How did you vote and why today

Primrose can you point to a single post that says it is racist to want to have controlled borders? I've looked and can't find one.

Jaxjacky

Primrose53 200,000 since 2018, not since Starmer came to power in 2024. Source BBC news and various other news agencies.

Thank you, Jaxjacky!

foxie48

Primrose can you point to a single post that says it is racist to want to have controlled borders? I've looked and can't find one.

Everyone is treading carefully, because HQ have intervened.

Kandinsky

Not sure why this forum is obsessed with Reform. What about the Greens?
They’ve done very well too.
What do they actually want?
What does a Green council look like?
What do they spend money on?
What are their councilors like?

No one seems to deep dive them on here.

Bristol's being run by the Greens at the moment. Council tax went up by 4.99%, and they are building more council homes & lookling into the state of existing ones.
It's still a very car - phobic council & public transport isn't vg but that has been ongoing for decades.

TerriBull

twaddle

fancythat

twaddle

The reason people voted for Brexit will remain an enigma.

To you and the 6 year people.

Of whom there are quite a lot.

"The reason people voted for Brexit will remain an enigma"
Are you really that obtuse?

I did vote remain, but not in a fully committed way, I could see the argument from the other side. There are a multitude of reasons why people voted for Brexit, it depends on how particular demographics were affected, I think it's fair to say how anyone voted was pretty much down to personal circumstances and the effects of mass migration. Individuals who have had to deal with some of the more negative aspects, particularly in communities who felt overwhelmed might not have the same opinion as a member of the metropolitan elite who enjoyed the benefits.

For example, manual workers some felt they'd been undercut and priced out, yes competition is healthy up to a point given we live in a global world, but eventually it's down to how the individual fares. In retrospect there is an opinion that many communities have been shafted by globalization, which can very much favour industry over the worker. Oh yes, unsurprisingly the Confederation of British Industry was very much in favour of Remain, given there was a stagnation of wages by over supply. Some communities felt disgruntled as to how great swathes of the accession countries, disproportionately arrived in Britain and changed the nature of their community. Labour allowed that to happen some time before our western European counterparts did and unsurprisingly we got far more than the predicted initial wave of, 13,000, but that's politicians for you cynically inaccurate to the last with absolutely no foresight as to how that would impact on individual communities who bore the brunt of it. Remember how Gillian Duffy was vilified as a bigot by Gordon Brown, for saying she felt that her area had changed out of recognition, so was it really a surprise when Boston, Lincs who had an unprecedented number of Eastern Europeans settle in that town to find a community who voted overwhelmingly for Brexit when they found they couldn't get their children into schools or get a GP appointment.

Some of the comments on this thread are incredibly censorious about people's intelligence or lack of it, particularly chastising our Australian poster for having the temerity to comment about politics in the country where she was raised. Most of us comment about American politics, understandably right now with a meglomaniac for a president. Having been married to someone from overseas, having people in the family from overseas, it's pretty common to straddle two cultures and retain that enduring interest in the country where you spent your formative years and that would encompass an opinion on the government of the day.

Terribull, I agree, the Confederation of British Industry in the run up to the 2016 referendum was IN agreement with remaining in the EU as it strongly and overwhelmingly thought that was best for business.

The CBI published analysis in the run up to the referendum that Brexit could cause a serious economic shock that could lead to the potential loss of nearly 1 million jobs and a significant loss of household income.

CBI analysis was sound as you might expect. It also provides analysis and research of the referendum vote to leave the EU outcomes:

1) Estimates a per person income loss of approximately £850 per annum with projections to increase year on year
2) Brexit has lead to greater UK regional disparities- a 2024 study suggested a levelling DOWN effect with significant output losses (5- 10% of GDP) across UK regions
3) The depreciation of sterling immediately following the 2016 referendum meant that low income families needed an extra £80 -£90 per year for both food and energy respectively in the immediate aftermath of the referendum
3) Sterling has remained lower than pre referendum levels. E.g. at the start off 2021 on the eve of the Brexit deal being signed, the pound was 15% weaker relative to the euro than in June 2016- thus the need for additional income as a result of depreciation continued and still does
4) The referendum outcome has lowered both import and export intensity, contributing to reduced productivity
Brent has made the UK economy 6% to 8% smaller than it would have been otherwise
5) Research shows Brexit is associated with a reduction in wages by £470 a year (Office for Budget Responsibility)

These impacts are not as a result of immigration but leaving the EU. Control of UK borders worsened after leaving the EU in addition. The small boats began after the referendum. Labour were not in power in 2016 - it was Cameron, the Conservative PM that promoted the referendum. Then promptly resigned.

valdali

Kandinsky

Not sure why this forum is obsessed with Reform. What about the Greens?
They’ve done very well too.
What do they actually want?
What does a Green council look like?
What do they spend money on?
What are their councilors like?

