Britain: the rise of Reform – what does it represent?

Farage’s Reform UK recently overtook Labour and the Tories in the polls. Some on the left claim that Reform’s rising popularity is down to British workers becoming racist and far-right. But what is really behind the rise of right-wing populism?

[Originally published at communist.red]

The latest surveys indicate that Reform UK has taken the lead amongst voters, with 26 percent backing. The Conservatives and Labour are polling at 23 percent and 22 percent respectively.

This is a historic collapse in support for Labour, within just eight months of coming to power.

Keir Starmer’s approval ratings have also fallen: from +28 on entering government (61 percent approving, 33 percent disapproving), to an astonishing -32 now (30 percent approving, 62 percent disapproving).

At the last general election, Reform’s 14 percent of the vote won them only four seats. By contrast, these polls project that Reform could win the most seats in Parliament: around 209 of 650.

This does not mean that Reform UK is widely popular, however. Nigel Farage, like Keir Starmer, has a negative approval rating, of around -25. There are twice as many who view him unfavourably than favourably.

There are many who support Reform, seeing in them a rejection of the establishment. But there are far more who are repulsed by Farage and Reform, and everything they cynically stand for.

In fact, the largest demographic is those against Reform, against the Tories, against Starmer’s Labour, and against all the capitalist political parties.

Nonetheless, the rise of Reform is significant, and requires a proper explanation. But this can only be done by looking at the full picture, and not by focussing on only this or that aspect of the process.

What we have is not a political shift in only one direction, but a dramatic polarisation – expressed in swings both to the right and the left.

Yes, Farage and his various reactionary outfits have exerted a consistent influence on British politics for over a decade. But in that same time, we have also seen the mass movement for independence in Scotland, the Corbyn movement, the strike wave in 2022-23, and more recently the huge Palestine solidarity movement.

In all of these events, the common denominator is the overwhelming discontent with the status quo; the desire – even desperation – for a radical change in society.

Today, in Britain, the loudest expression of this mood is the rise of right-wing populism, in the form of Farage and Reform UK. But this will not last forever.

The conditions are being prepared for an explosion of the class struggle – and with this a further transformation of consciousness amongst workers and youth.

Populism and ‘progressivism’

When it comes to today’s political polarisation, it is clear that the financial crash of 2008 was a major turning point.

The New Labour government bailed out the banks. In doing so, they nationalised the losses of the financiers and speculators. Thus began the era of austerity.

From 2010, the Tories presided over 14 years of brutal cuts, mixed with blatant corruption and cronyism; sleaze and scandal. Yet none of this improved the fortunes of British capitalism.

Liberal leaders across the West have been completely discredited and are hated by the masses / Image: The Communist

Instead, the bosses have been squeezing the working class for every drop of profit it can, via intensifying working conditions, worse employment contracts, and below-inflation pay rises.

All the while, energy bills, water charges, and transport costs have soared, thanks to mismanagement and racketeering by private profiteers. And rents have skyrocketed by around 80 percent, council tax has been hiked, and local services have been gutted.

This is the battering that the ruling class and its representatives have inflicted upon the working class for the last decade-and-a-half.

Yet throughout this period, smug, self-proclaimed ‘progressives’ – in politics, the media, and academia – have informed workers, especially white men, that they are in fact privileged.

These same ladies and gentlemen also have the cheek to tell working families, already struggling to pay the bills, that they need to be more environmentally ‘responsible’ and consume even less.

Scandalously, this condescending nonsense and liberal (‘woke’) identity politics has been embraced by much of the so-called ‘left’. Any real class-based alternative has been entirely absent in recent years, with a deafening silence from the leaders of the labour movement.

Given this complete political vacuum, it is no surprise that right-wing populists and demagogues have been effective at tapping into workers’ frustrations and anger.

“You are worse off, both financially and culturally. Wages are stagnant, we have a housing crisis, our young people struggle to get on the property ladder, we have rising crime, energy bills are some of the highest in Europe, the NHS isn’t working, both legal and illegal immigration are at record levels, and woke ideology has captured our public institutions and schools.”

So states Nigel Farage on the homepage of Reform’s website, capturing a sentiment that is likely shared by millions of workers: that “Britain is broken”; and that we are “ruled by an out of touch political class”, incapable of addressing the real material problems that ordinary people face.

A shift to the right?

Does the rising support for such rhetoric mean that British workers have become ‘far-right’?

Let us put the question another way: is the statement above further to the right than what successive Tory governments have implemented in the past period? Is it even to the right of what Starmer’s Labour is offering workers right now?

The Tories and Labour both consistently serve big business. Between them, they take it in turns to attacking workers’ living standards and support British imperialism’s crimes abroad. They continue to destroy the planet, to deport migrants, and to spread division.

To call Reform UK ‘far-right’ implies that they are worse than the hated capitalist establishment that has been conducting an all-out assault on the working class for decades. It suggests that the Tories and Starmer’s Labour – those inflicting misery on workers, the poor, and the vulnerable – are somehow the ‘lesser evil’.

The label ‘far-right’ is especially misleading when talking about those workers who are turning towards Reform in order to give the establishment a kick in the teeth.

