That said I can't imagine any government willingly giving up the power grabbed by Labour.
"Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022: Expands police powers to restrict protests based on "serious disruption," including imposing noise limits and start/finish times, reported the BBC.
Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023: Enables employers to mandate service levels during strikes in sectors like health, transport, and fire services, effectively curbing union power, notes Labour Research.
Public Order Act 2023: Introduced further measures against "disruptive" protest tactics, such as locking on, often used by environmental protestors, explain Sage Journals and peoplesmomentum.com.
Nationality and Borders Act 2022: Critiqued for undermining international refugee law and introducing differential treatment for asylum seekers based on their method of arrival, write Sage Journals.
Judicial Review and Courts Act 2022: Critics argue this act weakens judicial oversight, reducing the ability of citizens to challenge government decisions in court, says Zara Sultana on TikTok.
Online Safety Act 2023: While aimed at protecting users, some critics raised concerns about potential impacts on free speech and the regulation of content, suggest Sage Journals. "
the average British voter likes the authoritarianism
And yet undoubtedly the UK keeps introducing these privacy-hostile mechanisms, and it's not even clear what for. There is no obvious reason, not a pragmatic one, not a nefarious one (IMO).
I would say they're aiming more for a boring authoritarian dystopia than a bombastic one.
I think it'll be interesting to watch Tories who could never put together a PM bid that worked wriggle inside Reform to push out Farage. Farage is naturally the leader of an outfit like UKIP, actual Nazis in the trenches, led by a few people you can put in a suit who know not to do the salute and who make sure not to say the wrong thing on camera. But, he doesn't want to lead UKIP, he wanted to be Prime Minister, and that's a harder lift.
And what exactly do they think the NCA is?
[National Crime Agency]
On digging further: OK, this is not really creating anything at all, it's just merging the NCA and various existing regional organised crime outfits together into one body.
Reform’s nationalism by contrast is incredibly milquetoast. It wouldn’t even be considered right wing in much of the world. For example, if the shoe were on the other foot, and British and Irish immigration had reduced Bangladeshis to a minority in Dhaka, then the immigrants would be removed en masse (as the center-left government did with the Rohingya in response to that migration).
What do you think would happen in China if Indians and Bangladeshis mass migrated to Beijing until Chinese people were a minority? It would be a lot less talk and a lot more action than what you’re seeing from Reform.
No alternative is as remotely authoritarian.
I think the problem might be that you don't know anything about this at all?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2yrjqp4zvo -- Suella Braverman, who had been Tory Home Secretary deciding on these policies you think are the opposite of what Reform stands for, defected to join Reform just days ago.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gv9gyxgjjo -- that's Farage, only days earlier, insisting that his party isn't for failed Tories, like Suella.
It's Temu Tory Party.
The ignorance isn’t a mistake, it’s part of the brand that lets them spout whatever their audience wants ts to hear.
About half of Reform's parliamentary party were elected as Tories. Was Josh Hawley previously a Democrat ? Did Mitch used to be Bernie's best friend and then Trump swayed him to join the GOP ? Maybe Rand Paul or Tom Cotton ? No ? So we're not talking about the same thing at all.
What you’re describing is just a party realignment. It’s a much bigger realignment than what you’ve seen in the U.S. for awhile, but every now and then when coalitions will break apart and reform. Many of the original GOP members were former Whig Party members (which was one of the two major parties that existed after the Federalist Party collapsed). Ir would’ve been weird to call the GOP “Temu Whigs” because they had a different coalition with different priorities, despite the overlap.
In the UK, it seems like Reform is prepared to moderate on the economic libertarianism of the Thatcherite Tory Party in order to bring culturally conservative anti-immigration voters into the coalition.
I can't count RFK Jr. I had never heard of him before the 2024 Election Cycle.