Council Elections

[OneTealShaker]

The first declared seats going to Reform.

Reform +2
Labour -1

Buckle up people.

It also hasn't helped that phrases such as "fascist" and "far-right" have become so watered down. The racial aspect of Pakistani grooming gangs was described as a "far-right conspiracy theory", but it was true. There was even a section in Baroness Casey's report about institutional denial surrounding the ethnicity of the perpetrators. And we've had years of women being called "fascists" for saying men can't get pregnant and women don't have penises.

If you keep calling common sense far-right, people are going to vote for parties as far to the right as possible.

Drilling more North Sea oil won’t magically lower UK energy bills because oil and gas are sold on global markets at global prices. We already produce oil here and still got hammered by energy prices after Russia invaded Ukraine. The UK isn’t a self contained petrol station.

Most North Sea reserves are declining, expensive to extract, and too small to meaningfully affect prices anyway. The real way to reduce bills is insulation, renewables, and reducing dependence on volatile fossil fuel markets.

And the “everyone on benefits is living it up” line ignores reality. Most welfare spending goes on pensions, disability support, and people who are already in work but paid too little to live on. Slashing support while housing, food and energy costs soar just pushes more working people into poverty

So they must've been granted asylum if this is true, which it doesn't sound like.
I don't think any asylum claims are done within a month! There was over a year backlog when Labour took over.

Illegal Immigration: Costs Illegal Immigration: Costs - Hansard - UK Parliament https://share.google/QC9kjBDnwAHdJoplHHansard.parliament.uk

The government's own impact assessment of 2023 stated the cost of providing the most basic things for 1 UK national cost the government £12k per annum. In 2023 there were 1.2 million illegal immigrants in UK. That comes to 14.2 billion. Immigrants cost more. It cost £12k just to process each one and government own figures state £41k per annum. That is for each single immigrant. On top of this there is an additional cost of £482 immigration enforcement every year. These figures were from 2023. Immigration has gone through the roof since then so even higher cost. Some days over 200 people come on boats. You can all this info at a click of a mouse if you want to look OP. Incidentally other sources not government ones estimate higher cost. Imagine what that money could do to schools and house building programs.

Stablecoins (and tokenised deposits) are being regulated starting late 2027…. The current government has them firmly on its growth agenda.

You obviously know more than me then.

Why would you let them stay, doesn’t that convince more of them to come over,
what short of jobs do you think they can get, where will they live? They will then be claiming benefits
housing benefit, UC etc

US is the model that would be taken (that is the system that will pay money to take over), it has far worse outcomes than the NHS and you get to pay for it and it costs the US government more than any other western nations. So a system whereby the government pays more, the population pay more and get a worse outcome and the people winning are the insurance companies

And are not the biggest group of immigrants by far.

Reducing immigration by focusing on ‘the boats’ isn’t going to make the difference to the numbers of immigrants here, studying and (another sound bite) ‘taking our jobs’.

Minority numbers proportionately.

Reform took control of my county council in 2025.

It has been a shit show.

8 care homes are closing, along with 5 dementia day care centres. We're paying more in council tax here - the maximum increase - for fewer services. Services for vulnerable adults including adult education and bus transport to take older/vulnerable people to appointments and day centres has been cut.

Councillors have been stood down from committees because they didn't realise that they were being paid £12k to actually attend the meetings and they don't have time or inclination.

We don't have an adult education and SEND lead at the moment because he stood down, not realising what the job entails. He had no experience in additional educational needs, so it's no bad thing, but ffs.

Ten of our councillors resigned in protest against Nigel Farage.

They've voted to give themselves pay rises while cutting the salary of the leader of the opposition.

We've become the worst county for potholes under their watch.

My socials are full of local TV and radio clips of councillors being asked basic questions about local issues and just having not a single clue.

"What are your thoughts on the proposed traffic management plans on the Townley bypass? There's been heavy opposition from residents and some heated exchanges in council - what's your view...?"