No one seems to deep dive them on here.

Bristol's being run by the Greens at the moment. Council tax went up by 4.99%, and they are building more council homes & lookling into the state of existing ones.
It's still a very car - phobic council & public transport isn't vg but that has been ongoing for decades.

Green/Labour Council here in coalition.
They want to build hundreds of new homes on ecologically sensitive land 🤔

valdali

Thank you 😊

Thank you for getting back to me Kandinsky. Of course, policy regarding where asylum seekers are housed will not be influenced in any way by who is in charge at county level. Do you feel that this was an important factor in deciding people's vote?

TerriBull

twaddle

fancythat

twaddle

The reason people voted for Brexit will remain an enigma.

To you and the 6 year people.

Of whom there are quite a lot.

"The reason people voted for Brexit will remain an enigma"
Are you really that obtuse?

I did vote remain, but not in a fully committed way, I could see the argument from the other side. There are a multitude of reasons why people voted for Brexit, it depends on how particular demographics were affected, I think it's fair to say how anyone voted was pretty much down to personal circumstances and the effects of mass migration. Individuals who have had to deal with some of the more negative aspects, particularly in communities who felt overwhelmed might not have the same opinion as a member of the metropolitan elite who enjoyed the benefits.

For example, manual workers some felt they'd been undercut and priced out, yes competition is healthy up to a point given we live in a global world, but eventually it's down to how the individual fares. In retrospect there is an opinion that many communities have been shafted by globalization, which can very much favour industry over the worker. Oh yes, unsurprisingly the Confederation of British Industry was very much in favour of Remain, given there was a stagnation of wages by over supply. Some communities felt disgruntled as to how great swathes of the accession countries, disproportionately arrived in Britain and changed the nature of their community. Labour allowed that to happen some time before our western European counterparts did and unsurprisingly we got far more than the predicted initial wave of, 13,000, but that's politicians for you cynically inaccurate to the last with absolutely no foresight as to how that would impact on individual communities who bore the brunt of it. Remember how Gillian Duffy was vilified as a bigot by Gordon Brown, for saying she felt that her area had changed out of recognition, so was it really a surprise when Boston, Lincs who had an unprecedented number of Eastern Europeans settle in that town to find a community who voted overwhelmingly for Brexit when they found they couldn't get their children into schools or get a GP appointment.

Some of the comments on this thread are incredibly censorious about people's intelligence or lack of it, particularly chastising our Australian poster for having the temerity to comment about politics in the country where she was raised. Most of us comment about American politics, understandably right now with a meglomaniac for a president. Having been married to someone from overseas, having people in the family from overseas, it's pretty common to straddle two cultures and retain that enduring interest in the country where you spent your formative years and that would encompass an opinion on the government of the day.

Calling me obtuse is a bit rude. Does that count as a personal attack?

I thought it was only people who voted for Brexit who got called names in here.

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

I am more than happy to gripe about Starmer Suzieq62

He is a dismal apology for a PM, I expected more from him and Labour.

He continues to disappoint with anointing Gordon Brown & Harriet Harman as his new advisers…

twaddle

I thought it was only people who voted for Brexit who got called names in here.

No Reform supporters along with Conservative, especially if they admitted to supporting Boris Johnson.

Graphite

^Cossy… councils who are having boundary changes would have happily postponed their elections^

It is far more than boundary changes. Counties including Essex are to be reorganised into unitary authorities. Essex will change from 15 separate councils to five unitary authorities to replace the current two tier system where some services are delivered by a town or city council and others by the county council. It’s a massive reorganisation which would have been far better overseen by experienced councillors.

