This is the last note prior to Thursday’s UK election on 4th July. In the previous posts on Reform UK, I noted that there was a real danger from anti-establishment parties as voters deserted both wings of the Uniparty (Conservative and Labour). That desertion has shown up in the extraordinarily low turnover figures at recent by-elections, which have been the lowest since World War 2 (along with the 2001-05 season). Almost no media attention has been given to these low turnout figures, which show that there was a very large pool of unhappy voters who could have supported a genuine anti-establishment party. Reform UK is not an anti-establishment party and slavishly pushed the Agenda during COVID (including compulsory vaccination). Reform’s wall-to-wall media coverage has taken the wind out of the sails of real anti-establishment parties and I suspect that was part of its role.
I also look at the “I do not consent” movement which calls on people to write on their ballots to trigger some kind of crisis of legitimacy for the incoming government. Writing on a ballot renders it invalid, invalid ballots have no effect on the election outcome and are not counted in turnout, the best you can hope for is an invalid votes footnote in constituency results which are ignored by the media. In some circumstances, I can see why people would do this, but the suggestion that lots of people spoiling their ballots would trigger a crisis, is in my view deluded.
Please also upgrade to paid subscription to keep this initiative alive, more and more material will be available to paid subscribers only.
Happy voting and stay free!
Alex
To vote or not to vote?