Page 2 | To think if you can't understand English/Welsh or Gaelic you shouldn't be voting in a British election?

Yetanotherwaterbottle · 2026-02-25T18:41:12+00:00

Is this unreasonable? The Greens desperation is doing serious damage to their brand.

Makayana · 26/02/2026 10:13

Shouldn't be a citizen if you don't know the language. Surely knowing English is a requirement to naturalise anyway?

JHound · 26/02/2026 10:09

BeAvidHiker · 26/02/2026 10:02

OP is spot on. But the far left on here ware piling into her and calling her racist.

Everyone can see that these areas are a product of low skilled, low value immigration that have become ghettos where segregation is already a problem. Then we go and entrench it even more by encouraging people to not even learn the language of the country they have chosen to live in. Instead, using other languages to show some kind of dangerous moral superiority.

This kind of immigration has done nothing good for the country, because there is no assimilation, integration and value added to the economy or the local area. But if you say it, apparently you are a racist.

What does any of this have to do with OP’s post? What does “low value immigration” have to do with somebody being able to vote in an election?

JHound · 26/02/2026 10:06

BeAvidHiker · 26/02/2026 10:02

OP is spot on. But the far left on here ware piling into her and calling her racist.

Everyone can see that these areas are a product of low skilled, low value immigration that have become ghettos where segregation is already a problem. Then we go and entrench it even more by encouraging people to not even learn the language of the country they have chosen to live in. Instead, using other languages to show some kind of dangerous moral superiority.

This kind of immigration has done nothing good for the country, because there is no assimilation, integration and value added to the economy or the local area. But if you say it, apparently you are a racist.

“Far Left”?

BeAvidHiker · 26/02/2026 10:02

OP is spot on. But the far left on here ware piling into her and calling her racist.

Everyone can see that these areas are a product of low skilled, low value immigration that have become ghettos where segregation is already a problem. Then we go and entrench it even more by encouraging people to not even learn the language of the country they have chosen to live in. Instead, using other languages to show some kind of dangerous moral superiority.

This kind of immigration has done nothing good for the country, because there is no assimilation, integration and value added to the economy or the local area. But if you say it, apparently you are a racist.

JHound · 26/02/2026 09:50

I think voting should be restricted to citizens and citizens should be able to speak the languages of the country in which they live so I agree.

Ilovedoggos · 26/02/2026 09:42

KTheGrey · 25/02/2026 20:45

That’s Gaelic.

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No it’s not!!!!

KTheGrey · 26/02/2026 07:57

Piggywaspushed · 25/02/2026 21:00

Thank you.

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Thank you - every day’s a school day eh.

MNdrama · 25/02/2026 23:16

Yetanotherwaterbottle · 25/02/2026 21:20

So over half respondents think I'm not being unreasonable, but most the posters are saying I am.

I am willing to bet these posters aren't so quick to defend English migrants in Spain who complain because they can not understand Spanish.

How exactly are those related?

MNdrama · 25/02/2026 23:10

TeenagersAngst · 25/02/2026 20:02

How patronising. Some people struggle to acquire good levels of literacy for genuine reasons and it has nothing to do with intelligence. It is, however, a precursor to ongoing challenges including a propensity to criminality. Up to 50% of prisoners are functionally illiterate.

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Never heard of sarcasm?

Original poster

Yetanotherwaterbottle · 25/02/2026 21:20

So over half respondents think I'm not being unreasonable, but most the posters are saying I am.

I am willing to bet these posters aren't so quick to defend English migrants in Spain who complain because they can not understand Spanish.

OP posts:

Piggywaspushed · 25/02/2026 21:00

KTheGrey · 25/02/2026 20:56

Beg your pardon - I Googled and Scots is indeed a language where I thought it was a dialect.

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Thank you.

FreeWheezin · 25/02/2026 20:57

A) Bhòt air mo shon mas e do thoil e

B) Na, pleidleisiwch drosof i

Ok OP who are you voting for?

Piggywaspushed · 25/02/2026 20:57

Commonwealth citizens can vote too. And Irish.

KTheGrey · 25/02/2026 20:56

Piggywaspushed · 25/02/2026 20:53

Gaelic is a language spoken in Scotland by a minority of Scots. Scots is another language spoken by some Scots.

Edited

Beg your pardon - I Googled and Scots is indeed a language where I thought it was a dialect.

mindutopia · 25/02/2026 20:54

Well, first of all, anyone who is allowed to vote in the UK must have either ILR (for, I believe, some local elections) or be a British citizen. And to be either of those things, you must have already passed an English language test or be from an English speaking country and you must pass a Life in the UK test, which requires a grasp of UK history and politics that most British people don’t possess.

I’ve had to do both of the above to become a British citizen and acquire the right to vote. Something that many native British English speakers could benefit from frankly.

Piggywaspushed · 25/02/2026 20:53

Gaelic is a language spoken in Scotland by a minority of Scots. Scots is another language spoken by some Scots.

Piggywaspushed · 25/02/2026 20:52

Or I should say 'naw it isnae'.

KTheGrey · 25/02/2026 20:51

Piggywaspushed · 25/02/2026 20:50

No. It isn't.

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Yeah. It is.

Piggywaspushed · 25/02/2026 20:50

KTheGrey · 25/02/2026 20:45

That’s Gaelic.

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No. It isn't.

FreshInks · 25/02/2026 20:47

ColdAsAWitches · 25/02/2026 20:33

If you're insulted by being called a racist, maybe you could try not being racist?

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What did I say that was racists? I’m not even white. I’m terrified of reform getting in, and people who are incapable of calmly engaging with those they disagree with are part of the reason they are getting so many votes.

KTheGrey · 25/02/2026 20:45

Halphabetty · 25/02/2026 18:42

What about Scots?

That’s Gaelic.

SayWibble · 25/02/2026 20:35

I can think of plenty of white British people who were born here who can barely string a coherent sentence together. I wouldn’t trust them to tie their shoe laces, let alone vote.

ColdAsAWitches · 25/02/2026 20:33

FreshInks · 25/02/2026 19:08

I don’t agree with the OP. But immediately jumping to accusations of racism or hurling insults is exactly the kind of reaction that fuels Reform’s rise in popularity. If people want to challenge their appeal, the only effective way to do it is through calm, constructive engagement. Shutting conversations down with insults just pushes more people in their direction, you may as well be campaigning for them.

If you're insulted by being called a racist, maybe you could try not being racist?

Piggywaspushed · 25/02/2026 20:33

Of note is that Commonwealth citizens registered to vote in the constituency can vote. Some of whom may not speak English as a first language , of course.

Scotland and Wales have broader voting eligibility for their own elections.

Havanananana · 25/02/2026 20:26

@Fearlesssloth "Everyone who is a resident of a country has the right to vote for the government of that country."

This is not true. About 10% of adults resident in the UK do not have the right to vote in the UK Parliamentary elections because they are not qualified to do so - mainly because they are not British. For example, none of the European or American citizens resident in the UK can vote in UK Parliamentary elections, even if they are taxpayers. Millions of EU citizens resident and paying tax in the UK were not allowed to vote in the Brexit referendum.

This is not exclusive to the UK, but it does mean that there are millions of people who are subject to taxation but who have no representation in the Parliament of the country in which they live.