Does Reform UK’s election success signal a far-right future for Britain?
Unlike the French legislative elections in which a surprise leftist surge foiled the far right at the last minute, Britain’s July 4 parliamentary polls went almost exactly as predicted. In contrast, Reform UK, the successor to Farage’s previous anti-European Union United Kingdom Independence Party, placed Brexit at the very centre of its election campaign. This left many asking, despite a Labour landslide, does Reform UK’s election success signal a far-right future for Britain? Indeed, Reform UK’s electoral victory is a lame horse for two main reasons: First, under the UK’s first-past-the-post electoral system, which favours mainstream parties, any fringe, radical party like Reform is unlikely to ever gain enough seats in the Commons to become the main opposition, let alone form a government. Farage and Reform UK’s success was an important story that emerged from Britain’s July 4 elections, and it showed that the nationalist far-right is indeed a force worthy of acknowledgement in the country.
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