With less than a month to go until the UK General Election, the policy announcements are coming thick and fast from all of the political parties.
The campaign has been dominated by funding for the NHS, support for flood-hit communities in the north of England and a big fibre broadband roll-out by Labour.
Climate change, the economy and tackling crime are other areas of concern for voters.
Three and a half years of political paralysis over Brexit may have led to voter fatigue.
However, according to an Ipsos Mori poll in September, more than 57% of the electorate still rank Brexit as the most important election issue.
According to the last UK census in 2011, 56 million people live in England and Wales. Just over half a million of those are Irish.
It is difficult to estimate how many are registered voters but members of the Irish community are thinking hard about how to cast their ballot in this election.
At the London Irish Centre in Camden, the Irish Elders group is frantically rehearsing a play. Unlike the Brexit deadline, that has come and gone twice, it has a set date that it intends to honour.
"A Nun's Chorus" is about a group of nuns who go on holiday in Ireland on a voyage of self discovery.
"’I grew up in an orphanage,’’ says Sally Mulready who wrote the play and has been awarded an OBE for services to the Irish community in Britain.
"I was fascinated by the women who entered the enclosed orders and seemed to sign away their whole lives."
Sally told RTÉ News that she wanted to write a drama that the Irish Elders could relate to. Many grew up in a very different country in the 1940s and 50s.
"In the play I explore how one of the nuns got pregnant before she entered the order and she was then pushed in. There’s quite a lot of emotion and sadness when the nun reveals that she had to give up her child." Sally explains.
Rehearsals are taking place in a small room known as 'The Chapel' in the Irish centre.
Everyone is in costume from a very convincing looking priest, to the nuns in their brown habits to a male character wearing knee length socks in the colours of Co Kerry.
The place is brimming with energy as the actors are put through their paces by director Nora Mulready.
During a short break the performers open up about what life is like for them in a rapidly changing UK. Most of the troupe have lived in the UK since the 1950s and 60s.
Breda Fanning, 82, has spent 53 years in London and she is perplexed by the ongoing political drama that "never seems to end.
"Being elderly, I don’t understand it all but it seems to be a bit of a mix up and they [politicians] don’t seem to be able to come to a conclusion."
Breda says she is certain that one thing will happen. "I hope there will be a united Ireland one of these days but it probably won’t be in my time."
Patrick Gormley, is in his 70s and originally from Belfast. He has been in London since 1976, a time when he says the Irish were not "top of the tree.
"I think the relationship (between the UK and Ireland) is changing in peoples minds," he said.
"There is a fear element, probably more with older people because with younger people it doesn’t really impact on them as much."
Many of the older Irish voters are fearful about their place in Brexit Britain.
"It’s that whole thing of losing your identity and holding on to your heritage," said Patrick Gormley who plays the role of Fr Lemas in the play.
"For me it’s that memory of going back to when there was a border. I think we need to sell Ireland as a whole rather than two bits and there would be more opportunity to do that if we were all in the common market."
Alice Kennedy, 81, plays the role of the mother superior Imelda in "A Nun’s Chorus". She arrived in the UK in 1962 from Co. Laois and is settled in Kentish Town.
"A lot of us are getting older and you don’t see as many Irish people to mix with anymore," lamented Alice as she sat down after rehearsals.
"There used to be more community halls and dances for the Irish years ago and now they’ve all been closed and turned into flats," she said.
"I’m very sad about what's happening (in relation to Brexit) but like so many people I don’t really understand what is happening. There’s so many lies being told, you sit down and you think about one thing and the next morning it is not true." Mrs Kennedy said.
Like many of her friends, Alice has little time for British politicians.
"They’re acting foolish. Jeremy Corbyn is silly, (Boris) Johnson’s a liar and I think it is all one big mistake among them all."
As things come together on stage thoughts turn to the political drama offstage and how Brexit has cast a long shadow.
James Clare, originally from Drimnagh in Dublin, came over to London in 1961.
"Brexit is being brought about by lies, completely misleading people, all one sided and now there is a disaster waiting to happen."
It is hard to find anyone in this room that believes Brexit is a positive development for the UK, according to Mr Clare.
"You’ll see the break-up of Britain, Scotland will become independent, Wales will follow and the north and south of Ireland will unite," James confidently declared.
"I’m hoping against hope that Brexit will be dismissed in our lifetime. I want the public to have a happier life and to bring big smiles back to their faces again from the four different sections of Britain."
For other long-term Irish residents the priority is to keep their businesses afloat as the UK prepares to leave the EU.
Martina Dennis, originally from Enniscorthy, Co Wexford, runs a small cupcake business out of the kitchen of her family home in Grays, Essex.
She is busy decorating her latest batch of goodies for local clients. Martina has worked hard to grow her business but she fears a hard Brexit will hit her bottom line.
"It is going to affect me directly because of the price of ingredients," Martina explained.
"I’m seeing the inflation on stocks like vanilla that I have to import from abroad. Three years ago I was able to buy four litres of vanilla for £110 (€128.00) Currently the price of a litre of vanilla is £130 (€151.00) and that doesn’t last very long."
Martina is a natural Labour voter but is considering changing her vote this time around.
"I’m investigating the Liberal Democrats at the moment because they want a second referendum. The odds are good for Boris but I hope he makes a deal that’s good for everybody, both the retailer and the consumer."
As the rehearsals in Camden wrap up for the day the Irish performers leave on a high note. But not everyone is happy.
"I’m really frightened about Brexit," said one of the ladies leaving the venue.
"I’m really happy with Europe and consider myself European as well as Irish."
It’s a sentiment shared by many Irish voters in tight-knit yet rapidly dwindling communities across the UK.
