Labour needs complete ‘reset’ to defeat Reform UK threat, says strategist

Chris Powell: ‘We simply cannot afford to allow Reform UK to have a free run, and become established and entrenched as a credible potential government in the minds of disenchanted voters.’ Photograph: Supplied

Keir Starmer does not have enough of a plan to defeat the “existential threat” that populism poses to UK democracy and should undertake a “fundamental reset”, New Labour’s former advertising strategist Sir Chris Powell has warned.

Powell, who is the brother of Jonathan Powell, Starmer’s national security adviser, warned there were just three years to stop the “new and terrifying threat” of populists, suggesting Reform UK could represent a danger to democracy and national institutions.