South Swindon voters lean to Labour after ‘kick in the teeth’ Tory budget

As the “dead-walking Conservative government” has failed to relieve the pressure on working people and struggling public services, voters in a key south-west England constituency are prepared to support Labour at the next election.

The Jeremy Hunt spring budget was perceived as a “kick in the teeth” in Sir Robert Buckland MP’s South Swindon constituency because the richest people received a sizable pensions giveaway while the working class saw no improvements.

Since the autumn statement, voters in the “red wall” seat of Leigh have maintained their belief that Rishi Sunak is total “out of touch,” claiming that the prime minister is “absolutely not” on the side of the working class. A 38-year-old manager of a charity said, “I’m not impressed with him; he’s too polished and out of touch with the people.

Voters in South Swindon seemed to perceive Hunt’s expansion of free childcare, which was considered to be one of the positive aspects of his budget, as misleading. Michelle, a 53-year-old health office worker who participated in the focus group for the Guardian organized by More in Common UK, questioned whether there would be enough nurseries open when the policy takes effect.

“Nurseries have struggled through Covid, nobody went to nursery so they closed down,” Jackie, a 52-year-old accountant, continued. The increase in wages and the price of electricity both seem like too little, too late in my opinion. However, it sounds good. The public is kept content until you look further behind the announcement and realize when it is coming. If they’re all shutting down, where can you find a nursery?

The three-month extension of energy bill assistance did little to reassure those who supported the Tories in the 2019 election. They worried that many people would end up burdening the NHS after struggling to stay warm in subfreezing temperatures and wondered what would happen after those three months were up. “The government has enough funds to deal with all of these issues. Just how they decide to use it is different. I estimate that HS2 will soon cost a trillion pounds. The [crisis of rising energy costs] can be resolved with enough money, said Ant, 40.

Could Rachel Reeves manage the public purse more effectively?

“She comes across as competent and far better than previous shadow chancellors, and she presents Labour as being far more competent financially than they have been,” said Phil, a 65-year-old retired landscaper who has been a lifelong Tory supporter. But he added that Keir Starmer still needed to prove himself to be a strong Labour leader. He doesn’t seem to have any creative ideas. Given how the government has performed over the last few years, he has plenty to criticize, but I haven’t heard any concrete plans for how they intend to make things better going forward.

The focus group gave the impression that they were certain they would not support the Conservative “people-pleasers” who use controversial policies, like the illegal immigration bill, to gain attention. However, the group was unable to decide whether they were ready to fully support Labour, which they perceived to have a history of “throwing money at people” as a “people-pleasing” strategy.

“Labor won’t have the resources to make significant changes. Although they are excellent spenders, they lack the necessary funds. In agreement with a few other members, Phil said, “My concern is that the current tax rates are the highest they’ve been in 40 years, and under a Labour government, they’d only rise again.

Rishi Sunak’s selection over the Labour leader, according to Cindy, 47, was the “lesser of two evils” despite Starmer’s intentions appearing to be “good”.

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The Tory party chair has been stating for the past few weeks that when Labour left office the last time, Liam Byrne, who was then the chief secretary to the Treasury, left a note saying, “I’m afraid there is no money.” . and a Jackie predicted that Labour would go back to “making everyone happy by giving money away, but where will it come from this time?

Fleur, the group’s youngest participant, 24, described Starmer as coming across as “compassionate and passionate” in his attempts to assist people all over the country. She also emphasized how the apparent lack of compassion in Sunak’s team may cost the Conservatives the next election.

All of the group’s participants criticized the government’s bill on illegal immigration and stated that, given the Tories’ dismal track record over the previous 13 years and the lack of support provided to those in need, they could not trust them to control the Channel crisis. They’re just inciting hatred, Fleur said, and it’s all very negative and unworkable.

With Heidi Alexander, a former member of parliament, selected as the party’s parliamentary candidate to take on Buckland, Labour is making a strong effort in this target seat. Alexander, a former shadow health secretary who left under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership in 2018, is one of the many political heavyweights returning to the scene.

“This week’s budget and the recent flurry of government deal-making might have impressed Westminster insiders, but it simply wasn’t cutting it for the voters we spoke to in South Swindon,” said Conleth Burns, senior associate at More in Common UK.

The government may have hoped that the recent weeks would have helped the Tories’ electoral comeback get off to a faster start, but this group in Swindon demonstrates that any real comeback is still a long way off.

Almost everyone in this group agreed that Labour wouldn’t have done a worse job with the budget and that Labour could have done a better job.