In 2025, the British working class has become the most fought-over political prize.
Both Labour and Reform UK are claiming to be the party of “ordinary people” but beneath the speeches and slogans, the strategies reveal a more fractured reality between the two parties.
Labour’s Struggle to Reconnect
The Labour Party, once the natural home of working-class voters, is in damage control mode. After winning the 2024 general election by default, largely due to a Conservative collapse Labour is now bleeding support in every direction.
To stop the rise of Reform UK, Keir Starmer has made a strategic pivot rightwards to try and make amends to appeal to working class voters. So far the policies have been:
• Slashing foreign aid spending
• Watering down green energy pledges
• Embracing tough rhetoric on immigration, including the now-notorious “Island of Strangers” phrase.
This approach is widely seen as a play to win back disaffected Red Wall voters, especially older, socially conservative communities who once voted for Boris Johnson and Brexit. But the data tells a more complicated story.
What’s really happening?
According to YouGov polling:
• Only 6% of Labour’s 2024 voters have shifted to Reform
• 22% have checked out entirely not voting, undecided, or disengaged
• More voters are defecting left than right:
o 12% now back the Lib Dems
o 9% have gone to the Greens
Starmer’s “Farage-lite” strategy may be a misfire because experts have stated that all this has done is alienate younger, progressive supporters without winning over hardened Reform voters, who have little history of backing Labour at all.
Reform’s Working-Class Branding Blitz
Nigel Farage, on the other hand, is doubling down on his anti-elite, pro-worker image, despite his own privileged background. At a recent press conference, he proclaimed that Reform UK has become “the party of the working class,” accusing Labour of being out of touch and led by “a bunch of lawyers” who have never run a business.
Reform UK’s pitch to voters is built on a blend of populist messaging and symbolic gestures. The party has aggressively attacked net zero policies, claiming they are unaffordable for ordinary families. It has staged political rallies in former Labour strongholds; even repurposing old Labour clubs to underscore its claim to be the true voice of the working class. Nigel Farage has consistently portrayed Keir Starmer as disconnected, robotic, and unpatriotic, sharpening the contrast between Reform and Labour’s leadership.
The results speak for themselves: in the 2025 local elections, Reform contested 41% of all seats, won 677 councillors, and took control of 10 councils, a milestone UKIP never reached. But this success doesn’t stem from broad working-class appeal. Reform’s surge is largely built on a specific voter bloc: disaffected ex-UKIP, pro-Brexit, anti-immigration voters, the majority of whom backed the Tories in 2019, not Labour.
The Bigger Picture: Two Parties, Two Misfires.
Both parties are trying to brand themselves as the voice of the working class, but neither is addressing the full spectrum of working-class concerns.
Labour’s tilt to the right is scaring off progressives and young voters, without truly reconnecting with their old base and Reform’s cultural populism appeals to older, disillusioned voters but offers economic policies with vague costing and limited realism.
And crucially, the working class isn’t a monolith. Today’s working-class voters include:
• Multi-ethnic urban renters
• Low-paid gig workers
• Social care staff
• Warehouse and logistics workers
• Young people with degrees but low incomes
But is any of the parties really addressing the needs of this demograph?
Conclusion
Labour and Reform are locked in a battle for a group they both oversimplify. While Starmer shapes policies to woo older ex-Tories, and Farage paints himself as the people’s champion, millions of working-class voters are slipping through the cracks, unimpressed, unrepresented, and increasingly uninterested.
