Neil Kinnock has warned his party not to ignore the nationalist threat posed by Nigel Farage, as concern grows in Labour ranks that Reform UK could pose a long-term threat for them as well as for the Conservatives.
The former Labour leader told the Guardian he wanted Labour to turn its guns on Farage’s party in the final week of the election campaign, saying the populist right could gain a stronghold in the UK as it has across much of Europe.
Labour has been accused of not putting up a fight against Farage because the Reform party appeared to be taking more votes from the Conservatives. But with Reform predicted by some pollsters to win more than a dozen parliamentary seats next week, Kinnock said Labour needed to start taking the threat seriously.
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Kinnock added that if Labour was overly cautious in government, it would play into Reform’s narrative that there was little difference between the two main parties. “Absolutely vitally, [the populist right] have to be combated with actions,” he said. “That means the implementation of change which is positive and cumulative, and driven by strong purpose in the service of the community.”
It’s a concern of mine too. Next election we may have an incumbent Labour party that has done little to improve people’s lives (potentially despite their best efforts because the economy and national infrastructure is wrecked) and a Tory party wrecked for a generation and Reform could emerge as the protest vote or, worse, Reform merge with the Tories and Farage leads a BNP-lite party to victory. The latter might doom the Conservatives forever but after BoJo and Trump getting elected, and the rise of the right across Europe Farage worming his way to PM is not something we should dismiss too quickly.