Dear John,

In 2021, Reform UK secured just 2% of the vote in Kent’s County Council elections. This month, they surged past 40%, sweeping former Conservative strongholds like Dartford.

I visited Dartford days after the results to understand this dramatic shift. In pubs, parks, and the market, I heard the same story repeated in different ways: deep frustration, broken trust, and a political class seen as remote and unresponsive.

One man I spoke to summarised the prevailing mood quite well:

“The common term is politicians,” he said. “To be honest, you could be red, you could be blue, you could be green, you could be that light-coloured blue that they’ve suddenly come up with. None of them are going to do anything.”
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The attitude towards Nigel Farage was that of a gambler rolling the dice. Support for Reform UK wasn’t driven by much hope, but by disillusionment.

“No one really knows what Reform is going to do”, one woman said. “Hopefully they’ll do something for us,” said another. “I’m hoping Reform can make a difference but I don’t know. Every government I’ve voted for, they’ve all lied.”

Westminster had become a joke in the minds of Dartford residents. “I look at Parliament and just laugh,” one resident said. “It looks like one of them shows to me, like a comedy. Too old, too dated.”

What I saw wasn’t a sudden ideological shift – it was a vacuum. A vacuum created by decades of political detachment and a system that feels stacked against ordinary people.

When democracy feels broken, big personalities and bold promises – even if they’re “all mouth and no trousers”, as one man said of Farage – fill the void.

But what if it wasn’t broken? What if people felt that politics was something they could be a part of, that they felt fairly represented their views and addressed the problems they want solved?

That right there is our task. Not just to oppose Farage and the politics of grievance and resentment – but to offer a real, democratic alternative. This system isn’t delivering one.

Reform’s rise is another crucial reminder: Westminster desperately needs to come back down to Earth.

All the best,

Matt

Matt Gallagher

Communications Officer

Open Britain
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