In reality, most people do not consciously see themselves as ‘right-wing’ or ‘left-wing’. Most workers do not spend their days thinking about politics. And they do not come to the polls with a fully worked-out programme.

There are, of course, clear xenophobic overtones and dog-whistle racism to everything that Farage and Reform say. But an acknowledgement of the financial hardship, exploitative working conditions, poor housing, terrible public services, and rising costs that working people face is not ‘far-right’.

The vast majority of people hold a mixture of contradictory ideas. Some may hold superficial prejudices, partially absorbed due to the poison pumped into society by the ruling class and its mouthpieces. But many of these same people will have a burning class anger against the super-rich; against the billionaires and their putrid system.

According to a survey taken at the time of the last general election, of those intending to vote for Reform UK, 87 percent said they were in favour of renationalising Britain’s water system. 77 percent were in favour of nationalising the railways. 75 percent said they were for nationalising the energy companies. And 30 percent said they even support public ownership of the banks.

Furthermore, 73 percent of Reform voters think that the working class do not get a fair share of the nation’s wealth. 74 percent think that businesses take advantage of ordinary people. And 78 percent think that the rich can get away with illegal activity that the poor cannot.

These figures are almost exactly the same proportions as those for the public as a whole. So again, does increasing support for Reform really represent a shift to the right within British society?

Are workers racist?

A solid chunk of the support for Reform UK comes from more wealthy or middle-class types – that is, from the more organically reactionary layers of society.

Both the Tories and Labour have a long track record of racist scapegoating / Image: The Communist

Many Reform voters would previously have formed the staunchly right-wing electoral base of the Tory Party. Indeed, recent surveys indicate that 16 percent of those who backed the Conservatives at the last election now support Farage’s party.

But many more are ordinary workers, indignant towards the system and its defenders.

No doubt questions around migration and multiculturalism are higher up on the agenda for the average Reform supporter than is the case for the majority of workers.

Such ideas do not appear out of thin air, however. Skimming the tabloid press shows that toxic bile spews into society from the top. Migrant-bashing and Islamophobia are regular pastimes for establishment politicians and the capitalist media. Both the Tories and Labour have a long track record when it comes to racist scapegoating.

It is clear that tensions and fears around migration have been consciously and deliberately whipped up by the ruling class for years.

When it comes to addressing the lack of jobs, housing, and services, the capitalists and their representatives are happy to play the blame-game. Asylum-seekers and migrants make for easy targets when it comes to diverting the public’s attention from the real criminals, terrorists, and parasites at large: the bosses and bankers, and their chums in Westminster.

The absence of a clear, class-based solution from the left and the labour movement, meanwhile, has left the field open for opportunistic demagogues to foment all kinds of confusion and anger.

The majority of workers are not reactionary bigots. A fighting lead from the mass organisations of the working class could easily cut across any shallow racism that exists.

The swing behind Corbyn and his left-wing programme in the 2017 general election, as well as the mass support for the industrial militancy of 2022-23, show the potential for this, when a bold class reference point is offered by the labour movement.

It is through practical struggle against the common enemy – the capitalists – that class unity is forged amongst workers. By contrast, discrimination and prejudice of all kinds only serve to divide and weaken the movement.

At the end of the day, racism and flag-waving do not pay the bills. A backlash against the bosses’ attacks could easily overcome any division, and bring workers together on a class basis. And this is what the leaders of the labour movement should be offering: a militant struggle for bold socialist policies that can offer a genuine way out of capitalism’s impasse.

Revolutionary leadership

Unfortunately, such fighting leadership is nowhere to be seen.

Instead of providing a militant class perspective and programme, too often, the leaders of the ‘left’ and the trade unions busy themselves by banging the drum about the supposed ‘rise of fascism’.

Rather than challenging Labour’s austerity agenda, these ‘leaders’ sow illusions in Starmer and co., hide behind the liberal establishment, and thereby fail to provide a proper independent class alternative.

In doing so, these ‘lefts’ play into the hands of right-wing populists like Nigel Farage, allowing these reactionary opportunists to pose as the champions of disaffected workers.

It is too early to say whether Reform’s rise will continue; whether Farage will come to power in some capacity at the next election. What we can say for certain is that a lick of government will take the shine off of these charlatans, shattering their anti-establishment credentials and their fragile, contradictory coalition of support.

Like Starmer and the Tories before them, any right-wing populist government would preside over a deepening crisis of British – and world – capitalism. Farage and Reform would be forced to carry out more austerity. The bankers would get richer, while workers’ conditions would continue to fall.

This will heighten the mood of bitterness and betrayal amongst the working class. Consciousness will be shaken up, leading to further political polarisation, fragmentation, and radicalisation, and paving the way for a huge swing to the left.

Workers will be forced to take matters into their own hands. Class demands and methods will come to the fore. Mass demonstrations, strikes, and social explosions will be on the cards. Revolutionary upheavals will be on the order of the day.

But to seize these opportunities requires a revolutionary party to be built in advance – a force that can channel workers’ anger towards the overthrow of the crisis-ridden capitalist system, once and for all.