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we could be in for a seismic week in
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British politics representing one of the
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biggest challenges that we've ever seen
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to the two-party system in the UK so on
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Thursday millions of voters go to the
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polls in local elections both to elect
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councilors and a handful of regional
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mayors and it looks like Nigel Farage's
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Reform UK could make major gains the
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local seats which are coming up this
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week were last contested back in 2021
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during Boris Johnson's postcoavid
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vaccine popularity and this was seen at
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the time as the absolute peak of 21st
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century Tories success so much so that
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the morning after Kharma who was then
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the opposition leader almost quit as
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Labour leader since that high watermark
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moment the Conservatives have crashed
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out of power cratering in 2024 to their
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worst performance in their entire
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200year history now their current leader
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Chem Bedo is fighting to avoid electoral
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annihilation bono is insistent that no
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electoral pact is on the cards with
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Nigel Farage's reform party but there
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are major Tory voices gunning for a deal
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with his camp ben Houchin for instance
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the Tease Valley mayor who happens to be
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the most senior elected Tory left in
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Britain has said that if the
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Conservatives and reform between them
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gets the number where they could
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dislodge Labor they should make a deal a
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reform spokesperson has said that the
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party has no intention of forming
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coalitions or packs with the Tories
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meanwhile Kier Dharma the prime minister
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has said that Tory voters would be put
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off by Farage's foreign policy views and
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that reform voters would be put off by
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the Tory record the Conservative Party
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is the oldest in the world so it feels
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slightly melodramatic to start writing
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its political obituary already and there
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was a time after the 1997 election when
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they were thrashed by Tony Blair that it
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felt like the Tories would never win
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another election that was of course
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premature and ultimately wrong there was
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a succession of prime ministers who held
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power for 14 years but this time the
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reality that the party faces feels
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bleaker and even more treacherous kami
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Badno's party only has 121 seats in
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parliament that's their lowest ever
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number and even though she faces an
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unpopular incumbent government her
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campaign message has been largely
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squeezed out both by the left and by
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charismatic voices on her right local
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elections are only ever so useful for
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predicting the next election the 2021
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vote suggested that we'd be in for a
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decade if Boris Johnson and look how
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that turned out but if reform can
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translate its current strong polling
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into votes on Thursday well this could
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be a historic moment in British politics
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and for everything you need to know
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about this story as it develops head to
