Council Elections

[OneTealShaker]

The first declared seats going to Reform.

Reform +2
Labour -1

Buckle up people.

That’s interesting and entirely plausible - tragic too.

Otherwise, you are spot on re the UK!

Thanks

So what you are effectively saying is that you don't want the UK to process any asylum claims indefinitely. That is a huge departure from the values we've promoted internationally. 12-14% was to put things into context: it is not the majority of immigrants, by far.
Student visas- that is a huge potential can of worms which could finish off higher education. By the way, have Reform laid out a plan for how they would tackle those issues? More likely they will just spread a hugely damaging dragnet across all institutions and will scare off foreign students wholesale (and like I said kill off a sector that is very valuable to the UK). That is likely to make tuition fees for domestic students skyrocket.
There are no simple answers despite what they'll have you believe.

Why not Google it if you don't believe me. Other Labour run councils did go bankrupt eg Birmingham.

I think it's not healthy to see Reform voters as evil, that way can only lead to division.

But the Reform party itself thrives off divisions, they do everything to heighten them. Being all meek and silent will make us all complicit in the shit that will subsequently unfold. At what stage do you think it's acceptable to speak up then?

I too know immigrants who support Reform. Immigrants are not a homogeneous mass. It is no proof at all that the party isn't racist.

@2dogsandabudgie fair point. I hate naming him because I feel he’s vain enough to see how his name is trending. Any mention adds to the numbers, the more of this there is the more he enjoys it. No such thing as bad publicity in his head.

These are the ‘values’ that a substantial number of people in the UK believe in. Electoral maths shows this. If there was a GE today, Reform would be the largest party and Reform stands on a ticket of no onshore asylum processing.

And if universities cannot support themselves without selling visas, their business model is broken. They should not be in business. The taxpayer should not be on the hook for this. Anyway it’s a Ponzi scheme. How many people can you keep bringing in, just to prop up a university sector which is not chosen by people for academic excellence but because you get a free visa and free public services for your extended family.

What is unfair about you keeping more of your own money?

What is unfair is taking money from hard working people to top up people to work a couple of days each week because it isn't worth their while working more as they do very nicely with a universal credit top up.

I’m hoping all the new members from non-white backgrounds are going to rise up from within to topple Reform and turn it into a party for fit to govern. Actual reform of what is not working, rather than hiding behind anti-immigrant policies and plotting to make the rich richer. There has to be a better way to look after everyone and make things fairer that doesn’t involve removing benefits from those in need.

Safely not Reform where I am, thankfully.

I look forward to watching how badly Reform run other councils though, and if they do in fact do well, I'll be prepared to admit to being wrong.

If it turns out they have non-immigrant related policies, I will be pleasantly surprised.

Are you one of the people calling Reform voters stupid?!

You clearly don't value higher education, or you don't understand the UK. Education over here is a public service, not a 'business model'. Many universities, including respectable ones, are in a bind because they are not getting enough funding. They don't sell visas, that's bullshit. They sell university places to overseas students for a higher fee - which substantially helps lower the fees charged to domestic students.
If higher education is permanently undermined, where and how do you think the country's innovations across STEM, tech, culture (yes, culture also matters) will originate? We need to maintain our educational levels if we want to remain a developed country with any form of autonomy or basic sovereignty.
And we're not the US - our institutions don't rely on large endowments.

But actually ‘stop the boats’ and illegal immigration is not the major issue, so your comment about ‘barracks accommodation’ is irrelevant in the scale of immigration.

‘Stop the boats’ and illegal immigration is another sound bite.
Tackling immigration needs to be about more than ‘missing barracks accommodation’.
By far the largest group coming to the UK are students (paying to keep uni’s afloat) with the next being those working (in jobs that the UK cannot fill).

None of these people live in barracks! It is so minor.

Home office data provided.

I haven't been so politically happy since the results of the Brexit vote were announced.

Once again, foreign under grad students cannot bring in dependents, why are you persisting with this?

Plus after PhD students finish their studies, they have to leave.

If our Uni sector significantly reduced in size, then that would affect a great deal of our own children and our own home grown skills... despite what you might think, most students aren't on Media courses.

On the back of major Conservative austerity and budget cuts. My Conservative led council even had millions to save, year on year, selling off buildings, cutting staff and services.

Conservative policy was not in favour of local authorities. Just look at the removal of the democratic oversight of schools, through the academy programme.

Yeah, hopefully Reform winning big will have the same positive impact on the country as Brexit has had.

Oh wait...

There's a difference between progressive v regressive tax policies, and Reform's tax policies squarely placed the burden on low earners. Why should they pay for my tax cut when I'm already very comfortably off? Paying tax is not bad, it's the price we pay for living in a civilised society. I'd be happy to pay more if it meant we could live in a decent country. I think the Nordic social democracies have got the balance right.

Do you think the country can bear another £300 billion of spending cuts that Reform are promising to fund my tax cut? Will it fix our problems?

Not sure you’ve got that right given the swings today and over the weekend.

Besides it’s clearly a point in relation to a pp rather than summing up the entirety of Labour, if you follow the conversation and scroll back.

Obviously much more than that about Labour is pissing people off, but it does show how earlier promises are failures for them.

Therefore they are losing votes in all directions, everywhere.

What was the best thing about Brexit for you?

Yes changed in 2024 after years of widespread abuse.

Got what right?

Probably expected the numbers to improve rather than get worse which is not unreasonable.

Potential migrants were waiting in Calais to find out whether we would get Conservatives (and Rwanda) or Labour and benefits. They got Labour and headed our way.

No, bad politicians are elected by a public who feel continually let down and desperate.

If the public were happy with how they felt with life extreme behaviour wouldn't happen, on the whole people are scared to move from that status quo, the fact they have means the current situation is making that so.

No you could target non sanctioned arrivals on boats, or people that arrive and claim asylum, by using third countries as other countries are starting to do.