How did you vote and why today

Today 18:20 twaddle

SWGran
Allira
DH's opinion (if anyone is interested!) is that at least this wasn't a General Election and that the electorate has three years (or less) to find out what a mess Reform makes of local government before the next General Election.

They may not have won a majority in Wales but they will have considerable influence in Wales too.
The other side of that particular coin is people have already seen what a mess Labour have made at National level in their two years in office, god only knows how bad another three years (or less) could be.
Which mess do you mean specifically?

Perhaps the mess that has led to their catastrophic (albeit local) election results?
Should you not also be asking which crystal ball gazing mess the original post referred to?

Friendlygingercat has been won over by Reform because of their anti immigrant, anti woke, anti net zero brand instead.

I think we're going to see two/three years of blaming everybody except themselves. Reform now controls a number of county councils, which have a limited brief and will be limited in what they can do by central government and, in some cases, district councils. In Essex, they'll be up for election again next year because the county council is being abolished and replaced by five unitary authorities. It's going to be difficult enough making the transitional arrangements efficiently without a load of councillors with no/little experience and trying to fulfil ridiculous promises. I can guarantee that almost no change will happen - either good or bad. (I'll stock up with popcorn anyway.)

in some ways Reform hasn't done as well as last year's local elections. The elections expert Peter Kellner said this afternoon that while Reform was likely to end up with gains of more than 1,000 seats overall, there were some warning signs. “Reform may well be on course for a record number of gains by any party in any elections, and in normal circumstances this would be astonishing. But if you compare it with a year ago it seems both in terms of seats and vote shares they are not going to do as well,” he said.

Reform won 41% of all seats contested across England in last year’s local elections, while this year’s tally appeared by Friday afternoon to be about 35%. “We have that record on recent polls and elections, and it seems clear that Reform has peaked,” Kellner said. Any further slips in support would make a general election majority on this share of the vote much more difficult.

Reform’s vote share in English council seats so far has grown the most in areas with greater socio-economic deprivation, early analysis shows. Figures from 691 wards show the party gained by an average of 20 percentage points in the least deprived areas and 30 percentage points in the most deprived areas".

So voters in deprived areas have turned towards Reform. Their lived experience is wanting to experience improvements in their lives to stick with Reform.

Thats a big message for all parties.

SWGran

Today 18:20 twaddle

SWGran
Allira
DH's opinion (if anyone is interested!) is that at least this wasn't a General Election and that the electorate has three years (or less) to find out what a mess Reform makes of local government before the next General Election.

They may not have won a majority in Wales but they will have considerable influence in Wales too.
The other side of that particular coin is people have already seen what a mess Labour have made at National level in their two years in office, god only knows how bad another three years (or less) could be.
Which mess do you mean specifically?

Perhaps the mess that has led to their catastrophic (albeit local) election results?
Should you not also be asking which crystal ball gazing mess the original post referred to?

I asked "specifically". So which "specific" mess(es) have led to catastrophic election results?

LemonJam, Do you have any source which shows how those areas correlate with areas of high immigration?

it seems to me biggest messages are:
1) the 2 party domination voting pattern has well and truly fractured
2) those in deprived areas feel disenfranchised by the traditional mainstream parties are are being won over, at the moment by Reform
3) In terms of seats and vote share, Reform hasn't actually done as well as last year- they may have peaked.

TheHappyGardener

I wouldn’t shame any reform voter.
If you don’t feel shame, you can’t have it foisted upon you.
You’ve voted for a party whose leader is flying around to receive his congratulations - but then he wants to cancel the net zero target and wants to bring back use of fossil fuels, so he’s backing up what he feels is right.

Someone mentioned Reform fixing potholes.
We’ve had a reform council for some time now. The roads have deteriorated and the potholes are a nightmare; a danger to cars, cycles and pedestrians. If you tackle a reform councillor about it, their response is to blame the previous council.

They rather childishly started threatening Green Party voters -definitely the action of playground bullies, but even that sort of behaviour is evidently nothing to be ashamed of.

Well yes if labour becomes a party of the middle class, then the working class will look elsewhere. This may actually be Blairs fault.

Who would you like to run the country WithNobsOnIt? Reform would need to grab some more thugs...a lot more as they don't have enough. The Greens are turning decidedly off, racist and desperate and don't have enough candidates. Neither of these have any experience of running a country...scary. The Conservatives..I think we've seen how they behave erm how many prime minister s did they have. The Lib Dems...I just can't see them in No.10 nice as Ed is he ain't prime minister material. They had a short joint time with the Conservatives and didn't do very well. That leaves Labour or the raving loony party. Well we certainly have some raving loonies with seats all around the country now. Fasten your seatbelt.

twaddle- No- I haven't read about that so far. The msm focus seems to be more on gains and losses. Geography and demographic analysis, voter segmentation, typology etc more likely to gain traction, as overall results summarised and analysed by experts?

One thing for sure- it's a nuanced voting outcome. All parties of course will put their onward spin on it.

"another Reform voter here and I’m thrilled with their success in these elections and refuse to be ‘shamed’ by my decision (as many on here try to do)"

HappyGardener I can honestly say I've never felt anyone has tried to "shame me" because of the decisions I've made or the opinions I hold. They might disagree, hold a different opinion or not understand why I've decided something, but "shame" has never come into it and tbh I've never tried to "shame" someone because they hold a different opinion to me. I just say what I think and if they feel ashamed then that is their problem not my motive.

