We've become a commuter town.
Ebbw Vale, a Welsh town that received the highest levels of EU structural funding available, nonetheless voted more heavily for Brexit than anywhere else in Wales in 2016 — and a decade on, the paradox has deepened rather than resolved. The gleaming buildings raised on the old steelworks site stand largely quiet, symbols of investment that never translated into livelihoods, while families grow poorer and young people leave. What Ebbw Vale reveals is an older, harder truth: that infrastructure without economic belonging does not heal a community, and that people who feel abandoned will reach for change even when the evidence of support surrounds them.
- A town rebuilt with European money voted overwhelmingly to leave Europe, and ten years on, residents are confronting what that contradiction has cost them.
- The regeneration projects — hospital, college, tech hub, railway station — have produced a place people commute away from each morning rather than a place that employs them.
- Businesses are struggling to survive, house prices are rising as outside commuters move in, and young people face a choice between long journeys or leaving altogether.
- The UK has not replaced EU funding in full, a Welsh tech investment programme has attracted only a handful of firms, and the cost-of-living crisis is squeezing those who remain.
- Labour, the movement born in this town, has been swept from its safest ground — replaced by Plaid Cymru and Reform UK, two parties whose only common ground is rejection of the Westminster status quo.
The old steelworks site in Ebbw Vale has been remade. A hospital, a college, a cybersecurity hub, and a railway station now occupy the land where furnaces once burned. Tech firms have arrived. The buildings are modern and purposeful. Yet on a weekday afternoon the place is strikingly quiet — more livestock than people moving through the rewilded strips beside the new facilities.
This stillness captures the town's central contradiction. In 2016, Ebbw Vale voted 62% for Brexit — the highest Leave share in Wales — despite having received the maximum level of EU structural funding available for regional development. The money had flowed in after the steelworks closed in 2002, paying for much of what now stands on that site. The EU flag had been on signs everywhere. The vote to leave came anyway.
A decade on, the regeneration has not produced jobs. The railway station is busy in the mornings, but the passengers are heading to Cardiff. Residents describe a commuter town, not a working one. Median wages have fallen in real terms. A think tank concluded that the EU funds, whatever else they achieved, did not improve the economic fortunes of Blaenau Gwent. Those who remain speak of businesses barely surviving, of cutting back on small things, of house prices rising as outsiders buy in while locals are priced out or pushed away.
Regret has settled over many who voted Leave. One resident, shopping on the high street, said it was shocking how many people had voted to go when the evidence of EU support was visible everywhere — that people either didn't know, didn't care, or believed what they were told about immigration. But regret does not reverse the trajectory.
The political consequences have been profound. Ebbw Vale is the birthplace of the British Labour movement, and for generations it was among the safest Labour seats in the country. In the most recent Senedd election, Labour won nothing here. Three seats went to Plaid Cymru, three to Reform UK. A Plaid representative described the Brexit vote as an expression of despair — of people who felt left behind — and said the chaos that followed had convinced more and more Welsh voters that Westminster simply does not work for them. The disillusionment has not faded. It has only found new forms.
The old steelworks site in Ebbw Vale has been transformed. Where furnaces once roared, there now stands a hospital, a leisure centre, a college, a cybersecurity research hub, and a gleaming railway station that opened in 2015. Tech firms have moved in. The buildings are modern and purposeful. Yet when a visitor walks through the area on a weekday afternoon, the quiet is striking. A ewe and three lambs, escaped from somewhere nearby, graze in a strip of rewilded land beside the tech buildings—nearly as many animals as people using the facilities.
This paradox sits at the heart of Ebbw Vale's current predicament. Ten years ago, in 2016, the town voted more heavily for Brexit than anywhere else in Wales. Sixty-two percent of its 18,000 residents chose to leave the European Union. This happened despite the fact that Ebbw Vale had received the maximum amount of EU structural funding available for regional development. The money had poured in after the steelworks closed in 2002, funding much of what now stands on that site. The EU flag had been on signs everywhere. Yet the town voted to sever the relationship anyway.
John Edwards, 77, volunteers at the Ebbw Vale Works Museum, housed in the steel mill's former general offices. He has watched the transformation unfold. "We don't get as many visitors as we would like," he said. "The train station is busy in the mornings, it's packed with people going to Cardiff. We've become a commuter town." The regeneration has not created local jobs. It has created a place people leave from each morning and return to each evening.
