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<\/p>\nLuton, north of London, is among a small number of UK towns and cities with a non-white majority. An estimated 150 languages and dialects are spoken in the town of 230,000 people. <\/p>\n
Notorious far-right agitator Tommy Robinson and misogynist influencer Andrew Tate, who faces court cases in Britain and Romania, hail from the town, where about a third of residents are Muslim.<\/p>\n
Both have used Luton and its post-industrial struggles with deprivation and community cohesion in their stories. Robinson in particular has presented himself as homegrown resistance to “Islamic extremism”.<\/p>\n
A number of jihadists behind UK attacks have had links to the town. But neither Robinson, 43, nor the self-proclaimed misogynist Tate, 39, are seen there these days, and residents eschew their divisive beliefs to defend Luton’s diversity.<\/p>\n
“That non-love energy, spirit, that comes from Tommy, that comes from Andrew … that is definitely not representative of Luton,” lifelong resident Glenn Jenkins, 62, told AFP from a community space he founded.<\/p>\n
Housing a music studio, among other things, it sits near Marsh Farm, a once-notoriously deprived public housing complex where US-born Tate grew up. He branded it “the worst area of the worst town”.<\/p>\n
“Luton is highly multicultural, which is one of its treasures,” Jenkins added.<\/p>\n
‘Bad press’<\/p>\n
Luton — best known for its airport serving budget airlines and a football team with topsy-turvy fortunes — was for centuries an industrial town. <\/p>\n
Its factories were once renowned for hat-making then, more recently, vehicle manufacturing.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
For centuries an industrial town, Luton has some of the most deprived neighbourhoods in Britain \u00a9 Chris J Ratcliffe \/ AFP <\/p>\n
But like many places, it has struggled with the loss of heavy industry and some of its neighbourhoods are among Britain’s most deprived.<\/p>\n
Robinson — whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon — first garnered national attention by forming the now-defunct far-right English Defence League (EDL) there in 2009.<\/p>\n
That followed Islamist demonstrators staging an anti-war protest during a parade of soldiers returning from Iraq. Seven Muslim men from Luton appeared in court for branding soldiers rapists, murderers and baby killers.<\/p>\n
The town saw occasional clashes between the EDL, counter-protesters and police in subsequent years, and plenty of what locals call “bad press”.<\/p>\n
Supported by X owner Elon Musk, Robinson drew up to 150,000 people to Britain’s biggest-ever far-right march in London in September.<\/p>\n
But in Luton, with its sizeable Irish and eastern European heritage communities alongside a big British-South Asian population, leaders say they have worked hard — and successfully — at cohesion.<\/p>\n
“We’re a workshop for peace,” Peter Adams, a lay member of the Anglican St Mary’s Church for nearly two decades, told AFP.<\/p>\n
‘Two different takes’<\/p>\n
The town council has long been Labour-controlled and the centre-left ruling party holds its two parliamentary seats. <\/p>\n
Luton’s ceremonial mayor, Amy Nicholls, aged 30 when nominated earlier this year, is its youngest and first from the LGBTQ community.<\/p>\n
But populist Nigel Farage’s hard-right Reform UK, which leads in national polls, could be poised to make inroads. It nearly won a recent by-election for a local government seat.<\/p>\n
Ex-Labour now-Conservative councillor Aslam Khan said Reform has aired valid concerns over “illegal immigration” but accused the party of “demonising certain communities” like his own, of Pakistani Muslim heritage.<\/p>\n
“Criticising and stigmatising and demonising a community is very unfair,” he told AFP.<\/p>\n
Khan and others argue economic regeneration plans — which include a \u00a31.7-billion ($2.3-billion) town centre renovation and repurposing the former Vauxhall car plant — are the best way to counter far-right narratives. <\/p>\n
![\"Luton](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/9193eeb5cd7804dbb3949065fac5e186fbda6194.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Luton has unveiled plans for a \u00a31.7 billion regeneration plan, including renovating the town centre \u00a9 Chris J Ratcliffe \/ AFP <\/p>\n
But Tricia, 75, whose family has lived there for generations, told AFP: “You feel like a foreigner in your own town.”<\/p>\n
“I think the English are just being pushed out, all over the country,” she said, beneath a World War I memorial bearing relatives’ names.<\/p>\n
Perhaps tellingly, Tricia noted her views are not endorsed by her adult sons, denying their accusations of racism.<\/p>\n
For Jenkins, “two different takes on the world” are playing out in Luton and beyond.<\/p>\n
“I know people who love Tommy, and they’re my friends and brothers — I grew up with them — but they’re a minority,” he said.<\/p>\n
He insisted that in the multicultural town “people cross cultural barriers every day”.<\/p>\n
\u00a9 2025 AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Luton, north of London, is among a small number of UK towns and cities with a non-white majority.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":340604,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-340603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=340603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340603\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/340604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=340603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=340603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=340603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}