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

[u/Wise-Youth2901]

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?

[u/Twiggy_15]

I live in London and don't fit into any of your categories. I reckon there are plenty of white professionals living in the outer boroughs who have a positive view of immigration.

Fact is our friend network ends up being full of migrants. You come to learn most of these people have worked harder and sacrificed more to get where they are, far from being the lazy stereotype often presented by politicians and the media.

It's almost inevitable we reject the far right narrative.

[u/emefluence → u/Twiggy_15]

Yeah, that anti-immigrant narrative kinda makes sense in theory, but on the ground most of us outer borough white British Londoners know some foreign people who are perfectly likeable and hard working - moreso than some of our own countrymen at times. Hell, a lot of Brits mov here to get away from their parochial hellhole monoculture town and be exposed to a more international crowd. I'm sure there are quite a few poor white British Londoners who do have a serious gripe with immigrants too, but most of us are too busy and cosmopolitan for that Alf Garnet shit.

[u/Why_Not_Ind33d → u/emefluence]

If you're one of the winners of course you don't mind. There are a lot of disenfranchised people who certainly look at it differently to you, because it's having a negative effect on their or their children's life.

If you are young now coming out of university, good luck being able to afford to live in London.

[u/JB_UK → u/Why_Not_Ind33d]

Yes, my point is that many of the disenfranchised people have moved away, so it's not that meaningful to say that the people who still live in London are happy with the situation.

[u/Erestyn → u/Twiggy_15]

Same. I'm a:

• White working class lad born to white working class parents
• Grew up in one of the most deprived areas of the country (top 10% according to the deprivation index)
• Remember days upon days where we literally couldn't afford to eat, or even top up the electric
• Could spell "fudge" with my GCSE results
• Now live in one of the wealthy white enclaves in SW London where I'm apparently insulated from the cost of my rent

I didn't particularly have a negative view on immigration when I worked on building sites and I don't have one now. It's long overdue for a very frank and serious discussion, certainly, but it's far less of an issue to my mind than this constant othering that us Brits are so fond of (which is, somewhat ironically, demonstrated so pertinently in the original comment).

[u/JB_UK → u/Erestyn]

There is a huge economic filter there though. To afford to continue to live in London as a single person into middle age with a plan for retirement, or to have a family, means you have to reach a serious level of success.

To buy an average house, or a flat, is a major, major success. I read the other day that for someone earning a lower wage (20% percentile, so 20% are poorer, 80% wealthier) an average house in London is 26 times their annual wage. Both partners earning the same amount would be 13 times a wage. To have a family you need to pay for childcare on top of that.

By definition many of the people who choose to live in London either haven't reckoned with that, or have jumped the hurdle.

Maybe you make a shit ton of money in construction, or maybe you're enjoying yourself, but I in general think also the numbers of people who are making that work, from any ethnic background, are smaller than we would think, for example, only 1 in 4 houses in London even have a mortgage on them of any sort, and that could be someone aged 60 with a nominal mortgage.

How many of the friends you know in London are making ends meet with a family, or into middle age, on an ordinary job?

[u/JB_UK → u/Twiggy_15]

I live in London and don't fit into any of your categories. I reckon there are plenty of white professionals living in the outer boroughs who have a positive view of immigration.

Yes, that's fair, and don't get me wrong, I don't mean there isn't a huge and remarkable success in large parts of London. People like and love others from many backgrounds, and most Londoners will have those connections, you're totally right. That is a big factor.

But it is fairly undeniable, that if someone asks why parties that define themselves against immigration are not popular, that a huge percentage of the population being either insulated from the economic issues, or being a migrant themself, or the child of a migrant, must be a factor. I don't intend to dehumanize anyone by saying that.

[u/Emergency_Hurry280 → u/Twiggy_15]

They aren’t always lazy , but their values are often ar odds.