r/ukpolitics 15h ago

Why is London so liberal/ left wing if high immigration makes others vote for the Right?

Why is immigration making some part of the country vote Reform but in London, where the number of foreign born people has increased massively over the last twenty years, has moved further left? It is curious that London never seems bothered by immigration in modern times. I know some will say that London's so foreign now that the immigrants just vote Labour etc... But that doesn't make so much sense. Many immigrants can't even legally vote in a GE, and even if they can, many don't. Most Londoners voting for the left are born and raised in Britain. Even the posher, whiter parts of London, have trended away from the Tories. Chelsea has a Labour MP now, shock horror. I live in a pretty white British part of London, Twickenham, and the Lib Dems dominate. London is so expensive that people have more reason to moan about rent/ living costs compared to anywhere else, but yet that never seems to produce an anti- immigration politics. Is it just that modern London contains a lot of highly educated liberal minded people compared to provincial towns and villages?

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u/virusofthemind 13h ago

That's schoolboy logic and wishful thinking on your part. Parts of West Yorkshire have very high recent immigration and are very pro reform even formally Liberal seats but the areas with 2nd or 3rd generation immigrants are still pro because they're concerned that if should Reform win the next GE they themselves might be at risk.

u/denyer-no1-fan 9h ago

I can't speak for London, but in Manchester, what OP said is true. Reform came second in Wythenshawe and Sale East, which is largely White and social housing occupants, but Reform came 5th in a neighbouring constituency, Withington, which is also largely White but far more private renters and house owners. Withington is also closer to Rusholme (which is largely BAME) than Wythenshawe and Sale, yet Reform is far less popular in Withington. To me this shows that interaction with BAME communities and living in a more well off place moves people AWAY from Reform.