Reform UK: The Party Labour Created and the Fight They Cannot Lose
Their discomfort tells its own story. A party united in purpose does not react like this.
Labour’s new immigration shift has set off a political storm, and nowhere is that felt more sharply than here in the Midlands. Shabana Mahmood, a Brummie through and through, has unveiled the toughest asylum overhaul in decades. On paper it is bold. In reality it is a scramble. Inside the party the reaction has already turned sour. On the outside Reform UK has seized the moment with both hands.
Labour says it is taking control. Reform says Labour has lost it.
And the next few days will show who is right.
Labour’s move onto Reform UK’s territory is not confidence but panic. Reform knows it, the public suspects it, and Labour’s own MPs are whispering it. Some are not even whispering. Folkestone’s Tony Vaughan called the plans wrong. John McDonnell said Vaughan was speaking for half the Parliamentary Labour Party. Even in the Midlands, senior Labour figures have been privately fuming at the tone and scale of Mahmood’s proposals. They feel the party is drifting into something they no longer recognise.
Their discomfort tells its own story. A party united in purpose does not react like this.
Reform UK spotted the weakness immediately. Nigel Farage did not miss his chance either. He told MPs that Labour’s shift was proof that Reform is already shaping national policy. One Reform MP even went so far as to publicly invite Shabana Mahmood to cross the floor and join them. That moment alone captured the absurdity of the moment. Labour brings out the toughest asylum plan in modern times, and Reform claims credit for every line of it.
And this is the point. Labour is hoping the public sees their move as strength. Reform is determined to show it is fear.
If Reform wants to turn this week into a turning point, it must do five things.
First, it must hammer home the message that Labour is only acting because Reform forced them to. It does not need anger to make that case. It simply needs clarity. Labour did not decide to take control of immigration. The public did. Labour is reacting to pressure, not leading it.
Second, Reform must expose Labour’s internal divide. The activists and many MPs cannot stomach these reforms. A party cannot deliver what half its own family rejects. Every time a Labour MP condemns Mahmood’s plan, Reform’s argument grows stronger.
Third, Reform must speak with calm authority. Labour wants Reform to start shouting so they look reasonable by comparison. Reform should refuse that trap. The public do not want fury. They want a voice that sounds like their own. Direct. Practical. Grown up.
Fourth, Reform must dismantle the details. Labour’s proposals contain gaps already being noticed. Twenty years before settlement raises as many questions as it answers. Seizing assets from asylum seekers will provoke backlash. Return to “safe countries” is a legal maze. Reform’s task is to show that Labour’s toughness fades the moment the headlines pass.
Fifth, Reform must reclaim the voters Labour pushed away. Not just white working class ones but long established Black and Asian communities across Birmingham, the Black Country and beyond. Communities who believe in fairness, order and social cohesion. These voters did not drift to Reform accidentally. They were pushed out by a Labour Party more interested in curating its image than listening to its base.
And now to something crucial. Why am I giving this advice for Reform UK. The answer is simple. I am not. I have been a Labour member since the 1970’s and a lifelong trade unionist. I believe in socialism. I believe in decency. And I believe in the dignity of working people. What I cannot ignore is how far Labour has drifted from the party I joined. There has been a slow erosion of tolerance towards working class values. A sense from certain affluent middle class voices that the people Labour was built to represent are an inconvenience. The party of Clem Attlee, who came from privilege, and Kier Hardie, who rose from poverty, was once a party where each class could challenge one another honestly and respectfully. Today that balance is gone. Too often working class instincts are dismissed as vulgar or backward. Too often people who fix their own cars and paint their own houses are treated as if their culture is embarrassing. That is how you lose a movement. And that is how you create Reform UK.
Which brings us back to Labour’s dilemma. Can Labour hold this together. Can they push through these reforms against fierce opposition from their own activists. Or will it all be watered down once the heat dies off.
Reform UK is betting it will be watered down. They expect Labour to talk tough today and soften tomorrow. And if Labour does soften, even slightly, Reform will pounce and say they were right from the beginning.
That is the contest ahead. Labour wants voters to believe this is a settled issue. Reform wants to prove it is only the beginning.
This morning, much like the rest of Britain, they will have woken up and judge who has taken control of the debate and who has simply tried to survive it.