New Labour strategist has sounds alarm and warns of risk to democracy, but Reform UK says attacks are ‘backfiring big time’
Nigel Farage’s party goes into 2026 with a major lead over its rivals (Image: PA)
Panic at the enduring popularity of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK is laid bare in a warning from a New Labour strategist who claims Sir Keir Starmer’s party lacks a plan and is “caught in the headlights”. Sir Chris Powell, who advised Labour ahead of Tony Blair’s 1997 landslide, warns there is no plan in place to deal with the “existential threat” posed by Reform, which enjoys a double-digit lead over all rival parties in Politico’s poll of polls.
Sounding the alarm in the Left-leaning Guardian, he said: “We are at a very dangerous moment. We simply cannot afford to allow Nigel Farage’s Reform UK to have a free run and become established and entrenched as a credible potential government in the minds of disenchanted voters. The longer they go unchallenged, the more unthreatening and risk-free they will seem to voters.
“Just hoping that Reform and Farage implode, or that the Right-wing vote will somehow fracture, is potentially suicidal for our freedom and democracy.”
According to Politico, Reform is in first place in the polls (29%), ahead of the Conservatives on 18%, with Labour and the Greens tied on 16% and the Liberal Democrats on 13%.
Pressing for “no-holds-barred thinking”, Sir Chris said Sir Keir “needs to fundamentally change the way he approaches voters and his way of interacting with them”, adding: “Voters are fed up, think nothing works – and some are simply angry and feel ignored.”
He called for Labour to take on Reform online with a “semi-autonomous digital narrative unit whose sole mission is to wage and win the daily war for attention”.
Pressing for action, he warned: “The current situation in the UK is a textbook case of an establishment party caught in the headlights as its populist opponent expertly reacts to voter pain and disenchantment. Relying on containment or a rational ‘hold-your-nose’ vote is a strategy that will eventually fail.
“Labour needs a comprehensive action plan, now. Time is a luxury it can’t afford.”
Lee Anderson says attacks on Reform UK are backfiring (Image: Getty)
Reform UK MP Lee Anderson responded to the call to arms, saying the “Lefties are petrified”.
He added: “The more smears and lies they throw at us, the stronger Reform UK gets. It’s backfiring big time.
“They simply can’t get their head around the fact that calling everyone they disagree with a racist or a fascist doesn’t work. Mr Powell and his ilk can bang on all they want, but the simple fact of the matter is that Reform’s surge is down to decades of betrayal by his Labour Party and the Conservatives.
“The British public are sick to death of being lectured by these out-of-touch elites who have destroyed this country, and they are voting in their droves for Reform to get Britain back on track.”
