Early results show a massive gain for Reform whilst Labour and Conservatives have losses. Greens have doubled number of councillors. However the results in so far are patchy – and to some extent seats that Reform were likely to win – working class areas and Essex. I am ashamed of my birth county! To be controversial it seems that places with higher number of graduates have not declared yet! Consider the demographics and tell me I am wrong!
White working class kid – gets trained as a skilled worker but cannot afford to enter the housing ladder, sees houses being bought by people of colour and is resentful. They are also hoping to be self-employed but see the paperwork involved, and their bosses not get rich quick. The environment does not concern them as the only environment they yearn for is a week or two of recovering from hangovers/sunburn on beaches in Ibiza or similar. Their grandparents/parents complain about people with foreign languages and cultures ‘taking over’. They want to be valued members of society, hence the addiction to the flag or the football club where they can express their frustration with low level violence. The well paid jobs for men have disappeared with capitalism but they are addicted to consumerism of low quality, low priced goods made in China or elsewhere. Those who have managed to scrape together a mortgage are jealous of the houses maintained by councils without considering their own gain in property value (my house has more than doubled in value in the last 25 years. They are also part of the blame culture which cleverly deflects from the rich tax avoiders and concentrates on those unable to afford a national voice – The Express is especially notabe for attaching blame for something different every day! This might be horribly classist and stereotyping but add in the commuter paying extortionate fares to get to their ‘hopefully’ high powered jobs in city centres and I think I have identified the typical Reform voter. When they do not deliver I fear for the consequences!
