I’ve seen first-hand what happens when politicians promise huge tax cuts without acknowledging difficult trade-offs – and that’s exactly what we’d get from a Reform government, says Sir Simon Clarke

It’s time to take Reform seriously, because one day soon, they might run our country. Stranger things have happened. Look at France, where the traditional centre-right and left have been all but wiped out by Macron’s new party and the hard-right National Rally. Look at Germany, where the AfD are now the opposition. Look at the United States, where the Republican Party has been entirely recast in the image of Donald Trump. Politics can change very suddenly.

Surfing a wave of justified frustration about the state of Britain, Reform didn’t just win this month’s elections – they smashed them. They won new Mayoralties in Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire. They took control of Derbyshire, Kent, Lancashire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire and Durham Councils. They won the Runcorn by-election, one of Labour’s safest Parliamentary seats. National opinion polls now give them a commanding lead, with the........

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