{"id":223152,"date":"2025-06-29T05:06:23","date_gmt":"2025-06-29T05:06:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/223152\/"},"modified":"2025-06-29T05:06:23","modified_gmt":"2025-06-29T05:06:23","slug":"the-little-uk-town-thats-more-brexit-than-any-other-uk-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/223152\/","title":{"rendered":"The little UK town that’s ‘more Brexit’ than any other | UK | News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Boston,<\/p>\n

Boston resoundingly voted for Brexit (Image: Adam Gerrard \/ Daily Express)<\/p>\n

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

Between 2004 and 2014, Boston experienced a 460% rise in immigration<\/a>. According to the Reform<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

Don’t miss… <\/strong> Reform’s 18-year-old council leader in charge of \u00a3500m budget hits out at critic <\/a> [LATEST] <\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Cllr<\/p>\n

Councillor Jonathan Noble says there are a number of issues facing Boston (Image: Adam Gerrard \/ Daily Express)<\/p>\n

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

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.<\/p>\n

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”.<\/p>\n

Cllr Noble says: “I think there\u2019s several issues around here. Immigration is the biggest issue. Then you\u2019ve got the net zero nonsense which impacts everyone\u2019s energy bills.<\/p>\n

“There\u2019s a number of things that Labour are doing that weren\u2019t in the manifesto. Like the farming tax, increasing national insurance and inheritance tax. They\u2019re costing the working person.<\/p>\n

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

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

\"Boston<\/p>\n

Jonathan Noble says Boston residents had always been ‘very patriotic’ and ‘proud of their country’ (Image: Adam Gerrard) <\/p>\n

On the issue, Cllr Noble tells the Express: “Essentially because they\u2019re entering the country illegally they\u2019re foreign criminals. They should be arrested and deported.<\/p>\n

“But what do we do? We give them hotels and free driving lessons. But then we\u2019ve got English natives who are struggling to get on the housing ladder and it\u2019s absolutely outrageous. Nothing is being done about it.”<\/p>\n

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.”<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The 37-year-old, known locally as Elvis, explains: “We\u2019ve got a lot of Romani gypsies here and the way they use the town is disgraceful.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019ve got no problem with anyone coming but I don\u2019t 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\u2019s not acceptable.”<\/p>\n

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\u2019s awful.<\/p>\n

“As much as I don\u2019t like to say it, the majority are migrants nowadays. They\u2019re coming over in droves and seem to be getting away with things.”<\/p>\n

\"Chris<\/p>\n

Chris Smith says there is a ‘large migrant issue’ in Boston (Image: Adam Gerrard \/ Daily Express)<\/p>\n

\"Post<\/p>\n

The windows of the old post office in Boston are smashed (Image: Adam Gerrard \/ Daily Express)<\/p>\n

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\u2019t like the idea of. I think [Nigel] Farage has got in by telling people what they want to hear.<\/p>\n

“My biggest issue here is, we\u2019ve got a lot of migrants here and a lot of Eastern Europeans, and they\u2019re salt of the earth. If it wasn\u2019t for them coming over and working we\u2019d be screwed. And I\u2019ve lived in this town since 1999.<\/p>\n

“The way I see it, is you\u2019re in this country and you love this country, and you\u2019re putting something back in, then you\u2019re part of this community. But we seem to be letting the riff raff in.”<\/p>\n

Elvis adds that people are scared to walk around Boston at night. “I\u2019ve got a little lad myself coming up to six months and it\u2019s one of the things I\u2019m worried about,” he says. “With him growing up in this area I\u2019m concerned.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s a mess at the moment and I\u2019m interested to see how it all plays out.”<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

“There are some quite big problems here,” he says. “There\u2019s 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\u2019re quite frightened.<\/p>\n

\"Jerry<\/p>\n

Jerry Betts says some locals are frightened to go into town (Image: Adam Gerrard \/ Daily Express)<\/p>\n

\"Boston<\/p>\n

Boston’s Market Square (Image: Adam Gerrard \/ Daily Express)<\/p>\n

“I used to live in Boston and I\u2019ve 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.”<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

“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.”<\/p>\n

Cllr Noble adds: “We don\u2019t see enough police on the streets here. That\u2019s a big issue as there\u2019s anti-social behaviour around here. We have drunk people weeing on the streets. This has become a bigger issue in the last 10 years.”<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

“I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a bad place although it does get a bad reputation from some people. A lot of people blame the migrants but I think they\u2019re keeping it alive,” she explains. “I think they do more than the English people. They own businesses, are polite and give plenty back.”<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"Hiwa<\/p>\n

Hiwa Mohammed warns he may be forced to close his shop next year (Image: Adam Gerrard \/ Daily Express)<\/p>\n

\"Boston<\/p>\n

Boston town centre (Image: Adam Gerrard \/ Daily Express)<\/p>\n

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<\/a> is making everything more expensive.<\/p>\n

“People are also not earning enough money. They can\u2019t even pay their rent so why would people spend loads of money in shops? They\u2019re more fussy about what they choose and how much they pay.<\/p>\n

“People specifically look for cheaper stuff now. After Brexit<\/a>, and the Ukraine<\/a> war, people have been spending less.”<\/p>\n

He adds: “I think we\u2019ll survive this year but I may have to close this shop next year. Shop after shop is leaving the main streets of Boston. It\u2019s the same for everybody.”<\/p>\n

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\u2019t make sense to cover vast areas of land with solar farms.”<\/p>\n

So with Reform now running the county council and Richard Tice<\/a> the town’s MP, will the level of scrutiny and expectation on the party intensify? “There\u2019s definitely pressure now to deliver,” admits Cllr Noble.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"Leoni<\/p>\n

Leoni Eldridge believes Boston gets an unfair reputation (Image: Adam Gerrard \/ Daily Express)<\/p>\n

\"River<\/p>\n

The River Haven runs through Boston (Image: Adam Gerrard \/ Daily Express)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Boston resoundingly voted for Brexit (Image: Adam Gerrard \/ Daily Express) No town in the UK wanted to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":223153,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5226],"tags":[4573,802,5322,748,2000,299,5187,1699,4884,40,386,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-223152","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brexit","8":"tag-boston","9":"tag-brexit","10":"tag-brexit-news","11":"tag-britain","12":"tag-eu","13":"tag-europe","14":"tag-european","15":"tag-european-union","16":"tag-great-britain","17":"tag-immigration","18":"tag-reform-uk","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114764918971942708","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223152\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}