This is an important point. Remigration may be the be-all and end-all to the nationalist right, but that's not the case with the general public.
If remigration is to happen, it must come packaged with other policies which are appealing. Callous neo-liberal Thatcherism is not.
Imagine taking up a new sport, entering a competition to represent your club because no one else would do it. You come 3rd and people from the club you're representing, start calling you a weak choice! I'd be like "F#ck you! Why didn't you do it then?!"
Well done to Rebecca ❤
During our interview, Frank masterfully exposes how absurd the notion is that 'anyone can become English'.
"Once you've said the magic spell, you've done a little dance and you've got your paper, then 'poof', you're English." 🪄
@frankwrighter
The irony is that Rupert Lowe's platform is arguably closer to Old Labour under Michael Foot and Tony Benn than anything coming out of modern Westminster. Foot and Benn opposed the EEC, were deeply sceptical of mass immigration as a tool to undercut working-class wages, and increase housing costs, opposed animal cruelty, valued, children, family, Christian values, national sovereignty, defended civil liberties and free speech, and understood that democracy only functions when the public retain the power to remove those who govern them.
There is far more of the old Labour tradition in those principles than there is in today's managerial, technocratic politics.
@a2_masters How does one work to get to the position where life is so comfortable that you can afford to burn £20Mn/Yr without being born into an extremely rich family? Is politics simply the domain of the rich?
The only difference between Starmer and Burnham is that the softer optics of 'call-me-Andy' won't embarrass British shitlibs at dinner parties and allows them to cope more.
They dislike Starmer because he's a cold grey mirror into their own souls.
Thoughts on the Makerfield by-election result:
Burnham was smart choosing a seat which has only voted Labour in general elections for a century. But nobody expected this margin of victory.
Reading Makerfield as a national bellwether is a mistake. Local residual intergenerational loyalty to Labour is stronger than anyone expected. Gogglebox Britain's (average disengaged voter) grasp of economic realities much weaker than our dire circumstances demands.
Reform underperformed, despite their vote share increasing by 3 percent (2893) since 2024. Third by-election in a row where they underperformed despite favourable demographics and a dominant national poll lead. Insisting they will inevitably form the next government is now less persuasive.
Reform can't blame the loss on vote-splitting. Reform ran a negative campaign ("keep Burnham out"), and, unfortunately, the media attacks on Rob Kenyon for crass old jokes stuck. Will have to change tactics for next time to recover.
Restore result in line with Survation polling, but has disappointed supporters. Possible that more Restore canvassers were sent to the constituency than votes gained.
A weak candidate, and lack of engagement with local hustings and national media will be blamed.
The result has weakened their bargaining power: Restore are less likely to pressure Reform, meaning Farage may grow complacent and to soften on policy again. (Frustrating Zia Yusuf to no end.)
Will be to the detriment of anyone who wants problems fixed more than "their team" to win. (Me included.) Restore can only regain that leverage with a much better result in a future by-election.
Everyone who pays attention to politics and knows what the problems are will be feeling disillusioned today.
Two weeks after the Henry Nowak story, one week after Belfast, a day after the rape gang inquiry - and Labour can still trounce it in an overwhelmingly white northern area…
What Restore Britain has achieved is remarkable.
We officially became a political party in March. It’s June, and we’ve just fought our first parliamentary by-election. Third. Thousands of votes. In the face of the most vicious establishment onslaught.
We had no infrastructure in Makerfield. No branch, nothing. The first branch meeting had to be turned into our campaign launch. We had never knocked on a single door or delivered a single leaflet in Makerfield.
To call it a standing start is unfair. We were nowhere. And we came from nowhere to achieve that impressive score. It took other parties years and years to do what we did in a few months.
Very proud of the team, very proud of our candidate Rebecca who I was delighted to support at the count late last night.
One thing is clear.
Restore Britain is now officially on the map. We are an established national political party.
That must be reflected in fair media coverage - something distinctly lacking so far.
More importantly, the polls must start giving voters the option to choose us. The deliberate suppression of Restore Britain support must end.
We are here to stay.
Yesterday’s result will go down in history as the day Restore Britain announced itself on the national stage.
A lot of Restore supporters who leant their vote to Reform yesterday won’t be doing that again.
Despite the relentless pressure from Reform about splitting the vote, they seriously underperformed.