Local Elections | Thu 7 May 26

Why do you keep pointing out people being white? Are you racist?
You probably noticed I also used the word racist in my descriptor when desribing Farrage as the 'rich, white racist leader'?

I'm not in the slightes racist. I take people at face value. My only yardstick is "don't be a c**t", and Farrage falls on the wrong side of that line for me.
 
The Greens doing well in Manchester....

My ward has been won by reform, I'm not surprised. I expect to see a North/South Manchester divide between reform and the greens.
The Reform parts of the new-look Manchester are in two sections. Four seats across North Manchester and 3 across Wythenshawe. The parts that have stayed Labour are mostly in the East. Pretty much everything else is now green.

If these swings are repeated next May, Manchester will then come under no overall control.
 
I've got friends in the Stockport Lib Dems (a few of them were on TV this morning) so I did a bit of leafleting for them as a favour at the end of last month. Glad to know it wasn't in vain, as even my ward went Lib Dem.

Although I have to laugh, I had a Labour member guilt-tripping me at my door last week, saying if I voted Lib Dem then Reform would get in and that voting Labour was the only chance of stopping Reform in my local ward.

Lib Dems took the vote in my ward by more than 5% overall (28% in total) while Labour were second (23%), only in front of Reform by 18 votes. The things people say to you on your doorstep really can creep in if you're not careful.
 
And a lot of Wales, our only hope is Plaid
Exactly. This level of erosion has gone on for more than fifty years (cars, bikes, steel, mining, textiles) and the working classes have few places to turn. The loss of manufacturing is at the heart of it all really, for those huge industries that are no more employed millions of people. Swathes of people knew where they were going to work, and it would be in their local community surrounded by their family and friends. The loss of those industries is nothing whatsoever to do with immigration but the blame stick will be brandished over Johnny Foreigner's head.
 
He's one of our own!

Congratulations to @BTH on being re-elected in Besses in the face of a stiff challenge from Reform. Fantastic result Noel.

Labour held up pretty well in Bury overall too. Reform took Conservative seats rather than Labour I think.
 
Exactly. This level of erosion has gone on for more than fifty years (cars, bikes, steel, mining, textiles) and the working classes have few places to turn. The loss of manufacturing is at the heart of it all really, for those huge industries that are no more employed millions of people. Swathes of people knew where they were going to work, and it would be in their local community surrounded by their family and friends. The loss of those industries is nothing whatsoever to do with immigration but the blame stick will be brandished over Johnny Foreigner's head.
So why have we needed mass immigration for the last two decades given we've had this huge loss of an entire manufacturing industry that provided millions of secure jobs?
 
Zero surprise that Brinnington was one of only two wards in the whole of Stockport to go with Reform.

As much as I love Stockport and as much as I love all of my hometown, Brinnington is the only bit of Stockport I've felt unsafe in and will never go back as a result. Used to go there a lot as a teenager, used to visit the Bryn Haven care home before my granddad reached the end as well, and almost every time I went there it was like the people on the street, and in the pubs and shops, could sense I was from the south side of the M60 and were hostile towards me without any provocation.

There are lots of rundown areas in my bit of Stockport. The Bonar estate in Edgeley next to where I grew up, most of Adswood and Bridge Hall to be honest, and around the back of Cheadle Heath Morrisons on the Swythamley estate, but they all feel the same as everywhere else - they're a bit unloved but the people are generally fine.

Not Brinny though.

There's something unnerving and strange about Brinny. The closest Stockport gets to Deliverance. It's like being cut off from the rest of the town by Reddish Vale and the M60 has made them all a bit mad on the inside. I take no joy in saying this as my dad's mum was Brinny born and bred, but it's changed a lot in the last 20-30 years. Every time I go I see that bloke in the wheelchair who lets his legs dangle between the foot pads, and every time I go he's either yelling at someone doing their shopping or chasing people with his (always drunk) mate that pushes him round.

He's not the only one. I remember getting the 325 bus up there a lot during my college days. People would just stare at you if they didn't recognise you as a local. So less Deliverance and more Royston Vasey I suppose. Bad vibes regardless.
 
It’s quite clear they’ve been got their opinions and have decided to try and make a difference, sacrificing their time to volunteer, etc.

If you’ve got such a big issue with them,
why not step away from the keyboard and volunteer your own time for a rival party?

Or do you simply whinge behind a keyboard, sitting within your echo chamber, and then act shocked when Reform pick up wins across the board, pretending you’re in some way superior?
Fucking hell ! Way over the top !!
 
Poland has taken in thousands of Ukrainians, so they are exempt from having to participate in taking in asylum seekers.
Do you honestly believe that even without the Ukraine refugees they would take them in ?
 
I've got friends in the Stockport Lib Dems (a few of them were on TV this morning) so I did a bit of leafleting for them as a favour at the end of last month. Glad to know it wasn't in vain, as even my ward went Lib Dem.

Although I have to laugh, I had a Labour member guilt-tripping me at my door last week, saying if I voted Lib Dem then Reform would get in and that voting Labour was the only chance of stopping Reform in my local ward.

Lib Dems took the vote in my ward by more than 5% overall (28% in total) while Labour were second (23%), only in front of Reform by 18 votes. The things people say to you on your doorstep really can creep in if you're not careful.
Lib Dem’s have had a really good night yet again but not a peep on the news, like always.

It’s infuriating and it’s only because they don’t feed the news algorithm’s hunger for extremist shit slinging like Reform and the Greens do.
 
As someone who will never vote Labour again, as my first question would be, `how much have you taken from friends of Israel` It has to be said that councilors are not MPs, invariably Labour make better councils, so it is great fun watching watching Reform the nazi conservatives win so many councils in poor areas.
You get what you deserve :)
 
What people observe in their local community becomes the reality, regardless of facts and figures. 2yrs in and for many they have observed no positive change whether that be on a local or national level. Pot holes still there, run down high streets etc. Minimum wage increases are great but prices continue to rise, the net result might be that you have £10 more in your pocket at the end of the month, but that £10 buys nothing. Changes to workers rights but less jobs due to businesses cutting back.

The expectation for many was a step change with Labour in power, but in reality the changes have barely moved the needle.

It may not be realistic to see change in such a short time, but we live in a world where you can click a button to buy something and 2 hours later you get it delivered to your door. The audience that traditional parties used to serve has changed and they need to adapt accordingly.
This is spot-on. In my area the roads are a disgrace, the street lights are broken, the two main hospitals are officially the worst in England, the GP service has essentially collapsed, there are no police for miles, virtually no public transport. It has been like this for years. No one was expecting a miracle from Starmer but he does not even have a plan. His first two major announcements were scrapping the northern leg of HS2, expanding Heathrow Airport, and building a new Thames crossing. I'm sure that will have gone down well with his trendy supporters in North London. He and his pals are more concerned about the rest of the world than the state of this country. He has turned out to be worse than that crooked fool Boris Johnson. People have been bertrayed by the two main parties for decades. Now they are about to be led up the garden path by Farage and his bunch of chancers. Our outdated decrepit political system has failed all of us.
 
So why have we needed mass immigration for the last two decades given we've had this huge loss of an entire manufacturing industry that provided millions of secure jobs?
Because those industries have been replaced by the service sector, but often not in the towns that were abandoned. With a national birthrate now at its lowest level since the war (1.4) more will be needed.
 

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