Politics

‘Politicians mess it up every time’: New pre-election pledges may not be enough

Published

4 weeks ago

April 25, 2024

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June gives me a wry smile when I ask her if she trusts politicians. But it soon fades.

“They promise you the Earth, and you don’t see anything. And it’s soul destroying,” she says.

I meet her and husband Joe as they tuck into fish and chips in the town’s oldest chippy, the Peabung, which has served this town since 1883.

June tells me she really wants to trust politicians but they “just mess it up every time”. I ask Joe if he thinks politicians care about him? “Well hopefully they do. I’m not sure really.”

He stops to think for a moment. “I don’t really trust politicians,” he says.

The findings of a Sky News/YouGov poll are stark and echo how voters like June and Joe feel. The findings suggest voters no longer believe what politicians say.

In some places, there appears to be a deep loss of faith in British politics.

Shannon Donnelly has nearly 200,000 followers on TikTok and has used the platform to develop her Grimsby-based business selling personal safety equipment, such as panic alarms. I ask her if she trusts politicians.

“No – I think things like Brexit has massively changed people’s opinion. I won’t forget when they said all that money would go to the NHS.

“Now we seem to be in a worse position, but they still expect us to trust them. It’s crazy.”

The percentage of Leavers saying they “almost never” trust the government has leapt by 33 points (from 23% to 56%) since the last election. This is twice as much as the increase for Remainers.

Shannon’s lack of trust impacts on her livelihood and she says she doesn’t know which way to turn.

“For the business, obviously, it’s important to look at what they will do. We’re struggling. VAT is insane, overheads are crazy.”

Asked if people think politicians care about them, 83% of people asked said no, with just 11% saying they cared a little.

When asked how much do politicians care about your part of the country – there is a clear divide – 86% of people living in the north of England say they don’t care, whereas just 47% of Londoners say their elected representatives don’t care about their city.

Brian Wustrack owns the oldest fish and chip shop in Grimsby.

“They’re just not listening to the people that voted, it’s all a one-way system for them. They’ve lost touch with the people out there, especially the people in the North.”

The prime minister is still to announce the date of the next general election.

However, places like Grimsby and Cleethorpes are key election battlegrounds now. Support for the Conservatives may be fading but that won’t necessarily translate into strong support for Labour.

The Reform party is gaining ground in pro-Leave constituencies like this one, picking up their 2019 Tory voters.

But brace yourself for a raft of promises in the next few months.

The questions is will voters trust politicians to deliver on them.

The Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge is going to be live in Grimsby tonight with a special programme in our Target Towns series. She’ll be talking about trust in politics with a live audience – that’s live tonight on Sky News at 7pm

ALL THE CANDIDATES IN NORTH EAST LINCOLNSHIRE’S LOCAL ELECTIONS

Croft Baker
Gemma Harney – Liberal Democrats
Marian Jervis – Labour Party
Graham Reynolds – Conservative Party

East Marsh
Lloyd Emmerson – Liberal Democrats
Barry Miller – Labour and Co-operative Party
Callum Procter – Conservative Party

Freshney
Tamzin Barton – Liberal Democrats
Tanya Brasted – Conservative Party
Paul Bright – Independent (part of Independents for North East Lincolnshire party group)
Paul Wood – Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC)
Samantha Wrexal Holborrow – Labour Party

Haverstoe
Stephen Hocknell – Liberal Democrats
Val O’Flynn – TUSC
Bill Parkinson – Conservative Party
Ian Townsend – Labour Party

Heneage
Brian Barrett – Liberal Democrats
Emma Clough – Labour Party
Tyrone Curran – Conservative Party
John Stiff – TUSC

Humberston & New Waltham
Ryan Aisthorpe – Liberal Democrats
Joe Carter – TUSC
Hayden Dawkins – Conservative Party
Pauline Kaczmarek – Labour Party

Immingham
David Barton – Liberal Democrats
Trevor Crofts – Conservative Party
Nathan Newton – TUSC
David Watson – Labour Party

Park
Robson Augusta – Labour Party
Zach Kellerman – Liberal Democrats
Dave Mitchell – TUSC
Daniel Westcott – Conservative Party

Scartho
Charlotte Croft – Conservative Party
Caroline Ellis – Liberal Democrats
Dan Humphrey – Labour Party
Val Pow – TUSC

Sidney Sussex
Andy Burton – Liberal Democrats
Alexandra Curran – Conservative Party
Mark Gee – TUSC
Edward Kaczmarek – Labour Party

South
Paul Batson – Conservative Party
Jane Bramley – Independent
Andrew Harrison – Liberal Democrats
Sheldon Mill – Labour Party
Bill Ward – TUSC

Yarborough
Les Bonner – Independent (part of the Independents for North East Lincolnshire party group)
Sam Brown – Labour and Co-operative Party
Phil Tuplin – TUSC
Christine Vickers – Conservative Party
Aharon Wharton – Liberal Democrats

Politics

Sunak admits Rwanda flights will not take off before election – and denies vote called due to expected inflation rise

Published

2 hours ago

May 23, 2024

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Sunak admits Rwanda flights will not take off before election - and denies vote called due to expected inflation rise

Rishi Sunak has admitted Rwanda flights will not take off before the general election – as he denied calling a summer vote because inflation is expected to rise.

The prime minister has said for the past few months the first flights removing asylum seekers to the African nation will happen in July.

But after calling a general election for 4 July, whether the flights will take off at all has been called into question.

“The first flights will go in July,” he told the BBC.

He then added: “If I’m re-elected as prime minister on July 5, these flights will go, we will get our Rwanda scheme up and running.”

When pressed on the timing of flights, Mr Sunak told LBC: “No, after the election. The preparation work has already gone on.”

Follow live updates after general election called

With Labour on a 20-point lead in the polls, the Conservatives’ flagship illegal migration scheme may, quite literally, never get off the ground.

‘There’ll be no flights’

Earlier this month, Sir Keir Starmer told Sky News: “There’ll be no flights. I want to scrap the scheme so that means the flights won’t be going.

“There’ll be no flights scheduled or taking off after the general election, if Labour wins that general election.”

Many were surprised by the PM calling a summer election on Monday, with some MPs querying whether it was because inflation is expected to rise again and there could also be an increase in small boat arrivals over the summer.

“No, that’s not the real reason,” Mr Sunak told the BBC.

“And when it comes to the economy, of course, I know there’s more work to do. I know that people are only just starting to feel the benefits of the changes that we’ve brought.

“And for some people when they look at their bank balance at the end of every month it will still be difficult, but we have undeniably made progress and stability has returned.”

Inflation fell to 2.3% – the lowest rate in nearly three years – hours before Mr Sunak announced the election.

Both Mr Starmer and Sir Keir kicked off their election campaigns on Thursday morning, just hours after the PM announced the date people will go to the polls the evening before.

Election campaigns under way

The PM is embarking on a two-day trip of all four of the UK’s nations, while Sir Keir was heading to southeast England to tackle the traditional Tory battlegrounds there.

Reform UK leader Richard Tice was getting ready for a news conference, where the party’s co-founder Nigel Farage could announce a return to frontline politics.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey is expected to visit a target seat to launch his campaign, which is expected to focus on targeting Conservative-held seats.

In parliament, there is just today and Friday to get important legislation rushed through the Commons before parliament is prorogued – the end of the session – on Friday.

The Victims and Prisoners Bill will be one of the main pieces of legislation as it includes measures to establish a compensation scheme for victims of the infected blood scandal announced this week.