Instead, Farage forced local elections which has seen many very experienced councillors lose their seats and 52 new Reform councillors elected. The only “Reform” councillor reelected was elected as a Tory but thrown out of the party after sending unsolicited dick picks to other councillor. He joined Reform refusing to submit to a by-election.

The work to reorganise is set to begin this summer just a few weeks away. In May 2027, elections will be held for councillors to the new unitary authority. These council members will initially form a ‘shadow authority’, responsible for preparing the new council ahead of its launch in April 2028. They will then continue to serve as councillors for the new unitary authority for a further three years. A Mayor will be elected in May 2028.

Farage says he is opposed to the reorganisation although it’s unknown whether he made those views known during the consultation period which ran from 19 November 2025 to Sunday 11 January 2026.

Who knows what will happen now and what a council of 78 comprising a majority of inexperienced councillors will make of it.

Several of those newly elected are of extremely dubious character e.g. the vile racist Stuart Prior who celebrated the rape of two Sikh and Punjabi women.

hopenothate.org.uk/2026/05/02/reform-uk-essex-white-supremacist/

www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/05/mps-demand-reform-suspend-candidate-over-claims-he-celebrated-of-sikh-women

Again, where was the vetting?

It's astonishing that Jaymey McIvor (the dick pic councillor) was re-elected in Epping Forest, but looking at some of the congratulatory messages on social media, he seems to be hailed as some kind of hero in the Andrew Tait mould. Ironically, his mother was one of the most vocal protesters outside the migrant hotel in Epping last Summer. She appears to be a great fan of her son, which is a bit weird because she poses as a protector of women and girls.

GrannyGravy13

twaddle

I thought it was only people who voted for Brexit who got called names in here.

No Reform supporters along with Conservative, especially if they admitted to supporting Boris Johnson.

But I was called a name!!!! And I'm no Reform or Boris Johnson fan!

I think some criticisms are a tad selective.

twaddle

I thought it was only people who voted for Brexit who got called names in here.

Apologies twaddle, I was just a bit baffled by the comment because an enigma is something that can't be fathomed. The divisions around Brexit, depending on the individual's perspective and their reality was and has been very much in the public domain. Hearing numerous testaments for both the for and against arguments has been ad infinitum ever since the run up to the vote and post Brexit.

I don't necessarily have to agree with people to understand how they vote, or to imagine that there will be a deeply held resonance around certain issues that don't necessarily affect us all.

Thank you for the apology. I know what an enigma is and chose the word appropriately.

Like many others, I couldn't understand why so many people shot themselves in the foot by voting Brexit. I even bought the book which Matt Goodwin (of whom I expect people have heard) and Rob Ford wrote about the people who had voted Brexit. It was Goodwin who coined the phrase "left behind" and described Brexiters as uneducated and uninformed. The Brexiters themselves objected to those descriptions and Goodwin himself has now gone over to the other side. Yes, I could understand the reasoning which people gave, but it just didn't make sense. All the arguments could be shot down in flames, but people just didn't want to listen. There wasn't even a single version of Brexit on the table, so people were just making it up as they went along. Everybody's hopes for Brexit were different, so it's no wonder that people are disappointed. They were never going to get what they thought they'd been promised. The reason it's an enigma is that people really couldn't see through that.

Is it just me I can't remember so much news coverage and contention about local council elections before Reform have certainly caused quite a stir.
Keir Starmer is certainly not having an easy time at the moment hopefully he listens if not suspect he will not survive this.

It makes you wonder whether:

1) Reform UK did vet all its candidates pre election and was not perturbed by any racist online comments
2) Reform UK failed to vet its candidates appropriately pre election so will respond to Hope Not Hate's vetting evidence made available
3) Allow these individuals to take office as Reform UK councillors as they condone such online comments

Both Reform and the Greens had to field a lot of candidates in a short length of time. I expect they both made a few wrong choices.

Makes you wonder if they bothered.

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

Susieq62

Granny gravy fine but to gripe from Australia constantly gets a bit too much even for tolerant old me

How do you feel about all the UK GN members griping about Trump, Le Penne, Netanyahu or any other foreign leader?

It makes me feel really uncomfortable when nanna8 is ganged up on and told she has no right to post.

This is the country of her birth after all 🤷‍♀️