Claire Jones, 52, was shopping on the high street when asked about the Brexit vote. She winced. "It was shocking so many people voted leave when you just had to look around to see how much help we got from the EU," she said. "Either people didn't care or they didn't know, or they believed what they said about immigration." A decade later, with more information available and more engagement on the subject, many residents now regret the decision. But regret does not reverse the economic trajectory.
The deeper problem predates Brexit. The steelworks closure in 2002 took away the last traditional skilled manufacturing jobs. Despite maximum EU funding flowing into the region until 2016, the number of jobs in the area steadily declined. Median wages fell in real terms. A think tank report concluded that whatever the EU funds achieved, they did not boost the fortunes of Blaenau Gwent and similar Welsh towns. "If these towns were showered with cash, it appears to have gone straight down the drain," the analysis stated.
In the decade since the referendum, the UK has failed to replace the EU funding in full, as economists had predicted. The Welsh government launched a £100 million tech valleys programme to attract new industry. Three tech companies have opened offices on the old steelworks site. A coworking hub called the Goldworks opened in 2024. According to the council, more local businesses have opened in the past ten years than in the ten before—a net gain of 870 compared to 511 previously. Yet none of this has made a tangible difference to people dealing with the cost of living crisis. Nathan Grist, 40, who runs the family butchers, said: "We're doing OK but some businesses are barely keeping afloat, and people have to cut back on even little things now. It's a struggle for everyone."
Mike, 62, who worked in the steelworks until redundancy and then worked for himself, called the regeneration projects "white elephants." "There's no jobs," he said. "You have to get the train, and people from other places have realised that and now it's pushing up house prices." The town has become a place where outsiders buy property as an investment, where young people must commute or leave entirely, where the infrastructure of prosperity exists but the jobs do not.
The political consequences are reshaping the region. Ebbw Vale is the birthplace of the Labour movement in Britain, and for decades it was among the safest Labour constituencies in the country. That is no longer true. In May's Senedd election, the constituency did not elect a single Labour member. Three of the six available seats went to Plaid Cymru, and three to Reform UK. Lindsay Whittle, the Plaid Cymru representative, said: "What the Brexit vote showed was the depth of despair and how people felt left behind." He added: "More and more, people in Wales are seeing that Westminster doesn't work for them. The EU referendum and the mess afterwards are a big reason for that." The town's disillusionment has not resolved itself. It has simply found new political expression.
Notable Quotes
Either people didn't care or they didn't know, or they believed what they said about immigration.— Claire Jones, 52, reflecting on why the town voted to leave despite visible EU investment
What the Brexit vote showed was the depth of despair and how people felt left behind.— Lindsay Whittle, Plaid Cymru representative for the constituency
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why did a town that received so much EU money vote so decisively to leave?
That's the question everyone asks. The money was real—hospitals, colleges, the whole site rebuilt. But it didn't create the jobs people needed. You can build beautiful buildings, but if there's no work, people feel abandoned. The vote wasn't really about the EU. It was about feeling left behind for twenty years.
But didn't people see the EU flags on the signs, as one woman mentioned?
They did. But seeing a flag on a sign isn't the same as seeing your child get a job. The steelworks closed in 2002. By 2016, people had spent fourteen years watching jobs disappear despite the funding. The EU money became invisible—it was just infrastructure. The pain was visible every day.
So they voted for change, and now they regret it?
Many do, yes. But regret doesn't bring jobs back. The UK hasn't replaced the EU funding. The tech companies are there, but they're not hiring locals at scale. People are commuting to Cardiff or leaving entirely. The regeneration happened, but it didn't regenerate what people actually needed.
Why is immigration mentioned so much if only 3% of the population was born abroad?
Because immigration becomes a symbol for everything else that feels wrong. When you're struggling economically, when you see outsiders buying up houses as investments, when you feel forgotten—you look for someone to blame. The actual numbers don't matter as much as the feeling.
What does the shift to Plaid Cymru and Reform UK mean?
It means people have lost faith in the system that was supposed to help them. Labour built the welfare state here. But after decades of decline and a Brexit vote that made things worse, they're looking elsewhere. It's not really about Welsh independence or immigration policy. It's about the feeling that nobody in power is listening.
Is there any sign things might improve?
There are new businesses, new investment, the infrastructure is there. But it takes time, and people have been waiting a long time already. The question is whether the jobs will actually materialize before more people leave.