REFORM’S recent rise, culminating in its significant gains across May’s local elections, highlights a Britain devoid of class politics.

At present, British society is characterised more by division rather than unity. It’s time that the left analysed why Reform consistently polls as the leading party among the public and how we can progress a class-based alternative to Reform’s divisive politics.

Over the last 15 years, funding for our public services has been slashed, wages have been outpaced by inflation, insecure employment has increased and life has become more difficult for most people. Objectively speaking, you would think that a party that advocates for legislation that offers a continuation of these austerity measures wouldn’t be so popular.

So why is Reform currently leading in the polls? Reform offers an anti-Establishment sentiment, with people fed up with the two-party nature of our electoral system, where Labour and Conservatives tussle for control of Parliament, and then fail to make any tangible difference to living standards, and so on and so forth.

This is misplaced of course, with all eight of Reform’s current MPs being previous members of the Conservative Party, with five of them elected as Conservative MPs at the last general election. Many wealthy Reform donors have also historically donated political funds to the Conservative Party, and like their parliamentary representatives, they have also jumped ship.

Reform has captured elements of the working class, due to their political alienation, through anti-migrant rhetoric, focusing on asylum-seekers and refugees as the culpable party for why living standards are falling.

This political outlook has been pushed by the mainstream media and the two main parties, to Reform’s benefit.

Andy Burnham, who is being portrayed as the “progressive” candidate to challenge Starmer’s leadership, has come out in support of Shabana Mahmood’s increasingly hostile policies against refugees.

He has already committed to retaining the current fiscal rules of Starmer’s government and said that he backs an increase in defence spending at the expense of welfare.

Labour’s reluctance to recognise this and its continued support for policies that negatively affect living standards is a big factor in Reform’s continued popularity.

Labour’s complete capitulation to private interests and its unwillingness to even use the phrase “working class,” preferring the term “working people,” shows how far Labour has gone in its betrayal of Britain’s working class.

This must be scrutinised and rightly criticised.

Regardless of which party has been in power, the ruling class have been successful in offshoring our production to other parts of the globe to yield a higher profit-margin, which Lenin referred to as super-profits.

This has become more apparent since the Thatcher era, where the introduction of neoliberal economics led to a huge offshoring of British manufacturing and the privatisation of many state and local authority owned services.

In 1980, 6.3 million workers were directly employed in manufacturing, whereas in 2018 this figure stood at 2.6 million. This trend has not been reversed in the years since.

Trade union membership and density has also taken a hit. In 1979, 13.2 million workers were trade unionists, which equated to roughly 50 per cent of the workforce. Now in 2026, approximately 6.6 million workers within Britain are members of a union, which equates to a density of around 22.4 per cent of the total workforce.

However, trade unions must take responsibility for the political climate in Britain today. When the working class are detached from unions they are often divorced from political education and susceptible to the divisive rhetoric that Reform progresses.

The essence of collectivism is also lost, leaving people feeling isolated and looking for any outlet to vent their discontent, with refugees and asylum-seekers being the fall-group. This is the essence and legacy of neoliberalism.
They should also take accountability for the inadequate level of engagement and education that has been available for workers who are already members.

A recent poll that was published by JL Partners showed that Reform now has equal support among trade union members as the Labour Party.

If we are struggling to contain Reform’s reactionary rhetoric among trade unionists, then how can we be surprised when they are ahead in the polls nationally?

To push back effectively against the far right, we must offer the working class an alternative vision. This includes effective education and organising within our trade unions, fighting for insourcing and the promotion of unionised jobs, accessing workplaces with low trade union density and presence, and highlighting Reform’s anti-working-class policies.

Exposing its opposition to the Employment Rights Act and Renters’ Rights Act should be part of this immediate strategy. The link between increased defence spending and cuts to our public services also needs to be drawn, and Labour must be held accountable for its desire to increase the defence budget at the working class’s expense within our country and internationally.

We must highlight this issue and demand increased funding for our local authorities and our public services generally.

The way to win people away from the reactionary rhetoric of Reform is to provide hope, expose anti-working-class forces and provide direction towards policies that will truly improve living conditions.

Joseph Mills is Unison North West young members political officer.