Angela Raynor still doesnt get it.

Consider :
immigration 200,000 and emigration 100,000 = net migration 100,000
immigration 200,000 and emigration 169,000 = net migration 31,000 - a 69% drop

The net migration figure can be misleading. It doesn't necessarily meaning fewer immigrants, it can mean more people leaving the country.

Actually, I think the majority of reform voters are not racist, but just utterly sick of successive mainstream parties being completely useless. I am not a reform voter by the way, but meet plenty of them.

Is that you Nigel? 😀

Don’t worry, your children have German passports so they will be OK. They can live anywhere in Europe.

Starmer's response to the drubbing:

Appoint Harriet Harman to government and announce closer ties with the EU.

They are very much not listening!

I think it is more Tory votes going to Reform that they should worry about.

How many right wing voters voted for Tory, believing that Reform weren't really going to get anywhere, or to keep Labour out still believing that Tory were the biggest right wing party. How many didn't bother to come out because it is a local election?

How many will be galvanised by Reforms latest success to vote for them next time. How many will turn up for the general election who didn't bother this time?

There are plenty of people like that caller about unfortunately.

It really is sad isn't it? The level of division here is truly shocking. It isn't the welcoming country that I want to live in.

The irony is that those people complaining about the colour of people serving them are possibly the same ones who wouldn't take a hospitality job as it is beneath them. A generalisation I know, but one formed of personal experience.

The pp was talking about legal migration, so policies pre GE.

True, although the other reason not government is likely to attempt this is that it is a major project. Same as reform of the NHS. Unlikely to be completed during a single term.

That's nothing to do with your statement that I responded to. For the sake of clarity I was disputing your statement that people had no problems with legal immigration. There are plenty of people who want to see anyone who isn't white and English forced out.

What about migration that is detrimental to the native population?

Think about the trainees in the health services who can't get jobs because overseas people are employed preferentially.

The rise in rents due to demand.
The true cost of low level migration.
Pressure on overstretched services.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/05/06/nearly-one-and-half-million-migrants-on-benefits/ Government figures reveal almost one in six Universal Credit claimants is not a British citizen

So let's accept there are low paid jobs and high unemployment in this country. We can resolve that first before we import anyone else.

Let's throw bad people out and stop having legal aid fund people being able to stay.

I won't post the chicken nuggets story or any of the elderly sick parents stories that show how broken our system is.

I wouldn't waste your breath. The left wingers on here will never understand.

They just expect everyone else to pay.

They keep going on about tax the rich and tax big companies, but what happens when there aren't any more rich people and companies stop investing as they already have done?

Then they have no answers.

And what makes me laugh is when they say that the UK is a rich country! We have trillions of pounds worth of debt!

I know, but this also shows a lack of understanding. If they are referring to small boats, then they are misunderstanding the cause. The Conservative party changed the law to require anyone claiming asylum to be on UK soil when they did so. Thus, although the method of arrival is irregular, it is one that has been promoted, and one where there is little other choice. As an aside, if asylum is granted, it is not permission to stay indefinitely. The claim is reevaluated periodically to ensure the criteria where asylum was granted are still prevalent.

The chances of small boats arriving and the people vanishing into the ether is very small.

Yeah, the Tories policy of making the UK so bad that people won't flee here from war torn countries. Genius!

Same as reform

As I understand it, net migration is down because tax payers are leaving the country at high rates, not because immigration is reducing.

there’s a saying “if liberals won’t police the borders, fascists will”. Labour need to get a grip or we will have Reform making terrible decisions

Exactly this.

Anyone who can get out is already out or is seriously thinking about it.

The problem with socialist is they that they expect everyone else to pay.

Unfortunately when you've only got socialists left in the country then they will have to start paying for everything themselves. Good luck with that.

I don’t think this Labour gov can realise that. Blair was more aware. But the response to electoral failing will be as Rayner has shown.

Maybe in your bubble that's what people want. In my bubble, they very much have other concerns.
I live in a wonderful diverse area. I love the fact that my kid's friends are all different.Cultures and religions. My life and their life are enriched by our wide variety of people and cultures around us.
I don't want people to come by small boats, not because I care about them coming here.But because I don't want them to risk their lives and to die for this. So I do want them to stop the boats, but not for the same reasons that you do.
More than half of the vote at this election went to more liberal parties (Lib dem, Labour, Green) so actually maybe you're in the wrong.

That’s because she’s an idiot

I think it would be worse than that. Their supporters are already cheerfully talking out loud about how there should be fewer people of colour living here (eg the woman who called in to Vanessa Feltz's show complaining about not being served by white people in London shops; also the Reform candidate who made the appalling comment about Nigerians and pot holes). They'd just move on to deporting people of colour who have the right to live here.

It is down, but not actually due to any policies Labour introduced. It’s down due to Tory polices set in place before Labour got in.