This Tiny UK Town Embraces Brexit Like No Other — And Faces a Reform Revolution

No town in the UK wanted to leave the
European Union
as much as Boston. Some 75% of voters in the market town, located in the eastern part of Lincolnshire, opted for Brexit – 23% higher than the famous 52% across the UK.

Between 2004 and 2014, Boston experienced a 460%
rise in immigration
. According to the
Reform
UK councillor for Boston Borough Council’s Trinity ward, Jonathan Noble, many of these new residents came from Eastern European countries like Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Romania. All of these countries joined the EU during those years and local residents became increasingly disgruntled.

The town was previously known as the ”
most Conservative in the UK
” with its last Labour MP, William Stapleton Royce, passing away over 100 years ago. However, Reform UK threw the Tories out of power on Lincolnshire County Council in May, winning 44 out of 70 seats in a whopping landslide.

A number of senior Conservative councillors lost their seats as Reform almost entirely swept South Holland and Boston. Dame Andrea Jenkyns, of Reform UK, was also appointed the first Mayor of Greater Lincolnshire.

According to Cllr Noble, people in Boston and the wider county are “disillusioned with the main parties” and see Reform as an “alternative to get the country heading in the right direction”.

Cllr Noble says: “I think there’s several issues around here. Immigration is the biggest issue. Then you’ve got the net zero nonsense which impacts everyone’s energy bills.

“There’s a number of things that Labour are doing that weren’t in the manifesto. Like the farming tax, increasing national insurance and inheritance tax. They’re costing the working person.

“People are generally disillusioned with all of the main parties and both Labour and the Conservatives are losing support. Reform is an alternative as people feel the country is going in the wrong direction.”

Dame Andrea called for migrants to be
“put in tents”
rather than hotels and demanded an “end to soft toouch Britain” in her victory speech at the start of May.

On the issue, Cllr Noble tells the Express: “Essentially because they’re entering the country illegally they’re foreign criminals. They should be arrested and deported.

“But what do we do? We give them hotels and free driving lessons. But then we’ve got English natives who are struggling to get on the housing ladder and it’s absolutely outrageous. Nothing is being done about it.”

According to Cllr Noble, “around 45%” of the children at secondary schools in Boston are “foreign nationals”. “The original community of Boston, before mass migration, was very patriotic and proud of their country,” he says. “But there’s a feeling this is changing.”

Chris Smith, the owner of Locks and Leather, a shoe repair shop in Boston, says there is “quite a large migrant issue in the town”. He says this has led to increasing anti-social behaviour in the area which has impacted local businesses.

The 37-year-old, known locally as Elvis, explains: “We’ve got a lot of Romani gypsies here and the way they use the town is disgraceful.

“I’ve got no problem with anyone coming but I don’t accept anti-social behaviour. A couple of weeks back I saw a family outside and the child was p***ing all over the place on the floor. It’s not acceptable.”

He adds: “An old lady on West Street who had run a little wedding dress shop for around 20 years had to close up and move. She was getting so much grief from drunk people and people p***ing and sh***ing all over the place. It’s awful.

“As much as I don’t like to say it, the majority are migrants nowadays. They’re coming over in droves and seem to be getting away with things.”

When asked if issues such as these have contributed to the rise of Reform UK in the area, Elvis replies without hesitation: “Yeah 100%.” He continues: “Which I don’t like the idea of. I think [Nigel] Farage has got in by telling people what they want to hear.

“My biggest issue here is, we’ve got a lot of migrants here and a lot of Eastern Europeans, and they’re salt of the earth. If it wasn’t for them coming over and working we’d be screwed. And I’ve lived in this town since 1999.

“The way I see it, is you’re in this country and you love this country, and you’re putting something back in, then you’re part of this community. But we seem to be letting the riff raff in.”

Elvis adds that people are scared to walk around Boston at night. “I’ve got a little lad myself coming up to six months and it’s one of the things I’m worried about,” he says. “With him growing up in this area I’m concerned.

“It’s a mess at the moment and I’m interested to see how it all plays out.”

Jerry Betts, who lives in nearby Heckington but visits Boston every week, agrees some local people are “quite frightened” walking through the town at night. He says it stops some of the older generation from leaving their homes.

“There are some quite big problems here,” he says. “There’s a lot of foreign people that live in Boston now and segregate themselves in the town at night. It stops a lot of the older Bostonian people coming into town as they’re quite frightened.

“I used to live in Boston and I’ve seen police cars burnt in the streets. There used to be a lot of interracial fights going on. So we left and sold our home.”

An elderly couple, who wish to remain anonymous, are sat on a park bench in the town centre and say Boston “is not a nice place to visit”. According to them, there’s not much on offer for people in terms of shops or cafes.

“It’s not a nice place to visit,” the man says. “There’s too many foreign shops and charity shops. Not enough range. For us there’s not much on offer.”

Cllr Noble adds: “We don’t see enough police on the streets here. That’s a big issue as there’s anti-social behaviour around here. We have drunk people weeing on the streets. This has become a bigger issue in the last 10 years.”

However, 27-year-old Leoni Eldridge, who lives in Boston, says the town gets an unfair reputation. According to her, the town is really clean and she always feels safe.

“I don’t think it’s a bad place although it does get a bad reputation from some people. A lot of people blame the migrants but I think they’re keeping it alive,” she explains. “I think they do more than the English people. They own businesses, are polite and give plenty back.”

But Hiwa Mohammed, who owns Asia Market on West Street, says it hasn’t been easy operating a business in Boston in recent years. He warns that if things continue the way they are, he may have to close next year.

The 41-year-old says: “All of the businesses in Boston are slowly going downwards. Everything is getting more expensive – rent, bills, business rates. The war on
Ukraine
is making everything more expensive.

“People are also not earning enough money. They can’t even pay their rent so why would people spend loads of money in shops? They’re more fussy about what they choose and how much they pay.

“People specifically look for cheaper stuff now. After
Brexit
, and the
Ukraine
war, people have been spending less.”

He adds: “I think we’ll survive this year but I may have to close this shop next year. Shop after shop is leaving the main streets of Boston. It’s the same for everybody.”

Another prominent issue in Boston, locals tell the Express, is net zero. The UK has a legally-binding contract to reach net zero emissions by 2050 but Cllr Noble says: “They’re a con in the sense that people are being told that their energy bills will come down. This is the biggest food growing area in the country so it doesn’t make sense to cover vast areas of land with solar farms.”

So with Reform now running the county council and Richard Tice the town’s MP, will the level of scrutiny and expectation on the party intensify? “There’s definitely pressure now to deliver,” admits Cllr Noble.

And for the majority of those who we met in Boston the time for making bold statemtents is over. Change is expected. The next few years will show whether or not it can be achieved.