A Shift To The Right ?
Currently the UK is seeing a dramatic change politically especially with the rising presence of the right leaning Reform Party. We have undergone a significant transformation to the right that has been accompanied by changes in the voters' mentality, the political parties' platforms such as Reform, and the public debates, among others. This rise in popularity for the right has been caused by a number of factors that are interconnected; these include the fear of losing jobs, immigration, cultural change, and the lack of trust in political leaders. The political map, after Brexit, has been redrawn in terms of sovereignty, national identity, and control, with the latter two being the ones that have always been linked with the right wing political ideology. The populist and nationalist message, especially in the North and Midlands where the Labour party used to be very strong, has had a political impact on the success of the “Leave” campaign and the consecutive Conservative landslide victories under Boris Johnson in 2019 and now it has changed with spars rises of Reform voters. Voters tend to vote for more extreme sides of the political scales based on times of extreme desperation.
To also add on, the economy has been an important factor in the shift towards the right especially in the eyes of the people who have been struggling economically and this has also coincided with a growing scepticism toward globalisation and liberal economy's principles that were the main ideal nature of the UK before this time of uncertainty. The Conservative Party has been consistently focused on promoting low taxes and market friendly policies, but at the same time it has been adopting some of the tenets of economic nationalism by promising, for instance, to “level up” the less fortunate areas and to invest in the local industries however some of these projects were never seen to completion. Critics counter that such policies are often more about talk than action, with the government imposing austerity measures and underfunding the public services that have already been starved of investment and in dire need. The mixture of conservative values and selective economic intervention has successfully appealed to the voters and altered the traditional left right politics of the UK.
The left right political spectrum in Britain has also been affected by the so called “culture wars,” which have given rise to right wing politics and thus contributed to the entrenchment of the “culture wars.” Freedom of speech, gender identity, multiculturalism, and the influence of history on nationality have been the main issues around which debates have occurred. The shift of more right wing voters could also have been caused by hot topic issues such as illegal immigration and also with aspects such as partner countries like the USA having installed a more right wing leader Donald Trump who has been in the spotlight for his views and comments. Many citizens of the UK may be inspired by him and based on his views and thoughts see the Reform Party in the UK as being a similar party to the Republican Party in the USA. Adding on with the topic of migration some may see correlations between Trump and Nigel Farage the leader of the Reform Party especially on their similar views on the topic of illegal immigrants thus see it as being beneficial to vote Reform in the UK.
Xin Yu 18/10/2025