With local elections approaching, a report from Alex Ross in Swindon – a long-standing “bellwether” seat – has sparked debate among Independent subscribers.
Speaking to locals, Ross found a clear mood: resentment towards the Labour Party and its leader.
Many readers said Swindon isn’t an outlier, but a snapshot of the national picture. They pointed to familiar pressures – a struggling economy, stretched public services, and a sense that traditional parties haven’t delivered real change. For some, the town’s challenges reflect a deeper political disillusionment ahead of the vote.
But there was also strong criticism of Reform UK, with concerns over its policies and readiness for power. While some locals told Ross “things couldn’t get worse” if they voted for Nigel Farage’s party, several readers warned protest voting could indeed have a negative impact.
Here’s what you had to say:
Swindon needs innovation, not nostalgia
I grew up near Swindon. Went to school/college with a lot of people living in Swindon. Socialised with a lot of people in Swindon. Even worked in Swindon.
Swindon isn’t a nice place; it’s more of a commuting town. It’s an example of the type of place that has been left behind because it doesn’t get investment into the area from businesses and organisations, as they don’t see the worth in it. Why invest in Swindon when you can invest outside of Oxford or Bristol instead and have some workers commute an hour from Swindon where it’s cheaper to live?
These people keep on talking about being forgotten about, but it’s because they’re not creating a community that people can thrive in. So many of them live in the past, cling to outdated traditions instead of trying to be innovative and the tip of the spear.
For years Leamington Spa was just a Temu version of Bath and was being left behind. They recognised this and made changes to make themselves the tech hub of the Midlands. If Swindon wants out of the rut they’re in, then they need to look towards new, innovative industries and become the next big thing rather than regressing to thinking it could be like the good old days.
Reform will not bring investment from the future big industries. Those industries will give the cold shoulder to Reform simply because of what they stand for, which goes against many of their company policies. Bristol and Manchester are becoming some of the most liberal cities in the country, and organisations are seeing this and want in, which has made them boom. If towns/cities want the same, they need to adopt a liberal way of life, not a conservative one.
It can always get worse
‘It can’t get any worse’ or ‘It could always be worse’? If you think it can’t get any worse, then by all means vote for Reform, when I’m sure you’ll understand that it not only could be worse, but it will be worse. Personally, I’d rather hand over my bank account details to a scammer.
The only sense I’ve heard so far with regards to the small boats issue (which Farage caused with Brexit) has come from the Lib Dems, but more pressing – and a reason for the decay and poverty – is that businesses are finding it harder to export anything (which Farage caused with Brexit). So there is a problem with the balance of payments, which needs: a) business to thrive and b) more people to be gainfully employed, so that public services can be supported.
Instead, 50 per cent of food is imported, 20 per cent of fuel is imported, and housing is too expensive as there are too many people not contributing anything. These are basics. It makes no sense to be taking in ever more people with nothing to offer, and it makes no sense to be putting up barriers to trade. So where does Farage intend to get the money from? Repatriating immigrants isn’t free; there will be a bill. There always is with Farage.
People want everything – but they don’t want to pay for it
From the article: “She said that she and her husband Antony are unhappy about being ‘stung’ by Labour for tax on their savings, as well as NHS waiting times and a lack of housing for their grandchildren.”
This is the problem with the UK – people want everything but don’t want to pay tax for it.
We are never going to have a chance unless people realise that we need to pay towards things, and the most cost-effective way of paying is through a fair tax system where everyone pays something and the wealthiest pay the most.
Public services and infrastructure have been so depleted over the past 15 years (and even before then they weren’t brought up to date) that they need major investment to bring them to a state where they are fit for purpose in the 21st century. We can’t build the economy with workers with the right skills who are healthy enough to work. Neither the health nor education systems are fit for purpose. Education (I include all learning, including skills training) needs to start at birth and continue throughout life, and the health service needs to diagnose and treat people before they become seriously ill or disabled. There needs to be a much more comprehensive approach to public health to ensure illness is avoided where possible – better housing, support for families, activities for children, and investment in poorer people to break the cycle of dysfunction. Blaming people for their circumstances may be satisfying for some people, but it doesn’t actually change anything.
Regulate the property sector so private equity companies and individuals can’t make massive profits from buying businesses and housing and renting it out at ridiculous prices. The same goes for utility and transport companies. Sort out the tax system and make it transparent and unavoidable.
Brexit impact and voter frustration
With respect, these people have no idea what they are voting for. Swindon suffered badly because of Brexit – Honda left, for example.
Is there an inbuilt trait in that voters like to feel the pain – martyrdom, masochistic tendencies?
Thank goodness these are just local elections.
At least folks will learn hard lessons before 2029.
In the meantime, Starmer continues to do a great job at home and abroad.
Reform could make things worse
If frustrated with our deteriorating standard of living, world standing and lack of an effective system, some people think it can’t get worse – it can. If you vote Reform, your country will change immeasurably, and not well. Look at the party make-up and listen to their rhetoric: leaving the ECHR, imperilling employment laws – to what end? To make it easier for government to impinge on someone’s human rights. A few people become richer at the expense of us all. Don’t think it will get worse?
Yet equally, since the start of a process to leave the EU, which, let’s face it, Nigel had a part in, successive governments have let down this country and not listened to its people. Homelessness, food banks, child poverty, holes in the roads, rising costs, economic policies against small businesses, deteriorating public services – on and on.
No wonder we are frustrated with successive, inadequate mainstream party governments.
Problems pre-date current government
I think the voters might find that it really can get worse. Most of the problems Labour is grappling with aren’t of its making – they either stem from 14 years of cuts and mismanagement or the current volatile international situation – and will have to be faced by any party in power. Add in an inexperienced party peddling populist snake oil and with no viable policies, and I think the voters interviewed might well find it does get worse if they vote Reform, which has a track record for selecting duff candidates and mismanaging councils where it is in charge.
Voting on pessimism makes things worse
A pretty good axiom is that anyone who votes on the basis of “it can’t get any worse” is making it worse – and it isn’t as if we haven’t heard that one before connected with voting for the same people.
Reform’s plan to deport 288,000 people a year is economic and social suicide for the UK.
No one has ever done anything like this without imposing a police state on the population. Say goodbye to policing by consent for a start, and hello to militarisation and Serco/G4S private policing of it. How does that fit with the nostalgia of a forgotten Britain?
But given that their voters don’t care about that, the economics might give pause to a few if they can be somehow made to stop and think for a minute or three about what it means to try and process three times the prison population every year.
Their other Trumpian imports are not any better: DOGE and tariffs are costing the USA taxpayer hundreds of billions, and the British version of Project 2025 politicisation of civil appointments is an outright anti-democratic power grab of the executive.
Concerns over Reform’s local track record
Anyone who thinks Reform should be leading needs to look at how the councils they have been running are faring.
Hint: not well at all.
The comment used as the title of this article is terrifying – empirical data proves that it’s nonsense. Handing control of the country to a “political party” that would struggle to run a school fête is absolutely not the answer.
Disillusionment with mainstream parties
To be fair, Starmer and Labour are no worse than May and the Tories, insofar as the latter were utterly cynical about saying one thing whilst doing another.
This practice is now so completely mainstream within the political establishment that it’s not even questioned as a strategy. It’s a modus operandi.
The beneficiaries are the upstart parties, notably Reform and the Greens. Swindon will be the best measure of how well each will do on a national scale.
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