Tumbleweed as you see the two brain cells try and connect

I'm quoting the official information from gov.uk. So what if a few people take the p1ss? Do you think we should vote Reform, who will dismantle the NHS, give tax cuts to the well off, and punish those on low wages just to spite a few asylum seekers who are getting away with it? If you think the person is committing fraud, report them!

It's tack that could be changed, not tact. You know, like boats change tack, it means direction and what some voters are hoping for is a change of direction.

Yes, mostly men, but once settled can bring there family in,
but the women get maternity benefits and extra payments

Not true at all - huge numbers came to the UK with no visa, particularly under EU freedom of movement but still now many visitors do not need a visa for a short visit.

So all the authorities have is a port entry record which tells you nothing of where in the country that person went or what they did. Add to the fact that the UK still does not have proper exit checks and we really have no idea where people are.

It is spectacularly easy to work illegally in the UK compared to the rest of Europe - no ID cards, no residents register, plenty of employers who are willing to forgo right-to-work checks, and plenty of easy cash in hand jobs.

Why the ever loving fuck are we talking about illegal immigrants - or any immigrants - on a thread about councils?

You've elected them to take control of your grandma's social care when she becomes too old to look after herself. They'll decide whether and how to fund the buses you use. Bin collections - whether your bins collected weekly, fortnightly or monthly.

Their remit regarding immigration is precisely fuck all.

Reform are in because of immigration imv so keep the status quo if you want a reform gov

Only Musk's brainwashed shills make that 'prediction'.

ilovebrie8

it worth while waiting and getting cheaper fuel from nether than continuing to use oil which will not be lowered in price

pensioners were known to grow in numbers, but this fact has been ignored by successive governments. Plans haven't been put in place - they should have been back int he 1970s - but as they weren't the result is we haven't got enough working age people to pay the pensions of the elderly

https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/commentaries/qa-the-uks-new-approach-to-refugee-family-reunion/

Long term it's probably best everything crumbles.
Then change can truly happen.
I mean the aftermath of world war two created the NHS.
Sybil Elgar started special needs schools because asylums were overcrowded with "teachable" children who had Autism.

Big change comes when we go past breaking point.

Committing fraud? They declared themselves an asylum seeker at Heathrow airport. A month later, after staying with a relative at a known address, they were vetted and given a place at a care home. All legal and above board at the cost of the UK tax payer.

I have a good idea. The UK population should give their postcode and whether they are happy with asylum seekers and illegal immigrants coming here. In the postcode's with the most 'yes's' they should build the facilities to house them. That's a fair way to did. I'm sure a lot of people would soon stop blowing the immigrant trumpet then!!

A lot of people want them but not in their backyard.

There's a useful website called Google which can answer all sorts of questions like that. There are many websites which offer this information, with differing rankings according to the measure used.

But, to help you out, according to world population review, which has nice clear presentation, we are ranked 27 in the world on the healthcare index. Taiwan, South Korea and Australia are the top 3.

Indeed.

I’m surprised by how many people are so ill-informed about what councils are responsible for. It’s not difficult to check these days.

Because like it or not, there are people who need to be granted asylum. Not talking so-called economic migrants, am talking people who are fleeing countries that are unsafe. It will only get worse too, with Trump's war on the Middle East and Lebanon being bombed daily. Lebanon already took on most refugees nearby and now over a million of their own people are displaced. It is not unreasonable to understand why people will want to seek safety. What did you think about the Ukrainians who came over to the UK when Putin started bombing?

You do know that Nige has admitted he can't stop the boats don't you?

So we'll still have the costs, but then all of the other economic damage from a Reform government. Farage said Reform's fiscal plans are the same as the Liz Truss mini budget, but with added welfare cuts. I hope you're not in receipt of any benefits, because you'll be paying for my tax cut. And I hope you can afford the monthly healthcare insurance policy. Farage says he trusts the marketplace of insurance companies to run our health service, more than central government. The central government he will be running.

Do you really think cutting spending is the way to fix our problems?