Reform UK will bring only chaos, not solutions to Britain's real problems
Reform’s defectors from various parties don’t share the same principles, with no common vision of the NHS, education or the economy
We have fired the starting gun for the Scottish elections but it already feels different to campaigns that have gone before. The call for change which dominated the 2024 general election has, if anything, grown louder in Scotland.
But if we are going to get the government we deserve at Holyrood, the pantomime has to end, and serious politicians need to tell us how they want to serve the public.
This week has been an embarrassment. The SNP must have expected to create the week's narrative with their Budget and go head-to-head with our other, Labour, government.
But the increasingly ridiculous chaos on the right of politics stole the show. Or rather, they created the show with their very own political version of The Traitors complete with memes of Robert Jenrick.
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Tory laughter faded quickly
If they don't sort themselves out soon we will all be the losers. Because it's not good. We deserve better. I was in the Chamber when news broke about Jenrick’s dumping and subsequence defection to Reform.
The assembled Tories who had been laughing uproariously while, ironically, comparing Labour's digital ID policy to a Monty Python sketch suddenly found themselves in the middle of their own farce.
The laughter died down, and, truth to be told, there is little for any of us to be laughing about at the moment. Ukraine, Greenland, Trump, China, the economy – take your pick – there are plenty of crises to go round.
There is a lot facing us at the moment and we need serious politicians and serious governments. Not this Titanic-style rearranging of political deck chairs and party allegiances.
A lack of common purpose
It doesn't matter how many rebels join Reform, I do not think they will turn out to be our future – and certainly not in Scotland. We went through all this six years ago with Change UK and their bid to remake British politics. That didn't end well.
Yes, Reform have considerably more money but they share a basic flaw with that former party. A lack of common purpose.
The various Tory, Green and, if we are to believe what Farage says, Labour politicians, who have or are about to jump to his ship are all dissatisfied with something else, with different things.
They are not being drawn to a positive message or principles. They have no common goals for our health service, our education system or our businesses.
What we need is clear policies which will not just throw money at problems but look at how to remake Scotland’s and the UK’s services in a different, more modern and effective form.
We must look at how we use our resources more effectively to ensure we can get a GP when we need one or access minor medical services on the high street without increasing the burden on A&E; find ways of helping our young people, a generation whose social development has been blighted by Covid, to overcome the anxieties it created; tackle the damaging ideas and attitudes being fostered by social media; use AI where it's useful, freeing people up to be more efficient; and spend better.
I have no idea what if any of that, or anything else, Reform has to offer Scotland – other than perhaps more chaos.
Christine Jardine is the Scottish Liberal Democrat MP for Edinburgh West
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