At first glance, Dorset seems untouched by the upheavals of recent years. Its postcard landscapes, the Jurassic Coast, rolling countryside, and bustling seaside resorts project an image of calm continuity. But look closer, and Dorset tells a story that is being played out across Britain: a story of austerity, broken promises, and a politics of division that has left communities turning on one another while the real culprits go unchallenged. Many consider parties like Reform UK to be the answer with their opportunist stoking of divisions, but when we look closer, we find that they are merely pouring petrol onto the flames for their own political ends.
In 2023, the Bibby Stockholm situated in Portland led some people to adopt the most rancid of behaviours.
However, the real reasons for the problems within the community go way beyond individuals being racist. It is due to complex issues that many simply do not have the critical thinking skills to determine. This leads to emotional responses where intellectual responses are what are actually required. We know from evidence that racists can turn away from their bigotry, but we also know that for many it is very challenging. What they need are the facts and then to be able to calmly consider them with those who do not have malice in mind.
The following identifies why divisions in Dorset are misplaced and why we must look at recent history and discover reality.
Austerity’s Legacy
Like every county, Dorset has paid the price for over a decade of austerity. Local councils, stripped of funding, have cut bus services, libraries and youth centres. Rural isolation has deepened. The NHS is in crisis, with Dorset’s hospitals facing some of the longest waiting times in the South West and severe staff shortages. Schools struggle with tight budgets, while families face rising costs and stagnant wages.
These problems have nothing to do with migration. They are the direct consequence of government policy and decisions made in Westminster for many years that dismantle public services and hollow out communities.
Brexit’s False Dawn
If austerity weakened Dorset, Brexit has compounded the damage. The county’s economy depends on agriculture, tourism and hospitality, all sectors that relied on European workers and easy access to European markets. Since Brexit, farms have struggled to find labour, hotels can’t fill vacancies, and small exporters face red tape that has pushed many out of the EU market entirely.
The promise of a renewed, sovereign Britain has, in practice, meant lost trade, worker shortages and declining investment. Dorset voted for Brexit in large numbers, but like many parts of Britain, it has been left to live with the consequences of a project that was sold as salvation but delivered only hardship.
The Manufactured Enemy
Rather than take responsibility, the government has turned to distraction. Migrants, once Eastern Europeans, now asylum seekers housed in hotels, have been cast as the villains. In Dorset, protests outside hotels and barges in Bournemouth and Portland reflect a sense of anger, but it is anger deliberately misdirected.
It is easier for ministers to encourage people to fear refugees than to confront the truth: that it is their own policies, not migration, that have fuelled Britain’s decline. Dorset is simply the latest stage on a well-worn path.
As one Bournemouth resident remarked, “They need somebody to hate… now it’s refugees; 10 years ago it was the Poles.” That cycle, scapegoating group after group, is not an accident. It is a strategy.
A National Warning
The divisions playing out in Dorset are not unique. From the north of England to the Welsh valleys to the Scottish borders, the same pattern repeats: austerity and Brexit have left communities weaker, poorer and angrier, and scapegoating has filled the vacuum left by honest politics.
The lesson is clear. Britain’s future will not be secured by pointing fingers at migrants. It will only be secured by facing up to the failures of austerity, repairing the damage of Brexit, investing in public services, and building an economy that works for everyone.
Until then, places like Dorset will remain symbols of a national malaise: communities encouraged to fight amongst themselves while those responsible for Britain’s decline and division walk away unchallenged.
