Jon Bateman

I have received countless questions on my recommendation for who to vote for this Thursday, and I have thought long and hard about the answer. Here is my honest assessment: For months, I pushed Reform to propose radical, but credible policies. To detail it, with substance and costings. Write it down, produce policy documents. I was mocked and ignored. I hoped that there might be some form of plan for these elections, maybe a well-thought out policy or two? To even go as far to write a proposal - not thrown together on a flashy social media graphic, but in properly constructed sentences on an actual document. None came. Nothing. All we get, day after day after day, is glossy pictures of Nigel Farage. No manifesto, just an empty promise that ‘Reform will fix it’. HOW? Please, tell me how? If I have to watch another overproduced video of Farage, I’ll vomit turquoise coloured confetti. Sweeping shots, backed by booming dramatic music, of the man going about mundane campaigning activities. It’s a parody. Where is the policy?! All we get is vacuous bull, piled on top of more vacuous bull - purely designed to pump up Farage’s ego at a time when British airspace is already dangerously full. I’m not interested. I want numbers, detail, substance. A plan. When even vague policy has been discussed by Reform, what happened? In January, when Farage announced that Reform would hold an inquiry into the rape gangs - I was so proud to be a Reform MP. Using our parliamentary platform in order to deliver justice. Launching a campaign that would bring real change for thousands of victims. We gave those women and their families genuine hope. What did Farage do? He took the credit, did the media rounds, got his social media views and then dumped the idea. With no explanation, and with no apology. It makes my skin crawl. I felt so ashamed to have been a part of that vile circus act. I still do. It’s just not how I operate. I am sorry for my role in it. As you know, I have worked so hard over the last month attempting to repair that mistake through launching our own inquiry. What was Farage’s response to that fundraising effort from almost 20,000 supporters? He said there’s ‘no point’. Class, he certainly lacks. Then on deportations, amazingly Farage won’t commit to deporting all illegal migrants - he still refers to those ‘that enter’, future tense. Every illegal migrant living in the country must go. We don’t need clever word play, we need categorical commitments. As you know, Farage personally instructed me to remove the term ‘mass deportations’ of illegal migrants from my speech. He calls it a ‘political impossibility’, and ‘a very grave, dark and dangerous use of language.’ Reform even blocked me on their social media channels for quoting Farage’s own words on this. A party of supposed ‘free speech’ should be willing to take some mild criticism from an independent MP, surely? I tabled a motion in the Commons calling exactly for the mass deportation of all illegal migrants. Has Farage signed it? Tice? Anderson? No. None. More Conservative MPs have supported my mass deportation motion than Reform. Please listen to me when I say this - Reform’s leadership does not share the opinions of the membership on so much of such importance. Perhaps most concerningly? Farage alarmingly states if we ‘politically alienate’ the whole of Islam, we ‘will lose’. Think very carefully about what he is saying here. My view? There needs to be an honest national debate around the influence of Islam, and how it is shaping our way of life against the wishes of the vast majority. Farage does not share that opinion, and pushes the same crippling cowardice that has allowed our civilisation to be held hostage out of fear of offending one religion - Islam. British values need to be robustly and courageously defended, even if that results in unpleasant insults of racism and ‘islamophobia’ from an establishment that will always hate us. I don’t care about that. Sadly, Farage does and that fear shapes him. The Reform suggestion of ‘Net Zero’ immigration is entirely inadequate - that would still be accepting hundreds of thousands of migrants into the country every year. For the foreseeable future, there needs to be significantly more people leaving the UK than entering. Not just including the removal of illegal migrants, but also those who came legally yet have failed to uphold their end of the deal. Again, just more Reform pandering to the ‘middle’ ground of politics. We don’t need additional centrist rot. We need radical change. Reform does not offer that, and it’s getting softer every day. I won’t dwell on my own experience with the exit from Reform - you all know what happened. I want to focus on policy and substance. So please tell me, where are the comprehensive local election policies? On potholes, social care, high street renewal, bins, public transport, housing policies, education, SEND support, children’s care, planning, business rates, parking. I could go on. Can you name one proper detailed local election policy? I can’t. These local councils really matter - they play a huge part in all of our lives. I simply cannot endorse a party that has put so frighteningly little thought into what it would actually do with power. Reform’s plan is to ride the protest wave, faced with two obscenely unpopular mainstream parties, but offer absolutely nothing constructive - chasing power for the sake of power. To ‘win’ the game, and it is a game to them. Reform leadership has treated its own membership like dirt - dictated to them, ignored them, used them. Central planning doesn't work in politics any more than it worked in the Soviet Union. Real movements trust their people. Reform does not. Members cast aside, failing ‘vetting’ for no good reason, woeful delegation. The branches are what makes a political party. The work is done on the streets, not in some flashy London office. Reform members are good, honest people - they deserve better. Great leaders don’t create followers, they create more leaders. In Reform, there is space for one, and only one. There can only ever be one. For years, people on our side of politics voted for the ‘least worst option’. It got us nowhere. I don’t see any point doing it again - principles matter. Would I vote for Reform? No, is the honest answer. Britain doesn’t need a protest, it needs a plan - Reform has not presented anything near one. A vote for Reform on Thursday is an endorsement of their condescending electoral strategy, fuelled by arrogance, rage and ego - not a genuine passion for any radical change. Reform is not the answer. This is not a General Election. Vote for a candidate who cares about your local community, and has considered/presented credible policies on how they can actually benefit your area. I wouldn’t worry too much about the colour of the rosette this time - do what is right for your community. It’s not ‘letting Labour in’. Labour is in. And will be firmly ‘in’ until 2029. Nothing that happens this week will change that. At the time of these elections, I will be an independent MP - it will not remain that way forever. There will be an alternative to Reform, I promise you that.

Yesterday there was 2 council by-elections. Reform didn’t win any. Yet we are told that they’ll be our next government, not a chance. They’ll be lucky to get 100 seats. A vote for Reform is a vote for Labour or the Lib Dem’s. They are the reason why Labour has a huge majority