Labour has decided to “play Reform UK at its own game” by releasing a series of adverts adopting Reform-style branding and messaging in a bid to oust Farage’s election chances.
Local Labour groups facing the most backlash from the Reform Party have set up social media accounts to publicly oppose Farage’s “weasel words”. The adverts do not display the Labour logo and instead use Reform UK’s signature shade of blue.
One of the new pages is called “Protect Britain’s Communities” and it aims to tackle antisocial behaviour “to keep communities safe”.
Another group, run by activists in Yorkshire, focuses on the party’s commitment to tackle illegal migration. Commenting on the “UK Migration Updates” group, Labour MP Oliver Ryan said: “It’s Labour values to care about the rule of law and to protect our borders. [It is] time some people woke up to that.”
One source in a constituency where Reform threatens the incumbent Labour MP told The London Economic: “We have time until the next election to discover campaigning tactics which will hurt their party, so it is a good thing that Labour are trying all options.
“We should be playing [Farage] at his own game because we certainly can’t carry on the way things are going at the moment.”
“Reform cares more about campaigns than policy so Labour has to tread carefully,” another source warned.
Talking to the Guardian, a Labour figure added: “The Tories and Reform offer nothing but weasel words, while this Labour government gets on with fixing the asylum system, which the Tories broke. We intend to let the public know about our plan for change through every available channel. It’s already seen thousands of people with no right to be here removed from Britain and tough new border security measures to reduce small boat crossings.”
But, others inside the party have doubts over attempts to “play Farage at his own game”. Rachael Maskell, the Labour MP for York Central, whose region set up the UK Migration Updates page, said: “I would caution the party against raising such community tensions when we know there are so many asylum seekers who have experienced persecution in their lives. I represent England’s only human rights city, where we uphold the dignity of all.”
It comes as a new YouGov poll released on Monday narrowly put Reform UK in the lead for the first time in a national poll at 25 per cent, with Labour on 24 per cent and the Conservatives on 21 per cent.
MPs representing the 89 constituencies where Reform came second in last year’s election have already formed an informal caucus to counter Nigel Farage’s party earlier this week.
The parliamentary group, which has strong connections to Downing Street, aims to coordinate the political messages and strategies for MPs to confront the threat of Reform head on until the next general election.
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