Zack Polanski delivers a speech on the first day of the Green Party conference last month.

Last week, when Home Office Minister Mike Tapp fired off his crass “deport, deport, deport” tweet, he wasn’t trying to fix a broken system, he was talking directly to voters Labour have lost to Reform.

He thought he was being tough. And yes, I’m sure Labour strategists smirked. But millions of people across this country weren’t amused. They were horrified. Because this is not leadership. It is cruelty. Cheap, dangerous, divisive cruelty aimed at the people with the least power.

And when I called it out, Tapp threw more playground insults around and called me a communist. That’s McCarthyism. That bleak, paranoid era when smearing people replaced making arguments. That’s where Labour is now.

And of course, all of this bile comes as Westminster prepares for next week’s Budget. Another opportunity for Labour, Reform, and the Conservatives to talk about how they are standing up for ordinary people all while “asking” them to pay more and allowing the very wealthiest to get richer and richer. It’s grotesque.

I obviously disagree with them, but I get why so many people say they’re considering Reform. They can see a truth: the political establishment, of which Reform is part, has been ripping them off for years. Bills through the roof. Wages........

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