BOSTON, England (AP) – Boston is a typical English town – ancient church, traditional shops, Polish supermarkets, Baltic bakeries. Amid the bargain-hunting crowds on market day, eastern European languages are almost as common as the local east-of-England accent.
Immigration has transformed Boston in the last decade. At least one in eight residents comes from eastern Europe, and the population is growing at double the national rate.
The change Boston is seeing is not unique – and unhappiness about Britain’s transformation is reshaping the political landscape as voters prepare to choose a new government, fueling support for outsider politicians focused on immigration. With no party firmly in the lead, the race for the May 7 election, which officially began Monday, looks set to produce a fragmented Parliament for a fractured nation.
“I think there are a few too many of the foreign brigade here at the moment,” said butcher Nigel Lote. His customers come almost exclusively from the long-settled English population of Boston, a town of about 65,000 that gave its name and its Pilgrim heritage to the Massachusetts city.
“It’s getting to the stage where there’s them and us,” he said. “We don’t mingle.”