How to stop the rise of Reform UK? Expose its contradictions | Letters

The combination of charts showing the spread of Reform UK supporters (Who supports Reform and why?, 13 November), and Aditya Chakrabortty’s typically shrewd and combative commentary (The real Reform voters have been revealed – it’s a slapdash coalition Farage will struggle to hold together, 13 November) represented a rare bright spot in an increasingly bleak political landscape.They provide a clear roadmap towards challenging what too many doomsayers have been presenting as the inevitability of a Reform UK victory at the next general election.The task now for those who are alarmed by the rise of Nigel Farage’s cult is to use these findings to constantly highlight the inherent contradictions within his policies, while remembering the wisdom of one 19th-century political economist who said that philosophers had only interpreted the world, but the task is to change it. Keir Starmer, take note.Les Bright Exeter, Devon Aditya Chakrabortty suggests that, come a general election, Nigel Farage will have to “cobble together an actual platform, he’ll have to pick a side” from his “curious dish of microwaved Thatcherism, seasoned with a big dash of old Labour”

Wasted public money and Rachel Reeves’s income tax hokey cokey | Letters

In discussion of the chancellor’s need to raise taxes and cut spending, there has been too little focus on making better use of current resources. Every day, money is wasted because fragmented public services continue to work in silos and are not organised around the needs of individuals, families and communities. Too little is spent on preventing problems and too much on responding to them.As ministers and officials, we promoted Total Place pilots in 2009-10. They showed that far better outcomes could be achieved for the same money when Whitehall allowed local service leaders to work with local communities across service and budget boundaries

No 10 turns to influencers to reach audiences beyond mainstream media

Next time you’re scrolling on TikTok or Instagram and that fitness guru or “mumfluencer” you follow pops up, they might be joined by an unexpected guest.As part of a UK government strategy to reach voters on social media – where more than half of people now get their news – ministers including Keir Starmer are making appearances on some of the most popular channels.Last week, the science communicator Simon Clark broadcast his FaceTime call with Starmer at the Cop30 climate summit in Brazil to his 73,000 followers.The campaigner Anna Whitehouse – who goes by Mother Pukka – posted clips of her conversation with Bridget Phillipson about the inadequacies of the English childcare system to 444,000 followers in July.And earlier this month, two personal finance influencers, Cameron Smith and Abi Foster, were given front-row seats at Rachel Reeves’s press conference where she warned voters about forthcoming tax rises

Angela Rayner declines to rule out running for Labour leader as she condemns infighting

Allies of Angela Rayner say the former deputy prime minister will seek to renew her public profile in the coming months and would be likely to run in a future leadership contest.In her first major interview this weekend, Rayner condemned the “arrogant tittle-tattle” and Labour infighting dominating the past week. Rayner, often considered as a potential successor to Keir Starmer, declined to rule out running for the job or returning to frontline politics, saying she had “not gone away”.However, those close to Rayner, who had been seen as a frontrunner to succeed Starmer until her shock resignation over underpaid stamp duty, say she was significantly shaken by the impact on her family. They said that would be the key factor over whether she would run and that it was nonsense that she was plotting any imminent challenge

When reality bites: the rapid rise and chaotic fall of Reform UK in Cornwall

Resignations, suspensions and infighting lead to party losing crown of highest number of seats in the county“I know whenever I come back here next,” Nigel Farage told a jubilant crowd of hundreds in a leisure centre in Redruth, “Reform UK will become a dominant force, not just in Cornwall politics, but in British politics.”That was in February and when the local elections arrived three months later it appeared Farage’s prophecy was in part coming true – Reform took 28 seats on Cornwall council, the highest number of any party.But during his speech at Carn Brea leisure centre, Farage also warned his rapturous supporters “we have to convert theory into reality” – and reality in Cornwall is now biting.Six months on from the local elections – after which Reform was unable to form an administration, leaving the Liberal Democrats and independents to set up a ruling coalition – the party’s presence in the county is in disarray following weeks of resignations, suspensions and infighting that mean Reform UK no longer holds the highest number of seats in the authority.Critics say that along with the chaos in the Reform-led council of Kent, the farcical scenes in Cornwall, where Reform act as the official opposition are further evidence that the party is not capable of delivering beyond a protest vote

Wes Streeting accused of ‘chaotic and incoherent approach’ to NHS reform

Wes Streeting has been accused of taking a “chaotic and incoherent approach” to reforming the NHS, which makes it unlikely the government will hit its own targets, according to a damning report by the Institute for Government (IfG).The report praises elements of how the health secretary has managed the health service in his first year in office, including improving performance and staff retention in hospitals. Thepay settlement he reached with resident doctors last year avoided a winter plagued by NHS strikesBut it also criticises significant aspects of his performance, including the way he handled the abolition of NHS England and his lack of action to stem the exodus of senior GPs.The findings threaten to puncture Streeting’s reputation after a turbulent week during which he was forced to deny accusations from allies of Keir Starmer that he was lining up a leadership challenge against the prime minister.Stuart Hoddinott, the IfG’s associate director and the author of the report, said: “There have been some positive steps: performance is trending slowly upwards in hospitals, there’s been a genuinely large increase in GPs and the rate at which hospital staff are leaving their jobs is the lowest on record outside the pandemic