Why smug lefty-liberals who sneer at Reform UK voters are only increasing their numbers

Reform UK is tapping into a deep sense of alienation felt by millions beyond the confines of university-dominated, middle-class enclaves

If there were any Reform supporters at the Usher Hall on Tuesday night, they were keeping their heads down in a celebration of all that’s worst about the smug, liberal-left consensus that has created fertile conditions for the party’s rise.

Emily Maitlis, Jon Sopel and Lewis Goodall’s stage version of their News Agents podcast was never going to offer much for those of a centre-right point of view, but even those from the same part of the political spectrum would surely agree that three London hacks spending the best part of two hours agreeing with each other was never going to make for a night of gripping drama or face-aching comedy.

Nor was there much attempt to understand or explain, just sneering. Sneering at Nigel Farage, Rupert Lowe, Richard Tice and, of course, sneering at Donald Trump, and the self-satisfied trio were rewarded with whoops and whistles for every lame put-down in the absence of any decent jokes, never mind a semblance of balance.

The visit to a Glasgow chip shop by Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice last week proved to be somewhat chaotic (Picture: Jane Barlow) | PA

Easy to mock

How they must have mourned Nicola Sturgeon’s departure on Wednesday. The irony for people who made their names as supposedly objective journalists was lost on the large crowd, and it was telling that the only sour note of the first half was when Sopel was booed for saying that the most consequential figure in recent Scottish political history was Alex Salmond, with which anyone who hasn’t been living on Rockall for the past two decades would agree.

In truth, those telling pollsters they are likely to vote Reform probably wouldn’t have known the show was on, and wouldn’t give a damn what people like Maitlis and Sopel think about them if they did.

It is unquestionably easy to mock Reform’s ill-disciplined, reactionary rabble that so far passes for a political party and the opportunists who have jumped aboard their not-so-jolly jalopy, and indeed I have. But there can be no doubt that beyond the cosy confines of university-dominated, middle-class enclaves, Reform is tapping into a deep sense of alienation felt by millions the News Agents’ audience dismiss as knuckle-draggers.

Reform not a lone voice

Here we have John Swinney, First Minister of all Scotland in case he forgets, urging other political parties to form a coalition to stamp them out, despite ─ or rather because ─ around a sixth of Scottish voters now backing the Faragists.

Membership in Scotland is now around 10,000 and, even if Richard Tice’s chaotic photocall at Glasgow’s Val d’Oro chippie last week and the vicious squabble tearing the Westminster group apart changes things, it won’t alter the factors leading voters to shun mainstream parties. The reason, as put to me by a Scottish Reform enthusiast this week, is for the first time there is a political voice without a filter, talking straight on tax, public spending, net zero, immigration and gender, with the advantage of no track record to defend or explain.

But the claim that Reform is a lone voice in Scotland doesn’t stack up, with the Conservatives repeatedly on the offensive on these issues. Insiders accept Reform’s advantage is not being the Conservatives, but the more senior Reform figures bicker, the more they look like the regulars of a bad pub than a new party of government.

‘Rangers supporters’ bus’

Speaking to a senior Scottish Conservative last week, the average Reform voters were described as “any Rangers supporters’ bus” and, from the perspective of socially conservative, working-class Scots who would never associate themselves with the Conservatives, or have given up on them, it rings true. It’s also why Labour is also losing ground, which creates the conundrum for the Tories, who need to stop Reform eating their lunch, but hope they keep munching away at Labour’s.

The SNP has not been immune to Reform’s rise, and as a party of constitutional disruptors promising an easy fix to complex issues and the recipient of the “White Van Man” voters who would be Ukippers in the south, why would it be?

Wednesday’s Conservative-led Scottish Parliament debate on protecting single-sex spaces exposed once again how far from public opinion the SNP is on this issue, the few of their MSPs who turned up, that is. But it also illustrated how Scots Tory leader Russell Findlay is meeting the challenge by identifying opportunities to speak out clearly on political controversies while Reform has no platform.

An attention-grabbing idea

Findlay needs to raise his profile in a relatively short space of time, and last week’s speech which floated the idea of allowing children to leave school a year early to start apprenticeships may have been attacked, but it was not dismissed and it dominated headlines for a couple of days, a rare reaction for an idea from an opposition party with little chance of implementation.

At least it was a constructive suggestion for tackling absenteeism as a better skills-based alternative to academic study, and it chimed with the experience of too many parents whose children’s education is impacted by the disruptive behaviour of others who don’t want to be there. Whatever the downsides, it sparked a debate and Findlay was at the centre of it. Kemi Badenoch’s visit to Glasgow will help too.

It seems the common-sense agenda is catching on, partly because of the looming election, but also because it’s needed. The SNP has just scrapped rent controls which were wrecking the house building sector, and the latest casualty is the Heat in Buildings Bill, another Greens-inspired wheeze which threatened to both increase fuel poverty and crash the housing market by imposing ruinous insulation conditions on thousands of pre-war flats and homes.

As for Reform, two Glasgow council by-elections next week should give a good indication of progress in non-Conservative areas and potentially a reminder that arrogant metropolitan dismissal of uncomfortable views eventually has repercussions.