Our latest campaign focus groups took place on opposite edges of London: Uxbridge & South Ruislip, which Labour failed to take in last summer’s by-election but would hope to win comfortably given recent polling, and Bexleyheath & Crayford, where victory would point to national landslide territory. Participants had voted Conservative in 2019 but put their chances of doing so again at no more than 5 out of 10 – the kind of people the Tories will need to win back to shore up their position.
What had they noticed from the first week of campaigning? “National service;” “VAT on private schools;” “The quadruple lock on pensions;” “Ed Davey fell off a surfboard;” “Rishi made another gaffe about football;” “Labour say they will have sorted the NHS within 18 months;” “Nigel has perked up again;” “Labour want to reduce the voting age to 16;” “There are some issues with Diane Abbott;” “Something came up about mental wellbeing in schools. I quite liked it but I can’t remember which party it was.” Not everyone was yet enthused by the election: “I kind of feel it’s like going through the motions. I can’t really get into it. It’s not really a race. Everyone knows what’s going to happen.”
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