I'm from America but live in Scotland so it is a bit different govt. wise as you say, but the bad decisions of the English Tory voters do impact us up here too (see : Brexit). The parallels with American working class voters voting against their own interests are startling (and yet no Brit would ever admit to being as dumb as an American in terms of how they vote! ;-) It's even worse here in my opinion, you have the bizarre loyalty to the monarchy, self sabotaging nationalism, racism on the rise, it's hard to feel much better off here. If it weren't for the (beleaguered) NHS and lack of gun culture it would be hard for me to choose which place is worse off tbh. I will never understand the stranglehold Torys have on the working class in England when so many are relying on food banks t make ends meet. It's depressing.