Target Towns: ‘We were promised something different but it just hasn’t materialised’
As the floodlights illuminated the rows of chimneys on the terraced streets around Blundell Park there was a tense second half ahead.
One-nil up, the home supporters were desperate to hang on to the win as they fight for survival in League Two.
It has been like this for generations of football fans in Grimsby – a club founded in 1878 – the ground has been home since 1899.
A proper old-school venue – there are fewer and fewer places like this now in English football.
Although it is actually in neighbouring Cleethorpes, the club is a Grimsby institution.
The two towns are being merged into one constituency for the next general election, with both the Conservatives and Labour desperate to win it.
There is no shortage of political opinions before kick-off.
Kiosk worker Sean Gifford
Sean Gifford was opening up the Snack Shack kiosk behind the Pontoon Stand.
He quickly identified what he believes is the biggest problem in British politics.
“It’s the narrative. Do you believe the narrative of what any politician tells you? I don’t.”
He added: “It’s being able to speak one’s mind, as opposed to always toeing the party line and making sure that the truth is spoken without any spin doctor, without any PR machine behind it.
“People just cannot speak the truth for fear of backlash.”
He isn’t just disillusioned with one or two characters in politics, it’s all of them, and he is not sure who can solve it.
“It takes somebody of almost Churchillian stature, and where’s the Churchillian prime minister of the future? I just don’t see one.”
On the hotdog stand on the other side of the ground, Kirsty and Kylie were lining up their foot-long Lincolnshire sausages ready for the half-time rush.
Hot dog seller Kirsty Johnson
Kirsty is also frustrated by politicians. She told Sky News: “I think it needs someone with balls who can sort it out, take it by the horns and actually shake it up a bit.”
She doesn’t know who that is and certainly doesn’t feel that Rishi Sunak or Sir Keir Starmer fit her job criteria.
“They don’t do it for me, nobody does really.”
The existing seat of Great Grimsby voted Conservative under Boris Johnson in 2019 – the first time they had not elected a Labour MP since the Second World War.
The former prime minister surprised many here by wearing a Grimsby Town bobble hat when he was seen arriving and departing the COVID Inquiry in London in December.
Boris Johnson leaves the COVID inquiry last December in a Grimsby Town bobble hat
Some here were amused by it, while 700 others signed a petition calling on him to stop bringing the club into disrepute.
He is still a divisive figure but it’s the collective frustration with all politicians that shines through.
Former police officer Alan Rutter is exasperated by the decay of public services. “I have friends who are still in the force… and it is just a desecrated service, same with the NHS – it’s just all in crisis,” he said.
The club’s chairman Jason Stockwood grew up here but, like so many others, moved away to pursue a career before returning home. He is backing Labour but told Sky News that bigger changes are needed.
“This town voted vehemently for Brexit because it was a promise of something different and a new politics and it just hasn’t materialised at all.
“My sense is that people just want some adults in the room again, rather than just the personalities of the last few years, they want truth and they want integrity.”
Grimsby Town FC chairman Jason Stockwood
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He wants to see a constructive general election, not one that lurks in the extremes of politics.
“I think what people will be looking for is an honest conversation where people are prepared to turn up and have difficult conversations with everyone in our community because people [here] are forthright, they are passionate, they care about the community.
“I think there’s also an obligation on citizens as well,” he added.
“Politicians have a role to play. But everyone does need to step into and take ownership of the future they want as well.
Grimsby Town fans watching their side take on MK Dons
“We’re seeing that in Grimsby. So there is hope.”
Their club held on to a 1-0 win over MK Dons. Hope is restored, on the pitch at least.
The Codheads – as the fans call themselves – tell it like it is.
Politicians fishing for votes here this year will find a tough crowd.
Sky News’ Target Towns series aims to follow the build-up to the general election from a key constituency prized by both Conservatives and Labour – Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes. Send in your stories to targettowns@sky.uk.
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The return on Donald Trump to the G7 was always going to be unpredictable. That it is happening against the backdrop of an escalating conflict in the Middle East makes it even more so.
Expectations had already been low, with the Canadian hosts cautioning against the normal joint communique at the end of the summit, mindful that this group of leaders would struggle to find consensus.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney carefully laid down an agenda that was uncontroversial in a bid to avoid any blow-ups between President Trump and allies, who of late have been divided like never before – be it over tariffs and trade, Russia and Ukraine, or, more recently Israel’s conduct in Gaza.
But discussions around critical minerals and global supply chains will undoubtedly drop down the agenda as leaders convene at a precarious moment. Keir Starmer, on his way over to Canada for a bi-lateral meeting in Ottawa with PM Carney before travelling onto the G7 summit in Kananaskis, underscored the gravity of the situation as he again spoke of de-escalation, while also confirmed that the UK was deploying more British fighter jets to the region amid threats from Tehran that it will attack UK bases if London helps defend Israel against airstrikes.
Canadian PM Mark Carney is greeted by President Donald Trump at the White House in May. Pic: AP
Really this is a G7 agenda scrambled as world leaders scramble to de-escalate the worst fighting between Tel Aviv and Tehran in decades. President Trump has for months been urging Israel not to strike Iran as he worked towards a diplomatic deal to halt uranium enrichment. Further talks had been due on Sunday – but are now not expected to go ahead.
All eyes will be on Trump in the coming days, to see if the US – Israel’s closest ally – will call on Israel to rein in its assault. The US has so far not participated in any joint attacks with Tel Aviv, but is moving warships and other military assets to the Middle East.
Sir Keir, who has managed to strike the first trade deal with Trump, will want to leverage his “good relationship” with the US leader at the G7 to press for de-escalation in the Middle East, while he also hopes to use the summit to further discuss the further the interests of Ukraine with Trump and raise again the prospects of Russian sanctions.
“We’ve got President Zelenskyy coming so that provides a good opportunity for us to discuss again as a group,” the PM told me on the flight over to Canada. “My long-standing view is, we need to get Russia to the table for an unconditional ceasefire. That’s not been really straightforward. But we do need to be clear about what we need to get to the table and that if that doesn’t happen, sanctions will undoubtedly be part of the discussion at the G7.”
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer (R) is greeted by Mark Carney as he arrives in Ottawa ahead of the G7
But that the leaders are not planning for a joint communique – a document outlining what the leaders have agreed – tells you a lot. When they last gathered with Trump in Canada for the G7 back in 2018, the US president rather spectacularly fell out with Justin Trudeau when the former Canadian president threatened to retaliate against US tariffs and refused to sign the G7 agreement.
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Since then, Trump has spoken of his desire to turn Canada into the 51st state of the US, a suggestion that helped catapult the Liberal Party beyond their Conservative rivals and back into power in the recent Canadian elections, as Mark Carney stood on a ticket of confronting Trump’s aggression.
With so much disagreement between the US and allies, it is hard to see where progress might be made over the next couple of days. But what these leaders will agree on is the need to take down the temperature in the Middle East and for all the unpredictability around these relationships, what is certain is a sense of urgency around Iran and Israel that could find these increasingly disparate allies on common ground.
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