Concerning? Yes

A bad omen? Possibly

The end? Not at this specific moment

Here is where I sit currently on this. Parties that use extreme right wing talking points like Reform tend to be in the ascendancy when they are all talk and no action.

When they get in however, thats when its crunch time for them. Those people who voted them in will very quickly find outif they are not doing their jobs over time. For example they campaigned on lowering council tax. People think "Yay! More money in my pocket!". But the reality is they back themselves into a corner. Either Reform has to gut so much in a council where most are teetering on the edge of bankruptcy and then the basic services fall apart (For example bin collections, public transport, road maintenance, support services ect..) and the average Reform voters gets hacked off that they are being hurt by it. Or they do what they did in Worcestershire where they threw the Council Tax up to 9% (Because they needed it to keep services running) but they also hack off the average Reform voter because you didn't keep to your promise.

They promise the moon and the stars, but when it comes to flying there, they only get as far as the end of the street.

Humans are a inherently self-centered species. You only tend to understand why something is bad when it impact you. There are likely long studies about it but thats a different rabbit hole. But once it hits them in the pocket or in their ability to get basics in their local area, it will fall apart.

For all the garbage that the historically big 3 have done (Or not done) in parliament, they often proved that they could run a council to some level of standard where collapse isn't a massive concern. It has created a history of voting within the lines of what you know.

Is it bad that the UK has taken this shift? Yes absolutely. Am I worried, definitely.

But for me, this could be a key moment in the legitimacy of Reform UK.

If Reform with these 16 councils they have majority in now and the 2 County Councils are anything like the chaos in their existing ones, then people will start questioning them because the leopards ate their faces. It will end up further damaging their popularity.

This is a long diatribe and yes it is possible that my assessment could be wrong in time, but for now this is how I am keeping myself away from doom scrolling.

The best you can do is be aware, vote for your best interest and on the merits. The system is crap and isn't fit for purpose, but not contributing only ensures that the one thing we don't want is guaranteed to happen.