Author Archives: David Vigar

Canvassing last month in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, we came across a middle-aged woman in her garden. “I’ve had enough of all of you. I’m voting Reform”, she said.

Our candidate, Julie, calmly explained that it was a local election and a chance to vote for someone who would work hard for residents on planning, potholes, housing and other issues. Reform didn’t have much to say about those things. And Julie also observed that while she was out meeting people, the Reform candidate was nowhere to be seen.       

A week or so later, when we were visiting postal voters, I knocked on the same woman’s door, inevitably with some trepidation. But it was good news. She’d thought about what we had said. She hadn’t been canvassed by Reform. And she voted for Julie because she’d met her and liked her.

So that’s one way to win over a potential Reform voter. And there are others. For some, a reminder that the Lib Dems are the party of carers, with a leader who is himself a carer, provides a positive alternative. For others, pointing out that Farage thinks Putin is the most admirable world leader prompts a rethink. 

So the rise of Reform creates both an opportunity and a challenge. As Ed Davey has pointed out, we’re seeing a surge in people joining the party because they are worried by Reform and believe we stand for true British values – compassion, tolerance, environmentalism and internationalism. That’s the opportunity.

But it should not stop there. We need to step up to the challenge of stemming the rise of Reform. As we found on the doorsteps, not all Reform voters are nasty people. There are some outright racists out there, and some very angry characters, but also a lot of decent folk who feel left behind, don’t know much about politics and are attracted by simple but misleading messages. I’m sure others met voters who were choosing between Reform and us. The risk is that more of this group will fall for the Farage narrative. Our task is to figure out what will appeal just as powerfully to the positive side of their nature. As the examples above show, it can be done. It works. Julie is now a County Councillor.