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

If it solves the potholes, then yes, we do need it, however I think you may have missed my joke.

As a counterpoint to that, how many Green candidates have been standing on a Pro-Palestine ticket? Many. Local government can do naff all about the Middle East.

It's the illegal immigrants people object to. When your village suddenly has an influx of men, many of them allegedly teenagers, and they hang around outside, it no longer feels safe.

I agree @HeatonGrovand I’d also throw in how the authorities have treated the racist rape gangs over the past decades and how many people in authority have turned a blind eye. It’s no wonder people have had enough.

I have no idea why you think the people who voted for reform, for local councils think they have voted to stop the boats. Local councillors have leaflets/ social media and websites to indicate what they will be doing for the local area just like the other parties.
My local council have pulled out of the refugee resettled programme for example.
Seeing all this hysterical drama and insults is beyond insane, people really need to seek help mentally.

No. It'll take a huge amount of time. The reason for that is not stupidity, it's frustration, hurt, bitterness. Those override more rational decision drivers and parties like Reform are expert at making sure their supporters stay stuck in that negative loop. It will take a huge counter-movement like in Hungary (after 16 years of populist rule) to see any change. At the moment, the worse they fare the more they gravitate towards the very people who landed them in the shit.
Someone from a former Soviet state told me a chilling story about Stalin once which may or may not have been true but certainly highlights those psychological mechanisms (it's a fairly famous story actually). The story went: Stalin had a summer villa in the countryside and had invited a few dignitaries of his regime. When talking about why the people were still sticking by him despite all the brutality, he allegedly picked up a poor chicken and plucked off all of its feathers. The bird now naked followed Stalin around, trying to be as near him as possible. The 'lesson' was not that the bird was stupid. The lesson was that the bird was cold and vulnerable and following the only source of warmth to keep it alive - even though it was the one that had made it so vulnerable in the first place. It's how abusers trap their victims. Hurt someone enough and they may well stick by you.
It's a horrible story but it highlights some uncomfortable truths about why it's so hard to break free from toxic people (and/or ideologies).

The mainstream parties have failed to deliver for many people in the North, so they are voting for something different. This is not surprising.

The reason many Northerners are voting Reform is that they are fed up with the disingenuous pro immigration messages they are fed. They can see the difference between a skilled immigrant who works and pays taxes and respects British values and many of the immigrants they often live alongside.

Many immigrants in the Northern mill towns do not contribute to the British economy. But they do receive state benefits and use the NHS. Many women do not work outside the home for cultural reasons. Many of the men are low skilled and either do not work or work in the black economy and do not pay tax. Many are content to live in their parallel societies and make no effort to integrate. Many of the women in particular do not speak any English for example. Because they marry within their own communities and/or go back to their countries of origin to find a marriage partner this is unlikely to change.

The tendency for southern local authorities to relocate illegal migrants - often unskilled, young single young men who have no respect for women and girls - to these cheaper Northern towns adds to the problems.

I do not think Reform will deliver either. But implying that Northern voters are all stupid, as OP does, suggests a real failure to understand and address the issues poor Northerners are facing.

People are politically illiterate. I said this on another thread but in my area the Reform flyer promised things the council have absolutely no jurisdiction over I.e ending net zero and getting the migrants out.

I live in London, have always worked. Married a man whose parents came to the UK in the 1970s spent their working lives working for the NHS. We have mixed heritage kids so immigration and multicultural system is working very well for me.

As a Welsh voter I am very happy about Plaid Cymru’s performance. However if Reform win the next general election that is going to be very bad for all the UK devolved administrations. I hope to God they don’t.

Yay, more roadworks - just what we need. Not.

Stop the potholes!

🤪🤪

? Local council elections are 4 years. Next year it'll be different councils up for election and who knows. There's no guarantee Reform will win those.

Ah, it's back now, thanks MNHQ

No idea why my comment has been hidden, I was criticising Reform's overall lack of policies.

Apart from immigration, the only policy Reform seem to have on a national level is some ill-thought-out bollocks about crypto-currency.

People don't seem to grasp that it's no use voting for single-issue parties. We need parties with a comprehensive plan to get the UK back on track. Admittedly, we don't have any such party at the moment, but Reform are pretending that their version of 'sorting out' immigration will make everything right.

They've got our council now, which is no surprise.

The discussions about immigration have become really unbalanced with people only talking about the downsides. Yes there would be less pressure on housing. However this could have been addressed by subsequent governments building more housing stock, changing housing policies (right to buy) etc. There may be less social issues in some high immigration areas. But there would also be a massive shortage of labour in low paid jobs - care, hospitality, some NHS roles. This might push wages up in these areas slightly, but with cost of living so high because of external reasons (eg war) there is a limit to what people will pay. Care is already extortionate. No one is going to pay 50pc more when they eat out so that workers can have above minimum wage. So a lot of these businesses will collapse. People are unlikely to be better off overall, particularly the elderly who will have less people to care for them and less people working to pay for their pensions. Yes the amount of immigration and how its handled is really important. But its not purely negative, and it's not the only important political issue. Plenty of areas without immigration are struggling.

I'm in Suffolk, is nowhere near the north. and they've now won the council here. Luckily our local councillor is LibDem and bloody brilliant but she's surrounded by Reform councillors.

I don't understand it. It's like turkeys voting for Christmas. Same as Trump in America.

At some point I hope the Reform bashers will start asking the question why vast numbers of people are voting for Reform? The answer isn’t they are all racist but if you continue to frame that as the answer you will see more and more people headed to Reform in the polls because they’re sick of people looking down on them and not listening to their problems and concerns.

I'm from the NE and I'm so confused. We have people who are desperate for change in extremely deprived areas who have admitted that Reform have let them down. But still voted for Reform yesterday.

Also why did they think it was GE? I'm confused

(I edited my post because I felt awkward)

Until next year when the next round of council elections will see a lot of those councils swing to Reform.

Edit - Apologies. Didn’t read properly before typing. Deleted now.

Crossings into Italy and Greece were already high before Brexit because they're the primary routes in. I think they peaked around 2015. Our numbers are absolutely due to Brexit. Our government and the French government have both acknowledged it.

Well didn't one Reform candidate suggest 'melting down all the Nigerians to fill them'?

And Reform voters wonder why they're thought of as racist.

A good number of the councils are hung councils so any actions by Reform will be mitigated by the other parties. By that I mean, it won't turn into as complete disaster for many councils. I'd watch, with interest, the councils where they've got a majority though.