this post was submitted on 26 Jan 2026

54 points (100.0% liked)

United Kingdom

6476 readers

405 users here now

General community for news/discussion in the UK.

Less serious posts should go in !casualuk@feddit.uk or !andfinally@feddit.uk
More serious politics should go in !uk_politics@feddit.uk.

Try not to spam the same link to multiple feddit.uk communities.
Pick the most appropriate, and put it there.

Posts should be related to UK-centric news, and should be either a link to a reputable source, or a text post on this community.

Opinion pieces are also allowed, provided they are not misleading/misrepresented/drivel, and have proper sources.

If you think "reputable news source" needs some definition, by all means start a meta thread.

Posts should be manually submitted, not by bot. Link titles should not be editorialised.

Disappointing comments will generally be left to fester in ratio, outright horrible comments will be removed.
Message the mods if you feel something really should be removed, or if a user seems to have a pattern of awful comments.

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

tom@feddit.uk

GreatAlbatross@feddit.uk

frankPodmore@slrpnk.net

Ex-Tory Home Secretary Braverman defects to Reform UK (www.bbc.co.uk)

submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by MonsterMonster@lemmy.world to c/unitedkingdom@feddit.uk

32 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman has become the latest Conservative MP to defect to Reform UK.

She becomes the third sitting Tory MP to join Nigel Farage's party in the last eleven days, and takes Reform's tally of MPs to eight.

Unveiled at a rally in London, Braverman told Reform supporters she had also resigned her Tory membership of 30 years, adding: "I feel like I've come home."

Her defection comes hot on the heels of Robert Jenrick and Andrew Rosindell, who also left the Conservatives earlier this month.

all 33 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] mjr@infosec.pub 38 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Reform UK Re-use the worst Tories and Recycle Putin's policies

[+] makingrain@lemmy.world -14 points 1 week ago (3 children)

I'll bite. I'm excited for your response.

Which Reform policy is a Putin policy?

[–] mjr@infosec.pub 22 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

So many to choose from! How about building more gas turbine power stations (thereby increasing demand for gas, pushing the global price up and benefitting Gazprom even if they don't buy directly from them), cutting stamp duty on the biggest properties (including most of those bought by Russian oligarchs) and pulling out of the European Defence Fund? All straight from the last Reform manifesto and I'd bet Putin would be in favour of those, wouldn't you?

If you don't like those, there's stuff like cancelling our human rights, repealing the Equalities Act and "scrapping" the BBC.

I suspect Reform would also open the floodgates to more Russian government funding, Nathan Gill style and otherwise, but they're not daft enough to put that in their manifesto.

Maybe you could say which Reform policies would Putin oppose? There's some he probably wouldn't care about either way, but oppose?

[+] makingrain@lemmy.world -17 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

So many to choose from!

Proceeds to list zero policies 😀

We're using gas for the next 50 years whether it's Reform or the Greens. That curries more favour with the US or Qatar than it does Russia. You're reaching for that to be a "Putin policy"

Scrapping the licence fee.. that 1/2 of the population who should pay, don't.

Thanks for responding at least.

What would Putin oppose? Let's see.. the top three from Reform's site:

stopping the boats (I know, I know)
defend our borders
deport illegal migrants

[–] ohulancutash@feddit.uk 10 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Russia was the biggest gas exporter until the 2022 sanctions. It is still heavily dependent on black and grey market exports.

At the time of this comment, gas makes up 22% of tonight’s supply to the National Grid, with wind at 52% and Biomass/Nuclear at 17%. Gas will not last another 50 years at all.

[+] makingrain@lemmy.world -10 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Read what I said again: we'll be using gas in 50 years.

Your cherry picked statistics for a windy day at 22:30 are a poor example. Check again at 17:00.

Maybe have a think about the majority of homes central heating.

While you're at it: go learn about how fertiliser is made using natural gas (we import all our fertiliser now anyway, thanks Ed!)

Oh and we have never been a major importer of Russian gas.

[–] mjr@infosec.pub 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Read what I said again: we’ll be using gas in 50 years.

We'll have to wait 50 years to know, but even if we are, it'll be much much less under any sane government, but it would be more if left to Reform.

Your cherry picked statistics for a windy day at 22:30 are a poor example. Check again at 17:00.

