Speaking at the Ivor Novello awards, singer CMAT has spoken out against Reform UK and the far right. She’s also called on her fellow artists to get off the fence and to take a stand:
“I have no time, sympathy or empathy for anybody that decides to make life more difficult for people who are just trying to live” – @cmatbaby sticks it to Reform, Farage and fascists during her powerful @IvorsAcademy speech#CMAT #IvorNovello2026 pic.twitter.com/wMS1dVI9MS
— NME (@NME) May 22, 2026
CMAT “F*ck Reform”
CMAT (real name Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson) was born in Dublin — the capital of the Republic of Ireland. She has spoken out on social issues before, and is a fierce defender of trans rights. As part of this, CMAT released a t-shirt that raises money for the Transgender Equality Network Ireland which claims that “The T in CMAT stands for Trans rights”. Thompson also spoke out against the singer Roisin Murphy:
View this post on Instagram
Speaking on trans rights and the law, the Canary’s Em Colquhoun wrote:
Prioritising the legal definitions of sex and gender over and above the reality of trans lives will always be reductive, further entrenching a ‘hostile environment‘ for trans people. But that is precisely what lawfare-waging TERFs want. The more convoluted the law, the colder the chilling effect on LGBTQ+ people’s freedoms of movement and expression.
At the end of the day, it’s not the law that needs to be changed, but the general attitudes towards trans people in this country. The law may influence this, but the problems have taken root far deeper than statutes.
Luck of the draw
Speaking to Ivor Novello Awards audience, Irish singer CMAT said:
I happen to be a legal immigrant in this country only because Ireland was lucky enough to get colonised 8 years ago by England. And that is actually the only difference between me and you admin wise.
As Thompson notes, Irish citizens can live and work in the UK. She’s certainly not British, however, and she’s clearly not aligned with the rampant flag shaggers who want to keep other migrants out.
The reason these fascist goons aren’t campaigning to send Thompson back is simple; it’s because the ‘anti-migration’ movement is just racism rebranded. And this is why so many Reform politicians keep finding themselves exposed for blatantly racist comments.
Speaking on her philosophy of songwriting, Thompson explained:
I have a very specific idea of what songwriting is supposed to be for and I think it is to reflect the times through your own personal view so that everybody can have something to connect to and something to learn from years later.
As an example of what she’s talking about, there’s a song on her most recent album titled *Lord, Let that Tesla Crash.*That’s particularly relevant today, because Tesla owner Elon Musk came out to support the far-right Restore Britain:
Restore Britain https://t.co/y6b0RnO7p7
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 24, 2026
Stand for something
Closing out her speech, Thompson called on her peers to do more to meet the moment:
Now what would compel my fellow artists in the room, it is not the time to sit on the fence. Fascism is on the rise. That c*nt Bertie Ahern recently showed his true colours.
Providing context on this, the Canary’s Robert Freeman wrote:
Taoiseach (prime minister) Micheál Martin has responded tepidly to appallingly bigoted remarks by his predecessor Bertie Ahern on a voter’s doorstep. The voter recorded the ex-Fianna Fáil leader saying he didn’t approve of Africans entering Ireland, and vilifying the next generation of Muslims who he said were set to cause “problems.”
Instead of condemning Ahern’s overt racism and Islamophobia, Martin said the remarks were “not appropriate,” “correct, or proper” — a slap on the wrist at best.
Thompson finished by saying:
F*ck Reform.
F*ck Nigel Farage.
I have no time, sympathy, or empathy for anybody that decides to make life more difficult for people who are just trying to live. And that’s what this record is about.
There are many good reasons to figuratively “f*ck” Reform too. As Ed Sykes recently reported for the Canary, the Greater Manchester Police arrested several Labour operators in May on the suspicion that they ran fake candidates in the Tameside local elections. Reform attempted to capitalise on this, as Sykes reported:
In Gorton and Denton, Farage’s party lost by well over 4,000 votes. But it had a tantrum anyway. It quickly blamed ‘family voting‘ for the result, trying to sow seeds of suspicion, particularly about Muslim backers of the Green Party, by suggesting men had told their wives how to vote.
Greater Manchester Police ended its investigation into Reform’s allegations a month later because there was no reliable evidence.
That hasn’t stopped Reform voices continuing to spread smears and misinformation, though. Because like Farage, racist Gorton-and-Denton-by-election-loser Matt Goodwin also responded to the news of the Tameside arrests by referring back to the Islamophobic lies about Gorton and Denton and failing to mention Tameside itself.
And this is really just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the reasons why Farage & .co can go f*ck themselves.
CMAT’s latest album EURO-COUNTRYis available now.
Featured image via Getty Images (Eamonn M.McCormack)
By Willem Moore
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