Do you think some people didn't know what level of government they were voting for?

[unn]

Yesterday, at a café, I overheard two elderly ladies saying that they voted for Reform in the county council elections as they wanted their heating allowance back and want the Labour government out in Parliament.

How bloody ignorant are these people? The county council has zero responsibility of your pensions and heating allowance. They deal with potholes and local education.

Probably have forgotten that the general election was 10 months ago.

Where did I say that? I was commenting on the stupidity of the public, nothing more.

Sadly not much you can do about it!

I never said that you said it. I was wondering what your solution was, if, as you claim, most people are too stupid to choose a government.

When you look at literacy levels in the UK it really doesn’t, look at mainstream press in the UK and consider the reading age it aims to targets. Its similar to the ‘i can’t do maths’ brigade, being dim, mediocre etc is the default in the UK with a worrying number of people being rather proud that lacking an education ‘didn’t do me any harm’.

Our local Facebook page quite often has local councillors responding to someone’s rant explaining that it is outside their remit

I read a bit of the coverage in the Kent newspaper websites/BBC yesterday and it was the opinion of the outgoing councillors that they were being "punished for the party's mistakes at a national level especially in 2021-2" but then again I'm sure they'd rather gloss over running Kent badly!

People are woefully uninformed though. I was really distressed in 2016 to realise how few educated, sensible people actually understood our trade arrangements with the EU at a basic level.

Virtually all the East Midlands counties have now become Reform or they have a majority. Farage was on TV yesterday saying they would try to block asylum seekers being housed in Reform controlled council areas. I have no idea how they would implement this but that's a lot of asylum seekers going to have to go elsewhere if they do implement this !

Voting on national policies at local elections has been a thing for years and is not unique to this local election or to Reform supporters. And national policies have shifted because of local election results in the past, so it's not unreasonable to think you might get tighter national immigration policies if Reform show a strong electoral performance at local level. Most climate policies adopted by main parties were after surges in electoral support for Greens even though it was mostly in local government.
Demonising the electorate is a really bad look and never works. You might be right about understanding the system better, but the two old people you over heard have the representation they wanted and there is already talk of the heating allowance being restored in labour circles. So maybe they are sharper than you give them credit for.
You should focus on the millions who couldn't be bothered to vote. That's the real problem within the electorate.

@Reallyyyyyy

Politics is taught in schools. Specifically the democratic system of the UK and how it works.
It's in citizenship, I remember teaching this very topic to a year 8 class not that long ago.
I said to them very clearly, I know this seems like a distant issue in your lives but if you don't understand the difference in the levels of government you will not be able to use your vote effectively.
Most of the class listened, but I reckon around 25% didn't understand at all.
In school elections we have to mimic general elections, Reform and before them Ukip have always polled well. We thought it might have been novelty value, because SNP did well and we are a school in London. But the head of citizenship felt that all UK voters should have the same choices. I didn't agree but it was interesting.

I'm am happy that my county returned under 10% reform councillors, ours was about 45% conservative, with the rest a mixture of labour, lib dem and independent - my local area went completely independent, as all those standing had high profiles of positive local commuinity work - and that's what local elections should be, voting for people who have made and will make impactful change on a local level - their remit is quite limited as most decisions are made nationally, but they can still effect change.

But for areas where isn't prominent local figures, people were using it as protest vote. Labour hopefully take this as a clear message that they are making this country worse and need to rethink their policies.

It's interesting because it's not perceived by some as positive to be well informed and educated. Where I teach the highest achievers are children of Chinese and Indian origin. All my grade 9s are coming from this group, bar two girls who are from Eastern European families.

Oh yes I saw a comment on a local FB page that they were glad Reform had got in because they would stop the boats.

We're the most land locked county in the UK.

WTF do they think a county councillor here can do about it? The only boats they can stop are the rowing boats at the park.

Perhaps it was just a link to the political aims of Reform? I'm in a landlocked county, and we get asylum seekers. I'm not saying they're right, I'm just trying to think of a reason!

@1SillySossij of course that is what they meant but it doesn’t fit the narrative of all Reform voters being stupid does it?

@unn , Tower Hamlets council launched a scheme to replace winter fuel payments to its residents so it is within the power of local councils to do this. Please remind me who exactly is ‘bloody ignorant’?

@WorriedRelativeyour comment just highlights your lack of critical thinking and the ability to see the bigger picture. The irony!

Makes me think of the (multiple!) people on my local fb group outraged that Labour had “taken away” their right to vote. They had to have it explained, in short words, that we just didn’t have elections in our area right now because we had them last May. And the fact they hadn’t received a polling card was not a personal plan by Starmer to deny them their democratic rights.

Staffordshire here too. I’m not a Reform voter, but I’ll be honest, the council have let my town run to the ground in recent years, terrible roads, crime and deprivation everywhere. Can’t think Reform can be any worse.

Unbelievable!

I'm a "boomer" and like all others in my friendship and work circle, voted remain. My nephews and their mates all voted leave and I'm certain they'll have voted Reform in the general and local elections because, y'know, immigrants.

Please avoid the lazy generalisation that all older people support this racist shite.

The workings of government including the role of local government, councils, central government, MPs, ministers and shadow ministers needs to be taught in all schools.

Because they talk louder due to their friend/sister/whoever they are with are hard of hearing.

There are some very loud younger people!

Not all Boomers voted for it. Some young people did vote for it.🙄

I remember a few years ago, with the CT bill for the next year, there was a flyer in which lists what the district council, county council and national govt do.

Examples include:

District council - bin collections, environmental health, drinks licences
County council - street lighting, social care budgets, trading standards
National govt - laws, pensions, national services

If you live in a city council, they do what district and county councils do in a single organisation.

If want to report something like a broken street light on the district council website, it gives you the link to the county council. Those who ring the DC, the staff give a number to report this to the county council.

But I hardly hear them talking politics.