It's absurd to accuse someone of cherry-picking and then cherry-pick a time when the National Energy System Operator has invited bids for the Demand Flexibility Service because the price of gas-generated electricity is too high.

Maybe have a think about the majority of homes central heating.

A majority, but not a supermajority. Only about 60% of UK homes burn gas for heating despite all the encouragement and inducement since the 1970s in a scandal that makes promotion of diesel cars look like playschool stuff, and a farcical and pathetic target-missing attempt to encourage heat pumps in the last 10 years (target: 600,000 heat pumps per year by 2028, latest number I've seen: 91,000 per year and no, that's not missing a digit).

Oh and we have never been a major importer of Russian gas.

So? Buying gas and thereby driving the market price up is enough to benefit Russia. When you hear a gas boiler roar, it's helping fund Putin.

[–] makingrain@lemmy.world 0 points 1 week ago

We’ll have to wait 50 years to know, but even if we are, it’ll be much much less under any sane government, but it would be more if left to Reform.

No, it's a certainty. You and the other user are fixated on CCGT generation. My reply was to the other user, not you. They said "Gas will not last another 50 years at all." and I am saying it has more uses than CCGT.

It’s absurd to accuse someone of cherry-picking and then cherry-pick a time when the National Energy System Operator has invited bids for the Demand Flexibility Service because the price of gas-generated electricity is too high.

No it's not. They looked at a dashboard at 22:30 and tried to portray the UK as if it is representative of a peak usage time. Let's see how those stats are today.. oh, 50% is generated by CCGT (gas) at 7pm, cool. That was my point.

A majority, but not a supermajority. Only about 60% of UK homes burn gas for heating despite all the encouragement and inducement since the 1970s in a scandal that makes promotion of diesel cars look like playschool stuff, and a farcical and pathetic target-missing attempt to encourage heat pumps in the last 10 years (target: 600,000 heat pumps per year by 2028, latest number I’ve seen: 91,000 per year and no, that’s not missing a digit).

Wrong. It's closer to 85%. Where did you get the 60% figure from? I'm not replying to your irrelevant addon about heat pumps (go back up this chain to remind yourself of what we're talking about)

So? Buying gas and thereby driving the market price up is enough to benefit Russia. When you hear a gas boiler roar, it’s helping fund Putin.

They sell it for far less.

[–] mjr@infosec.pub 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Proceeds to list zero policies 😀

I listed three. You might like to pretend they're not policies or something, but Reform put them in their manifesto.

We’re using gas for the next 50 years whether it’s Reform or the Greens. That curries more favour with the US or Qatar than it does Russia. You’re reaching for that to be a “Putin policy”

Really? Are you seriously claiming that Putin doesn't want the UK buying gas for longer? As that's the difference between Reform and the others: Reform would build more new gas power stations, prolonging the dependency mistake, while most of the other parties will phase it out more or less quickly.

Scrapping the licence fee…

Not only, but also scrapping the BBC because they believe on-demand TV has replaced it. That's what they wrote.

And I notice you don't disagree that Putin would want the UK out of the European Defence Fund.

What would Putin oppose? Let’s see… the top three from Reform’s site:

stopping the boats (I know, I know)

defend our borders

deport illegal migrants

Don't make me laugh! Why would Putin oppose those? Putin would love all of them, along with anything else that makes the UK more isolated and causes squabbles with its neighbours or diverts funds from NATO-level defence to petty little border patrols. That's why he's paid Reform politicians like Nathan Gill so much.

[–] makingrain@lemmy.world -4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Which three? Which three are Putin policies? I'm not addressing the rest of your response until you name which three Reform policies are Putin policies which got us to where we are.

[–] mjr@infosec.pub 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

You're just showboating because we've had nine Putin-friendly Reform UK policies so far:

building more gas turbine power stations
cutting stamp duty on the biggest properties
pulling out of the European Defence Fund
cancelling our human rights act
repealing the Equalities Act
“scrapping” the BBC
stopping the boats (any method that really does it will be basically either impossible or illegal)
defending our borders (more insular isolationism is what Putin really loves)
deporting illegal migrants (which would quickly become an ICE-style scandal deporting natives who look different and dwarf the Windrush scandal)

[–] makingrain@lemmy.world 0 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

building more gas turbine power stations

Is this in their manifesto? Can you link to it please?

cutting stamp duty on the biggest properties

I don't think oligarcs are too concerned about a few extra thousand pounds to pay! Btw.. Is this in their manifesto? Can you link to it please?

pulling out of the European Defence Fund

Is this in their manifesto? Can you link to it please?

cancelling our human rights act

Is this in their manifesto? Can you link to it please?

repealing the Equalities

Is this in their manifesto? Can you link to it please?

