I’m at war with my neighbours who tear down my political signs – but I defiantly put them back up every day
A DAD is embroiled in a war with his neighbours who constantly tear down his political signs – only for him to defiantly put them back up every day.
Michael Ellis first put his Labour post up in support of the party a month ago at his home in Waen, Denbighshire, North Wales.
But, to his shock, it had been ripped from the driveway within 24 hours and left trampled on the floor.
The 50-year-old willfully put it back up, this time drilling nails into the sign to secure it.
Nobody has said anything but I do think a lot of our neighbours are voting opposite to what we are
Michael's daughter Áine
Yet again, the political placard was stubbornly pulled down and abandoned on the ground.
This petty protest repeated has itself every couple of days, and the battered sign in now plagued by tyre marks and holes.
Michael admits his driveway is accessible to motorists passing by, and “it’s very easy for someone to stop the car and pull it down”.
But, his house is unfortunately out of sight which has left him unable to catch the banner bandits red-handed.
He said: “I did wonder at first if it was the weather that pulled it down but it couldn’t have been because it wasn’t particularly windy and it was screwed in so clearly somebody took it down.
“Everyone’s entitled to their own political views and preferences. I support who I support and I’m not opposed to anyone else supporting who they want to, but they’re letting themselves down by damaging my poster.
“I wouldn’t go to their property regardless of my political preferences and rip their poster down.
“It’s also a little bit comical, we’ve clearly rattled somebody’s cage by them having to come and take it down every time they see it.
“You can batter it as much as you like but the sign is still going back up.
“It’s not going to stop me voting for Welsh Labour just because somebody’s took the poster down. It’s not going to achieve potentially what they wanted to achieve.”
Michael’s daughter Áine even made a TikTok about her Dad’s daily sign-fixing routine.
The 21-year-old Global Development master’s student, said: “I noticed that my dad would spend about half an hour of his day going down to put it up every day. It would come down right before rush hour.
“They would rip it down and leave it on the road and people would drive across it.”
She explained how her dad’s Labour sign “isn’t welcomed” in the Tory area.
“For my dad to put the sign back up he has to climb up onto the gate so they’re climbing up to rip it off,” she added.
“It came down two days ago and even though it was only two days until the election at that point he still wanted to put it back up.
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“Nobody has said anything but I do think a lot of our neighbours are voting opposite to what we are.”
Áine joked the whole ordeal makes her chuckle, and that her dad enjoys defiantly keeping the sign.
“It’s his sign and it’s staying up,” she said..
Michael added: “We are in need of a change and I think people don’t like change.”
The additional learning needs teacher argued sometimes “you have to bite the bullet” and shake things up.
“If you vote that means you’re showing that you’ve got an opinion,” he continued.
“You can have a voice if you speak up but if you just sit and moan or pull posters down it’s not really going to achieve anything.”
The 50-year-old, who has lived in the area for three decades, said he feels “a little bit sorry” for those tearing his poster down.
It comes as millions of Brits are casting their votes – as the final poll shows Labour lead falling with Reform set to win 13 MPs.
As Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer give one last push in the race for No10, the nation will drop their votes into ballot boxes in an election expected to return the first Labour majority for almost 20 years.
Sir Keir is projected to thunder into Downing Street with a landslide while the Tories are fighting to avoid a total rout.
But, the final poll of the campaign has Labour five points down from last week at 37% of the vote.
If the Ipsos poll is right, Nigel Farage’s Reform UK could win around 13 seats in the Commons.
The poll spells doomsday for the Tories, who stand to get their lowest share of the vote since the 1970s.
Voting opened at 7am and will close at 10pm when the official exit poll will give the first indication of the final results.