LemonJam

it seems to me biggest messages are:
1) the 2 party domination voting pattern has well and truly fractured
2) those in deprived areas feel disenfranchised by the traditional mainstream parties are are being won over, at the moment by Reform
3) In terms of seats and vote share, Reform hasn't actually done as well as last year- they may have peaked.

I would add a 4th
Farage himself said their biggest vote winner is Sir Kier.
If Labour do indeed change Leaders, Reform may struggle later down the line. Who knows.

Greciangirl

I’m not telling how I voted.

But the most important thing is I certainly wouldn’t abstain from voting just because I didn’t like the candidate.

Also, as my grandmother was a suffragette I would be doing her a great disservice if I didn’t vote at all.

We are all very privileged to have the vote. So Use It.!

You must be very proud of your grandmother. We owe the suffragettes so much.

Galaxy

Well yes if labour becomes a party of the middle class, then the working class will look elsewhere. This may actually be Blairs fault.

Talk of class seems a little dated. There are other dividing lines in today's society.

There has always been a percentage of so-called working class voters who were "Blue Labour" ie socially very conservative and not bothered with socialist ideology. I guess they voted Labour because the "other side" were "toffs". Farage understands that and exploits it.

I voted for a councillor I admire although I am no longer in her party (Labour). Sadly she came second though to Reform which I was not surprised about but very sad. We lost a good local councillor who lives and works here to one who does neither.

I think people are very worried about illegal immigration and the failure to deal with it.and also the very deprived areas and high crime rates, shop lifting is so common place and affects shoos already struggling.the other thing is very deprived areas and rising crime rates. Its no wonder. People voted Reform. Starmer doesn't listen its as simple as that. I do worry about how Reform will get on as they have no experience of running anything. Starmer has 3 years to do something but he won’t last as he is too blinkered.

fancythat

LemonJam

it seems to me biggest messages are:
1) the 2 party domination voting pattern has well and truly fractured
2) those in deprived areas feel disenfranchised by the traditional mainstream parties are are being won over, at the moment by Reform
3) In terms of seats and vote share, Reform hasn't actually done as well as last year- they may have peaked.

I would add a 4th
Farage himself said their biggest vote winner is Sir Kier.
If Labour do indeed change Leaders, Reform may struggle later down the line. Who knows.

That seems about par for Farage, who specialises in negativity, blame and smearing.

foxie48

"another Reform voter here and I’m thrilled with their success in these elections and refuse to be ‘shamed’ by my decision (as many on here try to do)"

HappyGardener I can honestly say I've never felt anyone has tried to "shame me" because of the decisions I've made or the opinions I hold. They might disagree, hold a different opinion or not understand why I've decided something, but "shame" has never come into it and tbh I've never tried to "shame" someone because they hold a different opinion to me. I just say what I think and if they feel ashamed then that is their problem not my motive.

But accusing people of trying to shame them is consistent with the blame narrative.

Galaxy

Well yes if labour becomes a party of the middle class, then the working class will look elsewhere. This may actually be Blairs fault.

I think "class" is rather an outmoded concept.

Mollygo- 18.57 👍

One thing Reform is good at is capturing media attention and getting some key messages across that resonate.

One recent example- Ive seen photos of key Reform figures, eg. Farage. Lee Anderson and Richard Tice appearing in in newspapers recently, sitting on this large yellow industrial vehicle promoting JCB Pothole Pro machine.

Now the cynic in me thinks- ah yes you've captured my imagination. I find out JCB potholes donated £200,000 to Reform in November 2025 so of course they will promote it. But then I think- OK they are taking the donation and have given free advertising yet is Reform actually successfully fixing pot holes in local areas they where lead the council? Does Reform perform better in fixing potholes than any other party Council?

Answers on a postcard...

Can people please after all this time spell Starmer's name correctly ie Keir not Kier?

fancythat

LemonJam

it seems to me biggest messages are:
1) the 2 party domination voting pattern has well and truly fractured
2) those in deprived areas feel disenfranchised by the traditional mainstream parties are are being won over, at the moment by Reform
3) In terms of seats and vote share, Reform hasn't actually done as well as last year- they may have peaked.

I would add a 4th
Farage himself said their biggest vote winner is Sir Kier.
If Labour do indeed change Leaders, Reform may struggle later down the line. Who knows.

Part of me says Farage would say that wouldn't he. But the voters who turned towards Reform may well think that too.

I do think if Labour changes PM, in a measured, strategic way, and gets back on track as a result or at least makes better headway in the public's perception than thus far since July 2024- yes Reform may struggle.

Personally I think Reform might struggle anyway and that they have peaked- it's just a complicated, nuanced voting outcome. But I would say that as I am admittedly biased against Reform 😉

I don't think we're trying to shame anyone either. It's just different opinions. I guess that's what makes the world go round.

Has any other grans been upset by the way their young grandchildren are not included in play by other children at their school for no reason. My grandchild is very sociable but cannot push themselves forward like a lot of other children. They always seem to be preaching to be 'kind' these days at school etc but I'm not really seeing much sign of this where I live.