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Labour scrambles to outflank Reform from the right

Labour scrambles to outflank Reform from the right

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With Reform rising in the polls, Starmer’s Labour are desperately trying to win back their dwindling voter base. Their ‘new strategy’, however, is nothing but more culture war and migrant-bashing. We need a real, class alternative.

A recent YouGov poll placing Reform ahead of Labour has prompted a scramble by Starmer and co. to win back the party’s dwindling voter base.

Across 89 Labour constituencies, Reform came second place in the last general election. Many new Labour MPs are worried this will be their last term sitting in Parliament.

In response, Labour have formed an internal group to plan their strategy against Farage’s party, made up of the aforementioned 89 MPs and other key advisors.

What ground breaking solution have they found? Copying Reform’s racist anti-immigrant rhetoric, of course!

A Facebook Labour party advert aping Reform UK. Image: Facebook/Meta

Social media ads clad in Reform’s signature light blue have popped up, boasting that “Labour hits five-year high in migrant removals”.

In the North West, a Facebook group called ‘Putting Runcorn First’ has appeared, cloaked in Union Jacks and similar adverts, but lacking any Labour branding.

At a recent session of Prime Minister’s Questions, meanwhile, Keir Starmer took the fight to the Tories, accusing them of being too ‘liberal’ with immigration during their tenure in power.

Following on from his Tory (and Blairite) predecessors, the PM has also quickly ramped up deportations, having deported more than 16,000 people and made more than 600 immigration arrests since being elected last July.

Labour social media has been full of bragging about these numbers – which represent a 73 percent increase compared to January last year, when the Tories were in charge.

This is simply a continuation of a longstanding strategy of Starmer’s to outflank the Conservatives and Reform from the right.

This ‘strategy’ reflects a desperate attempt by Starmer to claw back voters from Reform, who are surging in popularity in traditional Labour areas, by trying to beat Farage at his own game – through the adoption of anti-immigrant rhetoric and posturing over ‘law and order’ questions.

Reform’s success, however, is based on their ability to pose as an anti-establishment party – something that Starmer’s big-business government is incapable of doing. (See our article ‘The rise of Reform: What does it represent?’ to read of our more analysis)

Starmer, having purged the left from the Labour Party, has nothing to offer but more austerity and decline. Instead, he is cynically aping Farage in whipping up a culture war about immigration, in an attempt to distract and divide the working class.

The leaders of the labour movement and the ‘left’ are offering nothing to combat this, other than hysterical cries about the rise of fascism and claims that the working class has irrevocably shifted to the right.

In the absence of any left leadership, Farage’s anti-immigrant rhetoric has subsequently gained the ear of a certain section of society.

The only way to cut across the culture war is class war, by explaining who the real enemies of the working class are: the bosses and billionaires.

We must take the fight to these parasites, on the basis of a revolutionary working class programme.

Only a genuinely anti-establishment party – that is, an anti-capitalist party – is capable of fighting the faux radicalism of Reform.

Reform makes gains in Wales

Lewis Griffiths, South Wales

Recent polls for the Welsh Parliament elections, scheduled to take place in May next year, show that would be neck-and-neck with both Labour and Plaid Cymru.

While some are alarmed by this, fearing a ‘shift to the right’ among workers, it’s clear that many voters are frustrated and angry at the whole political establishment, and are looking towards fiery ‘outsiders’.

For some time, a feeling of being ‘left behind’ has permeated South Wales. Decades of deindustrialisation and cuts to services were the source of the unexpected Leave vote during the 2016 Brexit referendum. This was seen as a chance to give the well-to-do ladies and gentlemen of the establishment a kick in the teeth.

In the nine years since, this mood has only deepened.

Many former industrial Valleys towns have been left gutted, with the closure of the Port Talbot blast furnaces one of the latest heavy blows. Since then, another three factories in Rhondda, Cwmbran and Flint have also closed shop, totalling around 500 job losses.

Yet the union leaders have played no role in organising a serious fightback.

“As a taxi driver, I often encounter Reform-voting workers,” a friend and comrade from Swansea recently revealed. “They open up in ways that normally wouldn’t, as you do in a taxi. They may express confused ideas, but they do not support the kind of violence seen in last summer’s riots. Moreover they consistently respond positively to genuine class politics.”

This shows the reality of the situation. Under the surface, a serious class anger is brewing.

Related Posts

The rise of Reform: What does it represent?

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?