Describe someone who voted Labour in 2005 but voted for Brexit in 2016

[Samof94]

How would you describe such a voter in the UK???

[oldtimer]

How would you describe such a voter in the UK???

A UKIP 2015 voter.

[Wiswylfen]

This isn't that difficult: a good many Labour 2005 voters will have gone on to vote Leave in 2016, but anyway. Then-steelworker, now precariously employed since it closed in 2012, who nonetheless despite voting Leave voted Labour both in 2017 and 2019.

[Oryxslayer]

Lotta people like this across the north who either stayed loyal to Labour for the two decades, or went Lab -> Lab -> UKIP -> Lab/Con -> Con -> Lab across 2005, 2010, 2015, 2017, 2019, and upcoming in 2024. It shouldn't be that hard to remember that both parties had large divisions over Brexit, given that these divisions are the root cause for why the May years became so chaotic.

I'll let others go into more detail,  but the stereotypical image of this type of voter is someone who was tied to small-L labour but since then has retired or been fired and forced elsewhere.  This working class identity led one naturally from labour to Labour through politics of identity. Brexit broke down that attachment based purely on identity and forced one to think if they ideologically fit into modern Labour,  something that happened with many cohorts across the country for both parties. Some of course stayed, some left in 2019 and certain locals after that.  The current situation though has brought everyone back together since at least the 2022 Johnson scandals, with even more voters from different cohorts hopping on in the months after that.

[Torrain]

Lee Anderson MP