Britons aren’t ready to forgive the ‘Conservatives’ for 14 years of betrayal and are abandoning the party at a rapid rate. While it remains the official ‘opposition,’ this role is really now being carried out by Reform, which even Prime Minister Keir Starmer accepts is Labour’s “real opponent.”
The Tories this week fell to fourth place in national polling for the first time in six years, even behind the basically irrelevant Liberal Democrat party, and scored their lowest rating since records began.
In a further sign of the Conservatives’ increasing irrelevance, a senior Labour official suggested last week that Starmer would be willing to debate Farage ahead of the next general election. A prime minister would usually only go head-to-head with the leader of the official opposition party. Farage said he would “accept” the offer.
Desperate to stem the rise of Reform, Starmer on Wednesday U-turned on his decision to slash winter fuel support payments for millions of pensioners. He has also started to talk tough on migration, where Reform performs particularly well, but few voters are likely to believe that his firm rhetoric will be matched by serious action given that they’ve heard it all—only later to be betrayed—before.
Michael Curzon is a news writer for europeanconservative.com based in England’s Midlands. He is also Editor of Bournbrook Magazine, which he founded in 2019, and previously wrote for London’s Express Online. His Twitter handle is @MichaelCurzon_.
