What's going to happen to the north of England and Welsh voters who got royally fucked by Brexit and have now voted Reform?

Explain more…

’Burnley, Blackburn, Telford has a Muslim population of about 1000’

Are you sure?

So your family came 50 years ago....that's great...go to Burnley, Blackburn, Telford has a Muslim population of about 1000. 100 men have been implicated in abusing under age girls...10% of the population, what did their wives, mother's, sisters think....

Yes, they are useful idiots, but the reality is your average Deform UK vote does not accept them

The problem round here with roadworks is that they are done so shoddily that they have to then be done again what seems like a few months later. A road near us was closed off for 2 days to fix a pothole. there was another pothole just beyond the first one. Why couldn't that one be fixed at the same time? They put a roundabout in that so far has had to be redone twice because it wasn't quite right. Its the absolute incompetence and nothing working that causes people to reject the same old same old that haven't done anything for years.

It is similar here too.

As far as I'm aware they've found it a lot harder to find those things in the councils they've already been running. I suppose we should be glad that there is seemingly a lot less waste and inefficiency than Reform expected.

Not all of us in the North even had local elections this week! I live in a Labour stronghold that's been this way since my parents were kids, it's not going to change now. Also if there were local elections, I would have voted Labour.

Opposition councillors refused to vote through any cuts that Reform wanted to make.

One Councillor went on BBC Hereford and Worcester radio to say that another Councillor (nameless) had said that they wouldn't agree a Reform budget whatever it was. The Councillors were written to to be told that not agreeing a budget by a certain date is a criminal offence.

The Council had to ask Government to allow Council tax to be raised by more than 5% to prevent the Council going bankrupt.

Opposition Councillors refusing to co-operate with Reform councillors on principle is subverting democracy in my opinion.

Net migration has been sharply declining since 2023.

People HAVE to start accepting that:

a) multinational pay the correct tax, and;
b) the wealthy pay the correct tax, which is loads.

Tax myth number one is that we’d be a rich country apart from those tax dodgers. It SIMPLY ISNT TRUE!

If you want better public services we need to pay more. There is no magic money tree that’s going to bail you out.

Perhaps I should say benefits and free services.

It was relevant to the sentiment in the post I was replying to.

Once someone is naturalised, they're British so they would show up under the 'Brits' stats

Obviously, which is why I posted 'we don't know'.

Also, why is the current Home Secretary seeking to introduce a longer route to indefinite leave to remain and subsequent longer route citizenship? Surely this is intended to reduce the number of migrants eligible for benefits and services?

You said Reform?

I doubt the intention of the thread is to change people's minds - what would be the point? The election is done now, the councils that have fallen to Reform will remain that way for at least two years depending on how their election cycle works.

What will affect people's opinions is how they perform - will people see any benefit from the administration change? If, by the time the next election rolls around, be that local or general, things are the same or worse then they might think again.

The issue, as I stated earlier, is that the choice is - well, there isn't one for the average person like me who wants a peaceful life in a tolerant society without having to watch every penny because I am being taxed to the hilt. Who is worth voting for, either locally or nationally when the time comes.

Reform - a couple of silly headline grabbing policies, no real economic plan at all
Labour - let's rely on middle earners to pay for absolutely everything
Tories - let's screw everyone bar the top 0.05% of earners
Greens - want to throw everyone's money into unrealistic environmental initiatives with no consideration of the wider economy

People vote for who they think will serve them best. Insulting them or being condescending doesn’t really help. 🙄

No, it's not. Once someone is naturalised, they're British so they would show up under the 'Brits' stats. No need to account for them in a separate category unless you push some sort of nativist agenda with a two-tiered citizenship system.

I don't necessarily agree with you on everything (I'd identify as left of centre) but I suspect you're the mid ground voter that the Tories, Labour and Lib Dems should be trying to capture. I suspect I'd vote for a party who hit your wish list. Not being racist or tolerant of racism, having a clear environmental plan and addressing people's concerns without targeting or blaming groups or targeting our rights would be an amazing starting point.

Clearly relevant to the post I was replying to though!

I meant the ones who predominantly voted Remain.

Effective councils are required, the inexperienced will have to very quickly learn their role.

The new councillors can’t hide forever. Council meetings are public events, in person, recorded live and available to view.

I have a long background in Children’s Services, know just how experienced and knowledgeable our employed Director of CYPS is and how terrifying it would feel to be the elected council member for CYPS, responsible for holding her to account for her and her teams actions in protecting vulnerable children & young people, raising education standards, meeting statutory duties around school attendance, school and early years place planning and safeguarding.

I will be watching the first Reform led council meetings, Barnsley and Wakefield (I know both) for instance will make for interesting public viewing. Vast numbers of new councillors, following council protocol, asking challenging questions, scrutinising plans and outcomes, all in public.

These new councillors better step up very quickly, they have a huge role to carry out.

What like Swansea?

@Clavinova and don't forget the people in lorries we had a massive problem with that still do.

Ah yes another goady arn't people thick thread, because this sort of thread always changes people's minds.

ffs, its like people that post stuff like this refuse to learn.

Just because they got elected does not mean they are popular. To get elected you only need to get support from about 25% of the population. The issue is the other 75% of votes are split between multiple parties. So it isn’t that Reform are the choice of the majority.

Similar to our nearest city. So many pedestrian crossings, road closures, road works, one way streets, traffic calming, access-only roads, pedestrianised streets, car park closures, on-street parking restrictions, etc., and all it's done is caused traffic congestion, increased pollution and now loads of shops/cafes are closing due to lack of business as motorists are choosing other towns and the out of town retail parks instead of suffering the "man made" traffic congestion. Some councils really hate cars and they're willing to sacrifice the entire town centre to prove their point!