ELECTORAL opinion polls indicate that Nigel Farage’s Reform UK could make significant gains in elections taking place on May 1.
Several general election voting intention polls place Reform in the lead, which if replicated in a general election could put Farage in No 10 in coalition with the Conservative Party.
For the first time in British history, a party to the right of the Tories could take power.Donald Trump is a strong supporter of Farage and Reform UK and has implemented horrific racist policies. We must stop Britain from following the same trajectory as the US.Reform UK mobilises voters based on scapegoating refugees and migrants for the cost-of-living crisis and stirring up racism and Islamophobia.
Meanwhile, it offers no solutions to this crisis. Its general election manifesto pledged to cut corporation tax for the largest corporations in Britain at a time when many corporations are making billions in profits and included £50 billion of cuts to the NHS, education and social care.
The rise of Farage and Reform UK is a product of successive governments attacking living standards of the many and scapegoating refugees and migrants. Sadly Labour is continuing this trajectory with various cuts and videos of deportations, anti-refugee adverts with Reform UK branding and pledges to remove asylum-seekers from some areas.
We call on the government to reverse these policies and adopt a human rights-based refugee and migration policy that implements safe passage for asylum-seekers and compensation for those impacted by the Windrush scandal. We urge voters to use their vote to stop Reform UK on May 1.
Signed:
Diane Abbott MP
Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP
Daniel Kebede, NEU general secretary
Fran Heathcote, PCS general secretary
Mick Whelan, Aslef general secretary
Sarah Woolley, Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union general secretary
Taranjit Chana, TUC LGBT+ committee
Kevin Courtney, Stand up to Racism co-chair
Mohammed Kozbar, Finsbury Park Mosque
David Rosenberg, Jewish Socialists’ Group
Chantelle Lunt, Merseyside Black Lives Matter
Sabby Dhalu and Weyman Bennett, Stand up to Racism co-conveners
Samira Ali, Love Music Hate Racism
Myriam Kane, Black Liberation Alliance
Lewis Nielsen, We Demand Change