The city is a twenty-minute train ride from [[Brighton]], and as such has a high population of homosexuals. Despite this, Eastbourne is a firmly Conservative region, followed by the United Kingdom Independence Party and the British National Party. Demographically it also has a considerable population of economic refugees from [[Wales]], who left to find work in the service sector during Margaret Thatcher's economic reforms. It is estimated that the Welsh population is somewhere between 45 and 50% of the total population. Unemployment is high amongst the migrant population. | The city is a twenty-minute train ride from [[Brighton]], and as such has a high population of homosexuals. Despite this, Eastbourne is a firmly Conservative region, followed by the United Kingdom Independence Party and the British National Party. Demographically it also has a considerable population of economic refugees from [[Wales]], who left to find work in the service sector during Margaret Thatcher's economic reforms. It is estimated that the Welsh population is somewhere between 45 and 50% of the total population. Unemployment is high amongst the migrant population. |