“scrapping” the BBC

As I already said, it's the licence fee, not the BBC. The licence fee is unfit for 2026 and it should be scrapped.

stopping the boats (any method that really does it will be basically either impossible or illegal)

How is that a "putin policy"? Russia are the ones behind it - look at Baltic/Russian borders for illegal crossings facilitated by Russia and Belarus. Not a Russia friendly policy at all. You're wrong.

defending our borders (more insular isolationism is what Putin really loves)

Listen to yourself. Which country in the world doesn't defend their borders? Wrong

deporting illegal migrants (which would quickly become an ICE-style scandal deporting natives who look different and dwarf the Windrush scandal)

How tiresome. Is that Russia friendly? No. Wrong again!

[–] makingrain@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

I'll save you replying to my requests for linkage. You were likely referencing their 2024 manifesto. I still disagree that those are "Puitin policies", we clearly have different viewpoints and won't persuade one another.

[–] Corporal_Punishment@feddit.uk 7 points 1 week ago

Agree....

Farage and pals are totally hanging out of Putin's arse and a lot of what they do and say will no doubt make him happy, especially when it comes to support for Ukraine.

Not sure which of their policies are the same as Putins though

[–] jabjoe@feddit.uk 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Their leader is a Putin man.

https://www.facebook.com/ledbydonkeys/videos/we-need-to-talk-about-nigel-farage-and-russialocation-kyiv/887348060902269/

(Sorry this Led By Dockers video seams to only be on Facebook and Instagram)

[–] makingrain@lemmy.world -2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I know.

OP said Putin policies, which is false. There's enough disinformation floating about without adding to it.

For the record, Farage is a cunt.

[–] jabjoe@feddit.uk 0 points 1 week ago

Reform is a pro-Russia party with members jailed for Russian corruption. Farage is just good at it and not been caught.

Reform would give MAGA the UK. Traitors. Reform is full of Brexit people when Brexit massively damanaged the country. Traitors. Reform would privative the NHS screwing over all the but the rich. Traitors.

Magnet to the worse of the Tories.

Let alone the blatant racism and intolerance of any diversity. I refuse to tolerant their intolerance. It must be challenged or we'll end sinking into a hell hole like the US has (and is still descending further).

[–] Codpiece@feddit.uk 33 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Horrible person joins other horrible people in party with horrible policies.

I think they’re building up to the big one. It’ll be Truss next.

[–] meejle@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Are even Reform voters dumb enough to see that happen and think it's a good thing? I mean, surely taking the piss out of Lettuce Liz is just about the only thing everyone in this country can agree on?

[–] Codpiece@feddit.uk 6 points 1 week ago

Fair point.

Maybe not Liz then. Maybe Priti Patel.

[–] Denjin@feddit.uk 22 points 1 week ago (3 children)

How can reform continue to call themselves the "plucky up starts from outside the establishment when they're entirely peopled by the establishment?

[–] Corporal_Punishment@feddit.uk 2 points 1 week ago

When "drain the swamp" starts to sound more and more ridiculous

[–] GiveOver@feddit.uk 1 points 1 week ago

How can they even call themselves Reform when they're full of people responsible for the current form.

[–] WorldieBoi@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

We drain the swamp and now we keep what we drained.

[–] digitalFatteh@lemmy.ca 20 points 1 week ago

A POS conservative being a POS. Colour me surprised.

[–] Flamekebab@piefed.social 17 points 1 week ago

Is that like moving from the compost to the landfill?

[–] tetris11@feddit.uk 9 points 1 week ago (1 children)

shock.

[–] ladel@feddit.uk 9 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I'm shocked it took her this long

[–] annoyed_onion@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

Kinda assumed it had already happened and just wasn't shouted about as it's not really news

[–] NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 7 points 1 week ago

Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.

[–] tenebrisnox@feddit.uk 3 points 1 week ago

In other news: rabid dog bites gurning man.

[–] Dogiedog64@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

Trash moved from trash bin to dumpster fire.