It is somewhat ironic that the first Reform UK conference since electoral success in July would be hosted in a city far from any of the party’s victories.
Logistically Birmingham, at the very centre of the country, makes complete sense for bringing supporters together.
Yet aside from Ashfield in the heart of the Red Wall, all of Nigel Farage’s party’s gains were on the very edge of England.
The seaside’s golden glow has yet to fade from the hearts and minds of British culture – but it has dimmed between the decades.
WATCH: GB News reporter Will Hollis uncovers why seaside towns moved over to Reform
Once Clacton, and Great Yarmouth, plus Boston and Skegness, were heralded as the pinnacle destinations for most Brits to spend their hard-earned salaries on donkey rides and ice creams.
South Basildon and East Thurrock, the final of five constituencies turning to Reform in the last election, are only a stone’s throw from Southend-on-Sea.
Fewer tourists may have visited since the golden age of British seaside holidays in the 1950s and 1960s, but many millions still choose the nostalgic coastline every year instead of forking out for Tenerife or Benidorm.
Catering for them – loyal locals that have lived on the coast for generations or retired in vast numbers, seeking the same joy from their earliest years to comfort them during some of their last.
In a new-build suburb and less than a mile from the beach, Ian Clarke, 76, settled in Skegness with his wife Trudy after leaving a long career working in Northampton’s mental health services.
“It’s beautiful, we love it,” he said.
After years as an “inactive” member of the Conservatives but “disappointed in the whole performance”, Clarke abandoned the party, giving his vote instead to Reform and campaigning to elect Richard Tice in Skegness.
“We came out of Europe eight years ago and we still haven’t done anything,” said Clarke.
“Cost of living is increasing and health care waiting lists are enormous. That’s why I voted Reform. I think they’ll make a difference.”
In Skegness, as with many other right-leaning towns and villages across the UK, immigration ranks high on voters’ priorities.
After fourteen years of Tory power and promises to reduce migration, disaffected Conservative voters toppled huge majorities in electing Reform UK.
Traditionally white, older and working class, since 1997 voters in Boston and Skegness had only ever elected Tories.
Heading into the July election, the Conservatives held a 25,621 vote majority.
It’s gone now.
Ian Clarke says he voted Reform because he believes they will “make a difference”
GB News
The immigration row erupted spectacularly in communities across the country when the bulging backlog of asylum claims and lacking accommodation meant the Tory Government commandeered hotels for housing, spending £8million a day of taxpayer’s money.
In Skegness, some 300 migrants from the Middle East, Africa, and Albania were housed in five of the town’s top hotels across the space of two years.
By June 2024, only one hotel and 13 asylum seekers were living in Skegness. But by then, the self-inflicted political hurt was too great for the Conservatives to withstand.
“Local people were generally uncomfortable with the use of hotels for migrants,” said Clarke.
“People do get stuck in their ways, but I’m open to new ideas and change.”
“Yet, we don’t welcome input from people who want to change all our traditions and culture,” said the pensioner.
On the beachfront, Jordan Elliott, 37, works giving donkey rides to children for a business with a hundred years of history.
Jordan Elliott, 37, works giving donkey rides to children for a business with a hundred years of history
GB News
Like 15,000 others living here, he backed Reform on election day.
“It’s about the British people really. Look after us before other folk,” he said.
“We’re like a sinking country. We keep taking more people on.”
“You can understand the hoteliers taking on the asylum seekers because its guaranteed income” he added, “but it doesn’t look good for tourism.”
In the town’s high street, Danny Brookes runs a small, but popular cafe. During the election campaign, he welcomed Nigel Farage and his local candidate Richard Tice through the doors.
The town councillor became a prominent voice in the row over migrant hotels with fears the stint would turn away tourists, adding to a list of the seaside town’s problems which include deprivation and anti-social behaviour.
“The Government doesn’t care about seaside towns,” said Brookes.
“They’ll send asylum seekers and won’t invest. It’s as if everyone goes abroad now, let’s forget about the seaside.”
Danny Brookes met Nigel Farage and Richard Tice during the election campaign
GB News
Brookes had been a Ukip voter – the former party of Nigel Farage, for which he could never get elected. Yet the political titan’s influence is undeniable, even before taking his newly won seat in Westminster.
Boston and Skegness voted overwhelmingly to leave the European Union and without Farage a vote would undoubtedly never have happened.
“I like straight-talking people that don’t mislead you,” said Brookes.
“I think change can happen from the Reform Party. I think it’s given Conservatives a wake-up call.”
In Boston, a forty-minute drive from its constituency-sharing sister Skegness, the idyllic market town has become a national symbol for how mass immigration can parallel the quintessentially English.
Attracted to seasonal work in Lincolnshire’s farming and fruit-picking industries, Boston boasts people from around the world, particularly Eastern Europe.
In 2016, the town’s constituency took the title for the highest leave vote in the European referendum with 75 per cent of voters choosing to abandon continental ties.
Less than a decade later, with little changed for voters intended outcome – a reduction in immigration and greater investment in the area – the election of Richard Tice was inevitable.
Boston and Skegness MP Richard Tice said coastal towns have been “abandoned” by previous governments
PA
“So many coastal towns have been ignored and abandoned by successive Governments,” Tice, Reform’s Deputy Leader, says.
“People have been dumped in coastal communities and locals are raging mad about it.”
He said the picturesque market town had become “dominated by lawful and unlawful immigration.”
“I’ve met families from Eastern Europe who come here with the sole purpose of getting housing, claiming benefits, and sending the money back home.”
“There is a serious injustice to this,” he added.
Most of Reform’s gains were taken from Conservatives, but the signs of temptation for Labour voters, particularly in former industrial communities, to join ranks too is unmistakable.
The next election is five years from now, but Tice thinks his party, even with small gains, can become a “serious threat” to Labour.
British politics has been balanced between Conservatives and Labour for more than a century. Yet, the July election shows fringe parties, like Green or Reform, are gaining greater influence as dissatisfaction with the status quo spreads.
Seaside towns “felt left behind” after the “glory days of British holiday”, said Dr Tom Caygill, Senior Lecturer of Politics at Nottingham Trent University.
Deprivation and antisocial behaviour caused by decades of under-investment “generates resentment” with the “main parties not speaking to or for them” he said.
“You can begin to understand why seaside towns have turned to an insurgent party of the right who is articulating a stronger message on immigration.”
Despite some wins, Reform requires more traction to become a realistic contender for government. Without local election victories, at county and district level, the party’s gains now will be worth little in five years. “It could go wrong or become the foundation of something much bigger,” Dr Caygill said.
Dr Tom Caygill said seaside towns “felt left behind” after the “glory days of British holiday”
GB News
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GB News reporter Will Hollis reporting about the rise of Reform in seaside towns
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“The opportunity is there to build a more substantial threat, not just to the Conservatives but to Labour as well if they become a substantial party of protest of the right and centre right,” he said.
Reform UK is not without critics from political shades on both sides of the divide. Campaign group Hope Not Hate denounced the party for attracting what it calls the “radical right.”
The seaside harks back to the best days of Britain, victorious after the war. Peace and prosperity. Fish and chips and a trip to the amusements.
Reform and its supporters say they are trying to return to that image of Britain with it almost in touching distance.
Yet, the reasons may be nothing more than nostalgia for a lost past, a memory fading from reality while a passenger plane crosses the sky and a small boat lands ashore.
