There are no small boats in Burnley…and even if there were, Burnley Council are in charge of the bins, grass cutting and the leisure centres. Not immigration.

For many voters, Labour’s problem is not simply that it has disappointed. It is that it has drifted. After years of talking about standing up for working people, fairness, and social justice it now too often sounds like a tidier version of the Conservatives. In communities like Burnley, that feels less like leadership and more like abandonment.

Into that vacuum steps Reform UK, offering a politics of resentment dressed up as common sense. Its message is simple: if life is hard, blame the outsider; if wages are low, blame the migrant; if services are stretched, blame the refugee. What are Reform’s actual policies for Burnley?

Burnley’s problems were not caused by desperate people crossing borders. They were caused by years of low pay, weak rights at work, insecure housing and chronic underinvestment in towns that built this country.

Affan Burki, chairman Burnley Green Party

placeholder image — Affan Burki, chairman Burnley Green Party

That does not mean Burnley residents should be expected to ignore the pressures they feel. People are right to worry about housing, GP appointments, wages and whether our children will be able to build a decent life here. But those concerns deserve serious answers, not scapegoats. Cruel narratives aimed at migrants and refugees will not build a single council home, raise a single pay packet, or shorten a single NHS waiting list.

The Green Party says that Burnley’s strength lies in unity, not division. It says the answer to poverty is investment, the answer to unemployment is secure jobs, and the answer to fear is common purpose. That means practical commitments: investment in advanced manufacturing and green industry; new council homes; improved public transport; stronger communities; superior schools; and decent wages that let people live rather than merely survive.

Most of all, it means refusing to let anyone turn neighbour against neighbour. Burnley has always been stronger when people work together. The town’s history is not one of isolation; it is one of shared effort, shared pride and shared resilience.

Burnley does not need more blame. It needs better homes, jobs, schools, honesty and hope.