How did you vote and why today

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.

I tend to agree with Allira's DH. Part of Reform's appeal is there message that they will make everything better, locally that means reducing council tax locally, dealing with potholes etc etc. They might make a mess of local government over the next three years.

The Labour government also has another three years in office to turn around the huge mess and financial hole they inherited from the Conservatives, the fall out of Brexit and14 years of austerity. Those 14 years decimated public services and health outcomes and life expectancy has got worse as a result. That cannot be turned around easily and not in less than 2 years.

What does Reform plan specifically to improve and rebuild public services exactly? What improvements would you expect Reform to make in less than 2 years in office? It does not seem to be much a a priority for them. Friendlygingercat has been won over by Reform because of their anti immigrant, anti woke, anti net zero brand instead.

This year we didn’t have a local election.

The UK will go downhill if Reform wins the General Election. It would be aa recollection of what happened when so many people voted to come out of the EU many of whom now wish they hadn’t.

I maybe wrong but yo my opinion, The Reform UK Party have no full experience of running a country. so the voters were obviously not thinking ahead only the idea that Reform will stop immigration. So easy said than done especially getting their ideas through the Lords.
If I was younger I would leave the country if Reform win the election

Grantanow

I couldn't vote as there were no local elections in Somerset but I would probably have tactically voted LD to help keep the Tories out. It's an example of the least worse choice.

We didn’t have local elections either but we would have voted LD.

friendlygingercat

I am a lifelong conservative voter but i voted Reform.

I am unashamedly anti immigration, anti woke and anti net zero.

friendlygingercat 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)

I couldn't vote as there were no local elections in Somerset but I would probably have tactically voted LD to help keep the Tories out. It's an example of the least worse choice.

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?

I do not like Reform getting a stranglehold on local politics. Is known that council elections can give the ruling party a tough time but I think that since Brexit a sizeable number of voters have wanted Farage/Reform in power notwithstanding accusations of antisemitism and other concerns with regard to funding. You would think Trump would be a huge red flag to any voter but obviously not. I fear that come the next general election we will end up with Farage as PM and that will be extremely detrimental to this country but as with the US voters want the man. And perhaps we need a disasterous term with Farage for voters to wise up, just as Trumps popularity is waning.
Not what I want for me and mine but sadly I can see it happening.

friendlygingercat has her own meaning of "anti immigrant' no doubt.

Reform appears to promote forced repatriation (including some who were born in Britain). Previously they were talking of 600,000 people. Recent estimates are that Reform UK would want 2 million people to leave the country from the policy suggestions they are putting forward.

Minority ethnic UK Drs and nurses are already reporting increased incidents of racism at work. Home office figures show a steep decline in the number of foreign nurses granted entry into the UK over the past 3 years. A Reform government might prove to be a tipping point and cause a mini exodus.

The scenario of an exodus would be much riskier for the UK economy than the already decline in net migration , especially in the short term.

Foreign direct investment could also suffer. When someone in Japan or India, or any other country, is making a decision to invest in the UK, they may be less keen to locate some of their key staff here or travel to this country themselves in a climate of 'foreigner hostility".

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.

Oreo

sixandahalf

friendlygingercat

I am a lifelong conservative voter but i voted Reform.

I am unashamedly anti immigration, anti woke and anti net zero.

How does that work when you need medical care from an immigrant please?

NHS workers are all legal immigrants.

friendlygingercat said I am unashamedly anti immigration Oreo.

In the year ending June 2023, long-term immigration was about 1.18 million.
Detected irregular arrivals were about 52,000. That implies roughly 4–5% of annual immigration flows were irregular arrivals, while about 95%+ were legal routes such as work visas, study visas, family visas, or humanitarian schemes.

A separate question is how many people are currently living in the UK without legal status (including visa overstayers and rejected asylum seekers who remained). Here estimates are much harder. The UK government and Office for National Statistics say there is no reliable official estimate. The best-known academic estimates (from Pew Research Center and the Migration Observatory) suggested roughly 700,000–1.2 million unauthorised migrants living in the UK around 2017.

At that time, the UK foreign-born population was roughly 9–10 million, so the unauthorised share was probably somewhere around 7–12% of immigrants already living in the UK.

One important nuance. Most unauthorised migrants in the UK are thought to be visa overstayers, not people who crossed the Channel illegally. So depending on what exactly we think of as “overall immigration”, of yearly immigration flows: illegal/irregular migration appears to be roughly 4–5% in recent years. Of the total immigrant population living in the UK: estimates are more uncertain, but likely around under 10% to low teens.

My personal view is that those who state such things as being unashamedly anti immigration really do mean all those who have immigrated to this country - a far higher number than those quoted above.

We are Plaid now 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

We had no elections in my part of Devon but if we had have had I would have voted Green on the basis that no party really cares about the countryside. We have country lanes to drive through, fair enough as it's a choice to live here, but the lanes are very much impassable now because the potholes are so bad they are ruining the suspension of many vehicles. In one local town, there's a pothole so big that the locals have filled it with water and put a very large model pirate ship on it - no joke!

Oreo

Labour and the Conservatives need to start taking the Reform and the Green Parties very seriously!

Oh Sir Kier does!

Says something along the lines of, the Uk people want the Labour Party to bring about it's policies quicker!!

Would be funny, if it wasnt serious.

Labour and Conservative should concentrate on creating their own brands and not ape Reform. I get the impression Labour is floundering with establishing that, or at least their comms team deserves "nul points" for communicating their message.

Oreo

Labour and the Conservatives need to start taking the Reform and the Green Parties very seriously!

I think they already have. That's why Labour has tacked rightwards in immigration and some other issues. IMO that was a huge strategic error because people who think of themselves as "anti-immigrant", "anti-woke" or whatever will vote for the real deal ie Reform. They're not going to be happy with Reform-lite, whether it's the Labour or Conservative Party.

I didn't realise you lived in Wales, sorry.

What made you reach that conclusion Allira?

Oreo

Nationalist Parties always do well.

Plaid don’t historically do well in Wales Oreo, they got 20% of the vote at the last Senedd election.

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.

Does anybody know how people legally claim asylum in the UK at the moment? Just asking.

Oreo

sixandahalf

friendlygingercat

I am a lifelong conservative voter but i voted Reform.

I am unashamedly anti immigration, anti woke and anti net zero.

How does that work when you need medical care from an immigrant please?

NHS workers are all legal immigrants.

The poster refers to being anti immigration.

Nationalist Parties always do well.

Some did and some didn’t 😁

They did, Plaid are going to win Wales quite easily by the looks of it, even in areas where they had no historic presence. Wales stays left though, which shows people voted strategically against Reform.

sixandahalf

friendlygingercat

I am a lifelong conservative voter but i voted Reform.

I am unashamedly anti immigration, anti woke and anti net zero.

How does that work when you need medical care from an immigrant please?

NHS workers are all legal immigrants.

Labour did badly in Wales too.