone-treated beef? Sounds great. More private health care in our NHS? If it suits you, Sir. A state visit? Let us roll out the red carpet. Thanks to Brexit and the resulting weak and isolated trade position of the UK, they don’t have much choice.
The Brexit Party has found a new target
But rather than admit they were wrong about the EU, the Reform Party has found another scapegoat to blame for the problems working people face - immigrants and “woke elites” who defend them. Social media is awash with right-wing videos aimed at triggering negative emotional responses to the plight of immigrants, claiming that immigrants are the problem. Or anyone who disputes Farage’s nonsense.
This was predictable - history shows that populist politics thrives on poverty and inequality.
People who are stuck in jobs that pay so little that they can’t afford the basic necessities of life are likely to feel angry.
That is where populist parties like Reform come in. They say that the cause of their problems is not the inequality caused by the economic system but something else - like EU membership or the lack of tariffs on trade. You can’t get a doctors’ appointment or find a place to live? It must be because of the EU/ immigration/ lack of tariffs on trade.
And as the government is not addressing the problem the situation gets worse. Companies that get away with paying less than a Real Living Wage just declare more profits for shareholders, whilst the children of the low paid who are now shorter than children of the same age in other European countries also suffer more ill health.”
England is suffering from a range of problems that stem from poverty, and general inequality and these are what feeds the rise of the populist right.
Many of these stem from political choices that UK governments have made that Scotland didn’t vote for. An independent Scotland would not be in the position the UK is today. The time has come for Scots to stop handing over decisions for their country’s future to a neighbouring country which votes differently.
Privatisation has led to higher bills and lower wages
UK governments that Scotland didn’t vote for privatised steel, railways, airways, airports, gas, electricity, telecoms, water (in England), and Royal Mail.
That has been a disaster. Many of these companies ended up being acquired by vulture capitalists who used the income stream from household bills as collateral to saddle the companies with debt. Huge sums have been extracted for shareholders with too little return on investment. Their profits are coming from the pockets of working people.
The ideology of privatisation was driven by the goal of smashing the trade unions
This strategy originally started as a way of reducing the power of public service unions. But the decline of the trade unions has not led to a stronger economy. Instead it has led to a low wage economy where businesses continue to raise the pay for the business leaders - to astronomical levels - while ordinary workers don’t get paid enough to buy the necessities of life.
Energy privatisation has hit Scotland particularly hard
Scottish businesses pay the highest energy bills in the world and Scottish households in rural areas face bills that are twice the UK average at £4,000 a year in many areas. Yet Scotland produces a net surplus of cheap renewable energy. That does not benefit Scots - instead it goes into dividends for international investors.
England has some of the highest child poverty rates in the developed world
Devolution has meant that Scotland has been able to mitigate some of the worst effects of the UK’s austerity driven politics. Child poverty is growing in England especially among larger families - thanks to Westminster’s two child benefit cap. It is now among the highest in the developed world.
England also has the worst housing crisis in the developed world. That was partly because of the decision made by the same Conservative governments that Scotland voted against to sell off social housing and not to build more.
These are the conditions that allow populism to thrive
If Scotland was independent, it would have been able to chart a different course, one that was in tune with how its people voted. It would not have come so far down the road of inequality and poverty.
Now the conditions have been created for the rise of a right-wing populist party, Scotland faces being in a Union where the political parties are increasingly driven by Nigel Farage’s agenda.
There is a hideous prospect ahead of a Westminster with a large contingent of anti EU Little England fundamentalists who are effectively driving the bus.
Independence for Scotland may once have seemed like the risky choice. Now staying in the UK seems the most unsafe. An independent Scotland back in the EU will have the security of knowing that whatever tariffs Donald Trump erects they will still have access to a huge market, food and drink will be regulated, they will have access to the best medicines and citizens will have all the opportunities that free movement offers.
MacIntyre-Kemp said: “The blame becomes more poisonous, and if the people figure out Reform is wrong they just move on to blaming someone else. We've seen it before many times and in many places. Reform are running a programme called proto-facism 101 and it can only take a nation in one direction.”
“Democratic progressive societies must tolerate anything, except fascism, because fascism does not tolerate democracy or progressiveness. The Wellbeing Economic Approach is the answer, as people that are thriving and not just surviving have no need for proto fascist parties like Reform nor the hate they spread.
