Reform UK candidate Rob Kenyon has said voters in Makerfield are turning away from Labour because they are tired of being ignored and insulted over issues like immigration.
Speaking to spiked, Reform UK’s candidate in Thursday’s by-election said that immigration had become the defining issue of Thursday’s by-election. “I always ask people what are your issues locally and nationally”, he said. “And it’s kind of the same thing. Nationally it’s immigration - illegal immigration - and locally it’s HMOs [houses in multiple occupation].”
For Kenyon, this has left constituents feeling “powerless”. “Every government that’s been elected [over the past 30 years] has had in their manifesto that they will lower immigration… and none of them have”, he said. This has resulted in a deep “sense of unfairness”.
He said this was why Labour was losing the trust of ordinary voters. “This is why people aren’t voting Labour anymore”, he said. “Because for the past 30 years, when people have raised concerns, they’ve been dismissed as bigots and racists. Even fascists. And it’s just not true. We just want law and order. That’s all we want. We want fairness.”
Kenyon also accused Andy Burnham, Labour’s parliamentary candidate, of using Makerfield as a “stepping stone” on his way to challenging Keir Starmer’s premiership. That, he warned, made it all the more important that voters on the right unite behind Reform UK, rather than split the anti-Labour vote.
Speaking to the Telegraph, Kenyon said: “If you vote for Restore, you may as well vote Labour. It’s as simple as that.”
“Now is not the time for playing silly games”, he added. “Now is the time to stop Burnham getting into Parliament, and stop him from getting into No10, because the country will go on an irreversible path that every single Restore voter won’t want.”
Kenyon urged Restore supporters to “put their ego, the party’s ego to one side” and ask themselves one question: “Do we want Reform or do we want Labour?”
Speaking to spiked, Reform UK’s candidate in Thursday’s by-election said that immigration had become the defining issue of Thursday’s by-election. “I always ask people what are your issues locally and nationally”, he said. “And it’s kind of the same thing. Nationally it’s immigration - illegal immigration - and locally it’s HMOs [houses in multiple occupation].”
For Kenyon, this has left constituents feeling “powerless”. “Every government that’s been elected [over the past 30 years] has had in their manifesto that they will lower immigration… and none of them have”, he said. This has resulted in a deep “sense of unfairness”.
He said this was why Labour was losing the trust of ordinary voters. “This is why people aren’t voting Labour anymore”, he said. “Because for the past 30 years, when people have raised concerns, they’ve been dismissed as bigots and racists. Even fascists. And it’s just not true. We just want law and order. That’s all we want. We want fairness.”
Kenyon also accused Andy Burnham, Labour’s parliamentary candidate, of using Makerfield as a “stepping stone” on his way to challenging Keir Starmer’s premiership. That, he warned, made it all the more important that voters on the right unite behind Reform UK, rather than split the anti-Labour vote.
Speaking to the Telegraph, Kenyon said: “If you vote for Restore, you may as well vote Labour. It’s as simple as that.”
“Now is not the time for playing silly games”, he added. “Now is the time to stop Burnham getting into Parliament, and stop him from getting into No10, because the country will go on an irreversible path that every single Restore voter won’t want.”
Kenyon urged Restore supporters to “put their ego, the party’s ego to one side” and ask themselves one question: “Do we want Reform or do we want Labour?”
