'Reform's Policies Are Dangerously Out of Step With Public Opinion and It's Time the Media Started Scrutinising Them'

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In just one short month, the world has watched with mounting horror as Donald Trump's America has abandoned Ukraine and Europe, switched sides to align with Vladimir Putin, gutted the US state to the detriment of the poorest in America and abroad, and ripped up agreements to protect the planet from the worst impacts of climate change. All the while he has been cheered on by Nigel Farage.
With Reform surging in the polls, Britain could soon be heading for its own Donald Trump. And yet Reform's policies and positions on a whole range of key issues, Ukraine included, remain wildly out of step with the British public and need to be scrutinised.
Siding with Trump on Ukraine
Both Farage and his deputy Richard Tice have praised the US negotiations with Russia to end the war in Ukraine, notable for being carried out behind Ukraine's back and to its cost.
In a rare example of the right-wing media holding Reform to account, Julia Hartley-Brewer slammed Tice on TalkTV when he argued "most wars end up with some form of negotiation".
Much as everyone wants to see peace, the trouble is, the negotiations between Trump and Putin amount to two imperial powers carving Ukraine up like a roast - with Ukraine forced to cede its territory to Russia and its rare earth minerals to the US. Most people wouldn't call that a negotiated peace, they'd call that surrender. Or appeasement.
Such sentiments are a world away from the British public, who remain firmly behind Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression.
'I Asked Nigel Farage's Supporters What They Really Want and the Answers Were Alarming'
My time spent mingling with Reform supporters online revealed a lot about where the UK could be heading next, argues David Goff
David Goff
Recent YouGov polls show 58% support British soldiers being stationed in Ukraine as peacekeepers alongside European allies in the event of a peace deal, a move criticised by Reform when Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was "ready and willing".
And, contrary to Farage and Tice's backing of Trump's alignment with Putin, most respondents say that if the US negotiates a peace deal without involving Ukraine that leaves Russia in control of some conquered territory, and Ukraine does not accept those terms, Britain and Europe should discourage Ukraine from accepting the deal and continue supporting it militarily.
While Farage has always been closely aligned with Trump, to the point of offering up his services as US ambassador, he has not offered a whisper of criticism as Trump has blamed Ukraine for the war and sided with Russia in an unprecedented global realignment.
But this is just one of the many issues on which Reform finds itself completely out of step with the British public.
Climate Change is 'Absolute Garbage'
In another of Tice's many pronouncements, he wrote off unequivocal evidence of humanity's impact on climate change as "absolute garbage".
Such sentiments are very much in keeping with Reform's policies to tax, as Tice puts it, the "massive con" of renewable energy and "scrap stupid net-zero". Again, so far, so Trump. And yet bearing no relationship with reality or public opinion.
What Really Lies Behind Donald Trump's Shifting Stance On Ukraine
Trump's new threat to Putin doesn't necessarily mean he's on Ukraine's side, argues George Llewelyn
George Llewelyn
Polling conducted by More in Common for the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) of people who intended to vote in local elections last year found 77% in favour of net-zero targets. Even 52% of Reform's own voters were in favour.
They, like the rest of us, will be in for a rude awakening shoul...