On a cold and drizzly June morning, a steady stream of people trickled in and out of the polling booth near Southall station in London, home to one of the country’s biggest South Asian communities. While the snap general election was called by the Conservative government with a view to strengthening its hand in Brexit negotiations, the debate has quickly been taken over by other issues as was demonstrated by some of those emerging from the polling station.
“For me, it’s not about Brexit but about local issues,” said Gita, a 70-year old retired nurse, originally from Southall, who is a long-standing supporter of Ealing Southall’s Labour MP Virendra Sharma. She said plans to cut services at the local Ealing Hospital was a top priority for her and others in the constituency.
Ahmad Zubair, a father from Hyderabad, who had lived in Southall for 12 years, and who works for the postal service, said he was positive about a lot of the initiatives in the Labour manifesto, in particular, its commitment to reverse the privatisation of the postal service Royal Mail. “There are many good things in the manifesto.”
“I want to change the Prime Minister,” said Amarjit, a 68-year-old woman, who highlighted concern about cuts to the education system, and NHS as the major issues for her.
“This was an unwarranted and untimely snap election called because they wanted a thumping majority for Brexit negotiations but the public have reacted on the basis that Brexit on its own isn’t an issue, but that health, education and housing and benefits are major issues for them,” said Mr. Sharma, the MP, who won by a majority of 18,760 in 2015, and has been the MP since 2007.
Ironically, the issue of Brexit was not the top of the agenda even for a supporter of the U.K. Independence Party. The 68-year-old Carlton, originally from Chennai, said he was voting for the party because of concerns about immigration from outside the EU.
Over in the Conservative constituency of Harrow East, also home to a sizeable Indian community, Brexit also did not figure top of people’s priorities. Ranjanbala Patel, a long-term Conservative voter, said she had supported the campaign to Remain in the EU but would continue to support the party because she believes in its wider ethos of encouraging entrepreneurship and “people standing on their own two feet.”
Jetal Patel, another Conservative supporter, said Brexit mattered less to him than issues such as the Conservatives economic policies, and he remained optimistic that the party would review its immigration policy over the long term to become more accommodating to the needs of the Indian diaspora and their families.
