‘The fight against Reform is the most important political struggle that most of us will ever face,’ writes former Cabinet Minister David Blunkett and Sheffield councillor Mark Rusling
The Mirror has been absolutely right to expose the vile, racist statements of Reform candidates.
Is Farage just unlucky or is there a reason why racists keep flocking to his party? We’ve seen more than our fair share in South Yorkshire. Last year, it was a new Reform councillor in Doncaster who described Hitler as “a fu**ing legend”.
This year a Reform candidate in Sheffield praised the Nazis as “real visionaries” and said that “Jewish people in the West” are responsible for antisemitism because they “overwhelmingly favour open borders”. He says that he does not “have any Nazi sympathies”. You could have fooled us!
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And where they aren’t fascists, they are lazy. In Doncaster, some Reform councillors only turn up to a quarter of meetings. In Sheffield, they haven’t turned up to any hustings anywhere in the city. If you don’t see them at election time, you’re not going to see them afterwards.
More than ever, we need local leaders who are visible and active in their communities. Because times are tough. Brits born in the 1980s are poorer than their parents. Shiregreen in North Sheffield – where Mark is a councillor and near to where David grew up – used to have over 10 pubs; now it has one. 14 years of Tory cuts have led to playgrounds without swings and libraries lacking books.
Farage says that this means that Britain is broken. He’s wrong. Britain isn’t broken, but Reform is. So when you cast your vote on Thursday, think very carefully.
Does your Reform candidate reject the racism of so many of their colleagues? Will your Reform candidate fight for you after the election? And will they even be a Reform councillor if they are elected?
Nearly 45 Reform councillors elected in May 2025 have been kicked out, defected, suspended or resigned, as have two of the five MPs elected in July 2024.
Britain needs hope – but Reform won’t give us it. The fight against Reform is the most important political struggle that most of us will ever face. It is a battle that we, our communities, and our country cannot afford to lose. On Thursday, vote for hope over hate!
David Blunkett is a former Cabinet Member and Member of Parliament for Sheffield Brightside
Mark Rusling is a councillor in Sheffield who has worked with Hope Not Hate to fight the far right