Morning Star Editorial: Political fragmentation deepens as Britain goes to the polls
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/political-fragmentation-deepens-britain-goes-polls
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage being interviewed by the media after an eve of poll photocall at College Green, Westminster, on the last day of campaigning ahead of the local elections on Thursday, May 6, 2026MILLIONS of votes will be cast on Thursday in Scotland and Wales in the election of these two nations’ devolved governments and in England a cross-section of communities will vote — in six places for regional mayors — and in 5,000 seats where the composition of 136 different councils are up for grabs.
This is the biggest test of electoral opinion since Keir Starmer took office on millions of votes fewer than won by Jeremy Corbyn.
The calamitous fall in Labour’s popularity is the main feature of these elections but we should not discount the scale of the Tory collapse.
You might think that the defection of much of Boris Johnson’s Cabinet to Reform UK would have given Kemi Badenoch the opportunity to recover something of the traditional Tory vote, such as it exists. This, at least would be an innovation but, like Labour, the Tories are no longer a credible party of a future government.
Reform UK is faltering with a certain sense that the Establishment is setting limits on its ambitions. The monopoly media is not so tolerant; opinion polls are less encouraging and the more Nigel Farage’s privately owned electoral vehicle resembles the Tory Party the fewer workers are prepared to swallow its fetishisation of the market and its hostility to public services.
Today the Trump connection plays badly even on the deluded right.
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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/political-fragmentation-deepens-britain-goes-polls
Free Dr. Abu Safiya: Calls Grow for Israel to Release Imprisoned Gaza Healthcare Workers
All those governments and individuals that support Israel e.g. Donald Trump, Keir Starmer, Nigel Farage, Kemi Badenoch, also support this abhorrent treatment – imprisonment, very likely medical neglect, starvation and torture – of a doctor. Dr. Hassam Abu Safia.
How Motability cuts went from a rightwing online campaign to Rachel Reeves’s budget
Car lease scheme for people with mobility problems portrayed as ‘free’ but is funded by benefits and their own contributions
A decade ago, Rachel Reeves was pictured with a disabled constituent, congratulating him on being given the “keys to freedom” afforded by a Motability vehicle.
Since then, Reeves – now Britain’s chancellor – has barely mentioned the scheme that leases 300,000 cars a year to people with mobility problems, aside from criticising Tory cuts affecting its users.
Nor did it crop up in Labour’s manifesto, which promised to put disabled people’s “views and voices at the heart of all we do”.
But late last year, the idea that Motability was offering disabled people “free” BMWs and Mercedes became a repeated rightwing talking point fuelled by social media accounts on Elon Musk’s X.
In fact, the cars are funded by people’s disability benefit payments, topped up with their own contributions.
From there, articles began to spring up in the tabloid press reproducing social media memes calling for Motability vehicles to be made more ugly, and the furore spread to the speeches of Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage – and, finally, grabbed the attention of the Treasury.
At the budget, Reeves for the first time publicly identified the programme as a problem, saying it “was set up to protect the most vulnerable, not to subsidise the lease on a Mercedes-Benz”.
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Green Party membership surges past Conservatives, making the Greens third-largest political party in the UK
The Green Party of England and Wales’ membership has surged past the Conservative Party, making the Greens the third largest party in the UK. From this position, and with Labour’s clear shift to the right, it’s clear that the Greens are now the Party of choice to counter Reform and their brand of divisive politics.
In just over two hours, the Green Party saw 1,000 new members join on Sunday morning after Zack Polanski announced the news on BBC One’s Laura Kuenssberg show. The Green Party membership now stands at over 126,000. This latest milestone marks an 80% increase since Zack Polanski was elected Leader of the party last month. The Greens now have more than double the reported members of the Liberal Democrats.
Green Party Leader Zack Polanski said:
“More than 126,000 people have now joined the Green movement, showing that British politics is changing and support for old-style parties built on privilege and power is shrinking. Increasing numbers of people are walking away from the politics of austerity, inequality and division and choosing a new kind of politics that offers a bold, hopeful vision of prosperity, equality and unity”.
“Our membership boom reflects growing public frustration with the political status quo and a hunger for genuine alternatives”.
Since Polanski was elected leader, the Greens have become a clear voice on the cost-of-living crisis, climate breakdown, and the collapse in political trust.
Polanski added, “This milestone shows that people are ready for something new. The old two-party system is broken. The Green Party is growing because we speak to the real challenges of this moment, and it’s clear that with our message, people can see that politics can be a force for good”.
The Green Party is now preparing to launch a series of autumn campaigns on fair taxation and tackling the cost-of-living crisis, as the Labour Party prepares what is likely to be another austerity-driven budget.
