• tal@lemmy.today
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      18 days ago

      This is what I imagine that they’re concerned about:

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_next_United_Kingdom_general_election

      You’ve got a left-economic vote with socially-conservative positions, especially anti-immigrant, that’s pretty substantial.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Wall_Caucus

      The Red Wall Caucus is a British political caucus and pressure group of backbench Labour MPs who represent red wall seats in the House of Commons. Led by Bassetlaw MP Jo White, the caucus was formed in November 2024 and has 43 members as of May 2025.

      The Red Wall Caucus mainly focuses on opposing immigration, with the group arguing that immigration is opposed by the British people. It believes that opposing immigration is necessary to prevent the loss of red wall Labour voters to the anti-immigration right-wing populist party Reform UK, which has gained support in the region as a protest to high immigration numbers under previous Conservative governments. The group also focuses on issues which it sees as affecting Labour’s traditional working class voter base in particular, such as the cost-of-living crisis, anti-social behaviour and crime, access to GPs and welfare benefits.

      Personally, I think that immigration is usually a pretty strong positive for a country, but if you can’t sell your policies to voters, you don’t get to hold power. British political parties, including Labour, are going to have to figure out some way to handle anti-immigrant sentiment among the electorate.

      EDIT: I’d add that I also think that the recent anti-pornography stuff is obnoxious too, but I imagine that the same sort of thing is driving that. They’re probably going to have to have some kind of game to win more-socially-conservative voters over, or they’re going to have a difficult time of it.

      EDIT2: Another option: they could go beat up on transexuals instead of immigrants to try to get those presently-planning-to-go-for-Reform votes. Probably not a very appealing option for a lot of people here either.

      https://www.thepinknews.com/2026/05/08/reform-uk-lgbtq-policies-local-election/

      Reform UK’s LGBTQ+ policies

      Reform UK’s manifesto – titled ‘Our Contract With You’ – takes aim at “‘woke’ ideology”, specifically “transgender indoctrination”.

      In the opening statement, from party leader Nigel Farage, it says: “Divisive, ‘woke’ ideology has captured our public institutions. Transgender indoctrination is causing irreversible harm to children.”

      In its education section, it vows to “ban transgender ideology in primary and secondary schools” in their first 100 days in government.

      “No gender questioning, social transitioning or pronoun swapping. Inform parents of under 16s about their children’s life decisions. Schools must have single sex facilities,” it reads.

      Later, it vows to “mandate single sex spaces”, saying: “Public toilets and changing areas must provide single sex facilities.”

      It also says it will “review the online safety bill”, adding: “Social media giants that push baseless transgender ideology and divisive Critical Race theory should have no role in regulating free speech.”

      In February 2026, Suella Braverman said that, if voted into power, “on day one, we will get rid of the equalities department, we will scrap the equalities minister … and we will repeal the Equality Act”.

      • als@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        18 days ago

        Andy Burnham also recently u-turned on trans rights. I agree that they’re trying to win votes from reform etc but I feel like that’s not going to happen and they’re just making themselves less popular with people who may have voted for them