Socialist Party Wales Socialism In Wales
By Mark Best
The establishment insider’s outsider, Nigel Farage, spent the week burnishing his party Reform UK’s credentials as a party that will be safe for the very richest in society.
On Monday 12 January, former Tory chancellor Nadhim Zahawi announced that he was joining Reform as the country needs a “glorious revolution”. Zahawi, whose career in the Tory party was marred with stories surrounding investigations into his tax affairs, is reportedly worth up to £100 million. The idea that he has any idea what its like for working-class people struggling to get by is laughable. He shares that in common with Farage, who has earned over a million pounds on top of his MP’s salary from his twelve ‘second jobs’.
Then on Thursday, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch sacked her shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick for preparing to defect to Reform. He also turned up sitting alongside Farage at a press conference later that day. Jenrick’s career has shifted from support for David Cameron and ‘Remain’, to Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and now Farage’s Reform. He has presided over the decades-long austerity that has ravaged our communities, public services and infrastructure. He now says “Britain is broken”, as if it has not been broken by him and his Tory mates.
These defections hammer home the reality of Reform. As much as they attempt to paint themselves as rebels, how can any anti-establishment party welcome so many Tory MPs and former ministers? It shows that, in power, Reform won’t act in the interests of the working class, but will continue to represent the interests of the super-rich bosses and attempt to divide workers against one another to maintain their position at the top of society.
No alternative
People looking towards Reform as some sort of alternative to the rest of the establishment parties need only look at their record in power in local councils. Instead of fighting against Keir Starmer’s government to provide the services and build the council houses people desperately need, Reform-led councils have behaved the same as all the others. Council budgets being published now come with the maximum council tax rises, service cuts, and are barely distinct from budgets proposed by Labour, Tories, or Greens when in power. They are all doing central government’s bidding, implementing austerity instead of standing up for local residents and fighting for the resources we need.
The growth in support for Reform reflects the massive vacuum that exists in society – workers lack a mass party that represents our interests and one in which we have a democratic say. To oppose the bosses, their divisive ideas and to take the wealth and power back into our hands, we need to get organised. Discussions within trade unions on the necessary steps for our class to establish our own political voice are ongoing. To get involved in that fight, and to put to bed a system which puts profit over the interests of the vast majority of us, join the Socialist Party today.
