The Labour Party was formed over a century ago – founded to represent and support the working class in the UK. Since then, there has been a permanent tension within the Labour movement between its working-class origins and its need to appeal to a broader electorate to secure a majority in Parliament.
The debate is as old as the party itself – how can Labour prioritise the interests of working people while pursuing policies that more affluent classes support too?
In recent years, the nature of this tension has shifted from being primarily class-oriented to more cultural and emotional. A range of factors contribute to this change, and Labour faces both challenges and opportunities in reversing the decline in working-class support.
Since Brexit, class has been a weaker predictor of vote choice than age and education. That shift didn’t end with the 2024 election. Post-election analysis show Reform’s vote skewed older, with fewer university degrees and more C2DE than ABC1, indicating a cultural realignment in which identity and outlook matter more than traditional class loyalties.
In 2024, YouGov estimated Reform took 20% among C2DE voters versus 11% among ABC1 – a striking indication that parts of Labour’s historic base are open to alternatives, particularly those framed as “common-sense” and anti-establishment. The media present the views of this base as traditional working-class communities, but the spread is far more complicated that one simple description. What is being created is an alignment between working class and middle-class voters with more socially conservative outlooks on life. The primary beneficiary of this new alignment of traditional Labour voters and former right-wing Tories is Reform.
Reform’s Resonance and Labour’s Distance
When pollsters ask why people consider Reform, immigration consistently tops the list, followed by a general “desire for change.” That’s not only a Conservative defectors’ story; a non-trivial minority of 2024 Labour voters also cite channel crossings as a key concern, even when they hold more liberal views on settled migrants. Reform’s clarity and salience on small boats contrast with Labour’s more managerial tone, giving Reform a sharper emotional connection for voters who prize border control as a proxy for state competence.
This important tonal element is crucial. In world full of managers, or as Lord Glasman describes, the Lanyard Class, providing complex answers to apparently simple questions, lecturing and finger wagging and avoiding definitive positions on issues, voters crave bold simplicity and that is what Reform is providing.
YouGov has found that Reform backers sit “culturally right, economically mixed” traditional on values and order, but for their C2DE backers, open to state action that visibly helps workers. That blend maps onto older working-class voters who want tougher crime and immigration policies and tangible help on bills, housing and public services without jargon or long time-horizons. Labour’s incrementalism and talk of national renewal can look bloodless and vague next to a party that speaks in absolutes.
Reform are carefully aligning themselves on issues such as welfare, calling for the cap on the two-child benefit limit early. If Reform were to secure a majority, or participate in the next government, it remains to be seen whether this coalition of traditional Thatcherite Tories and voters who want a more active state can be maintained. Years of stagnant wages, high housing costs and bill spikes have frayed patience. While many know the Tories ran the government during the worst of the cost-of-living crisis, Reform argues that a cross-party “consensus” (on energy, migration, tax and regulation) produced the squeeze. Among renters and lower-income households, groups that swung around heavily in 2024, Reform outperformed the Conservatives and, in social housing, even beat them (21% Reform vs 14% Conservative). That positioning gives Reform headroom to present itself as the only party willing to break economic orthodoxy.
Control, Freedom and the Politics of Agency
Lord Glassman’s definition of the Lanyard Class is particularly apt. Voters are fed up with being told what is not possible and why things can’t be done. From getting graffiti cleaned in their street, to seeing police patrols and getting a GP appointment. There is a growing sentiment across the country that the ordinary people are struggling to get by, access services and live freely, while those at the very top seem to get what they want and get away even more.
The feeling from majority of voters, especially those from Reform’s growing coalition, is that they are no longer in control of their own lives. They want to see action on areas that will make a tangible difference to their lives, improved public services that give people faith in the power of the state again. But too often this government, and the previous Conservative government reach for the easier wins that sound good to the lanyard class. People understand that smoking and drinking, for example, has a negative impact on an their health, but they don’t want the government dictating their personal choices. Instead, voters want the freedom to make their own choices on their health and lifestyle.
Yet, the government is pressing ahead with legislation, started by the previous Conservative government, to ban the sale of tobacco to anyone born after 1st January 2009 – a move seen by many as further eroding personal agency.
While Reform stand for personal freedom and individual choice, Labour is presented as the finger wagging state knows best party, at a time when voters trust in the state is minimal. Of course, smoking will not determine the outcome of the next general election, but it is an example of a policy area where Reform makes a stark contrast to Labour and where an example of clear battle lines is being drawn.
Labour’s challenge is not simply to reconnect with the working class in socioeconomic terms, but to rebuild cultural trust. Many voters no longer see Labour as understanding their values, frustrations or priorities. Where Labour offers process, Reform offers conviction; where Labour promises reform, Reform offers rebellion. Unless Labour can speak more clearly to the desire for agency, fairness and tangible change, it risks watching its traditional base gather around a rival that claims to speak their language –even if only in slogans.
