What will Trump’s victory mean for Southend? A question for the ages!

I feel certain Trump’s omission of Southend-on-Sea in any of his speeches thus far was not meant as a slight. Our time will come and I’m sure our patience will be rewarded with a shout out alongside our seaside friends in Clacton who look to have donated their local MP pro bono to Trump’s cause.

Whilst we are waiting I thought I might put in my tuppence-worth of commentary to somehow connect the President Elect’s triumph to what it means for us in our quiet little corner of the world.

Trump Manifesto (or ‘Agenda 27)

Having breezed through his base plan that some may argue is juvenile, unworkable, impractical and immoral (judge for yourselves at: https://www.donaldjtrump.com/platform),

I have loosely managed to find a few things that may be of interest for us in Southend.

I must also make a general observation that there is just a bit more than a passing resemblance to Reform’s ‘contract’ with all their ambitions of aggressive military investment, ‘peace through strength’ nationalist rhetoric, transphobia and racial targeting.

War and peace

First bit of good news is his manifesto/Agenda will not see the world burn.

In his words, he wants to ‘Stop World War Three’ and what is more important than peace? 

Some of our daily rags were regularly running stories about the necessity of a return to national service in the UK to which I found abhorrent. If Trump is successful in his claim to stop the Wars in 24 hours then he may well have saved the lives of tens of thousands of Southends’ most eligible military recruits - as well as millions more across the world.

All other world leaders powerful enough to have had influence on the fighting have failed to bring an end to the bloodshed, and though Trump’s conduct may well be an anathema to many, all ought to be forgiven if he manages to achieve this seemingly impossible task.

Economy

The economy is his bread and butter.  He understands capitalism inside out and knows what to do to create a great business environment: regulation that is fair rather than punitive; wages that are affordable to grow business and that do not fuel excessive inflation; a tax system that encourages business to expand rather than draining them of investment capital every time they make a profit.

My only confusion is that he wants to make ‘large tax cuts for workers’ and at the same time ‘end inflation’.  Whilst I agree with tax cuts for low income households it is inevitable that will cause some level of inflation all things being equal.

Aside from that small contradiction, a successful US economy will mean more opportunities for the UK to grow our economy and somehow the trickle-down may make its way all the way to us. Perhaps we might be able to afford having our bins emptied more than twice a month or turning the street lights back on!

Immigration

Trump’s hardline immigration policy that will ‘stop the migrant invasion’ and see the ‘largest deportation in history’ may mean those millions of people hoping for the American Dream may have to settle for the UK’s open arms and unprotected borders.

Southend residents already know we are over-populated with our public services and infrastructure inadequate as a result, but with ever more people perhaps arriving it may be expected more shiny new tower blocks will be on the way and with it more green land lost. 

This may serve to compound Labour’s declaration to build houses almost anywhere and everywhere by magically turning green belt into grey belt land and speed up Southend’s transition into a concrete city. Hadleigh Farmland is a horrifying example just next door.

Woke!

Trump will reverse the woke agenda that many feel has gone too far.  Respect for our fellow human is right, but there are those whose patience has been stretched.  The manner in which this reversal will take place will be overt and aggressive and could easily slingshot past what could be considered a fair and reasonable re-balance.

As said, Reform UK are distinctly linked with Trump and the similarities in their social views are clear. For Southend, we have two newly turned Reform UK councillors already and I have no doubt they will look to field candidates for all 51 seats in the local elections in 2026 if they can.  If Trump manages to change the social rights and wrongs in the US and the UK is impressed, I can see a wave of momentum over here which could see the face of our council change and its philosophy with it.

New Eras

Whenever a new political leader or party takes over - regardless of who and what it is they represent - I always have hope in the first few days. Fresh start, new eyes and all that.

For instance, even though I was worried about national Labour’s coming to power, I was still hopeful their election victory would launch the UK to a brighter future. As it is they are on course to destroy the economy, greenbelt land and the lives of millions of pensioners, as well as taxing us to death.  Southend Labour will always act consistent to their national colleagues and we will see our council tax and all fees and charges go up yet again while basic services will be cut.

My hope of Labour being our saviour disappeared within weeks, but despite everything telling me otherwise, I sincerely hope Trump will be successful in making the world a better place (what the hell…great again!), and wish him the best of luck from all of us in Southend.