
For my first focus groups of 2025 we went to Bolton, Rochdale, Stoke and Nuneaton to hear how different kinds of Labour voter – loyalists, first-timers and defectors from the Conservatives – have enjoyed their first six months of Starmer.
Asked to sum up their view of the Labour government in a word, the kindest responses were “pending”, “trying”, “ill-prepared”, “lacklustre” and “slow”. We also heard “rubbish”, “diabolical”, “disaster”, “smoke and mirrors”, “awful”, “underwhelming”, “out of touch”, “untrustworthy”, “hypocrites”, “liars” and, most often, “disappointing”.
She was meant to be an economist
Cuts to the winter fuel allowance were often mentioned, along with National Insurance, inheritance tax on farmers, breaking promises to the “Waspi women”, rising small-boat migration (“they’re frightened to do anything about it. They encourage it;” “It’s got worse, and there’s no deterrent now, is there?”), higher costs for businesses, the falling pound and the struggling economy: “It’s going to get worse because of the National Insurance rise. And then you’ve got the minimum wage rise, which is good for the people who need that but it’s companies that are having to deal with it and consumers will have the knock-on effect because prices will go up;” “It’s Rachel from Accounts. She was meant to be an economist at the Bank of England, but it was actually a call centre.”
Many felt that election pledges had been broken: “They went back on things. They said they wouldn’t put taxes up. Why not keep your word on that? It makes it so hard to trust you;” “It feels like we’re going backwards – in regard to taxes, roads, the cost of living… I don’t feel anything like that is being addressed. There are loads of things they talked about before they got in, but now they’ve backtracked on everything;” “It comes back to them all being as bad as each other. You expect Labour to be a little bit better and a bit more honest, but they just seem to be exactly the same.”
A few welcomed particular things Labour had done – increasing student loans, changes to miners’ pensions and new employee rights were mentioned, as was the pay rise for train drivers (although this was by a train driver; others complained that this seemed to be the one thing Labour had found the money for “and now the trains are on strike every Sunday in our area”).
Many participants, especially longer-standing Labour voters, blamed the struggling economy on global factors and were prepared to give the government the benefit of the doubt for a good deal longer: “He’s got to get the money from somewhere, hasn’t he?” “I didn’t expect a miracle to happen, to sort out interest rates and bring the cost of living straight down. It’s going to take time;” “It must be impossible to change fourteen years’ worth of policy and suddenly make an impactful difference to our everyday lives.”
However, some resisted attempts to blame the Conservatives and said that as time went by, they felt less confident that Labour was capable of delivering: “Is it because they came in and saw the books and more of what was going on, and actually we can’t meet those things? But no matter who comes in, it’s always the last lot. It’s always someone else’s fault;” “I feel as if they aren’t capable of doing it somehow. That’s what’s scary at the moment. It was a bit like that with Rishi as well;” “I think the time they’ve had has demonstrated to me that they’re just quite clueless. I think it would be surprising if they do fulfil a promise.”
Few were impressed with Keir Starmer’s performance as prime minister: “He still thinks he’s a barrister. He’s still got that legal mindset. He’s supposed to be for the people, but I find him very far detached from most normal people;” “It feels like he’s still trying to embed his people, his team around him. There are resignations taking place. I would even criticise my local authority for not being equipped to deliver after the local elections;” “I’m not saying it was going to be an easy journey, but if he knew it was going to be really difficult he should have shared that and said ‘the winter fuel costs are going to be cut’, but it was the first thing he did;” “I can’t say I’ve got any confidence anymore.”
This country has gone nuts
A substantial minority of our participants accepted the government’s position that a new national inquiry into grooming gangs would take too long, and it was more important to act on the findings of previous investigations. However, many – especially those who had switched to Labour from other parties – thought ministers’ feared what an investigation might uncover about Labour authorities or politicians, or worried about losing Muslim votes.
More generally, there was a feeling that the reluctance to investigate further was part of a refusal to consider questions about the ethnic, cultural or religious background of perpetrators and victims – which people in turn connected to last year’s Southport murders, free speech and two-tier policing: “Is it a sort of cultural things that’s coming in from other countries? It should be dug up again because it’s not being dealt with. It’s being shoved under the carpet. They’re just not interested in discussing it. Look at the summer, after the Southport attacks. We had months of unrest based on the fact that no-one was prepared to tell us the truth;” “This country has gone nuts. Those lads from Rochdale who had the altercation with the police in the airport, they’re still on bail, but they put a 50-year-old woman in prison for writing things on Facebook. And those poor girls in Rochdale or Oldham or Rotherham are walking past people that have raped them. That’s this country;” “Starmer said that the people talking about this are all right-wing bigots, because they don’t want to deal with the questions they’re asking.
It’s like the Premier League
Many felt Reform UK had been the most prominent of the opposition parties since the election and believed they could be the main beneficiaries of a Labour collapse. For some, however, this would require a different approach: “At the moment they are a party of protest, but that doesn’t mean they can’t develop. If they can get into having their own manifesto, rather than what I would call an anti-manifesto – not something that is against everything else, but for things. If they go that next step, then who knows?”
Our groups also thought Nigel Farage had been right, both tactically and on principle, to exclude Tommy Robinson from the party (“some of the people he attracts to his rallies are quite an acquired taste”). Even among those interested in the party, there were mixed views about the prospect of Elon Musk making a substantial donation, or even weighing in on British controversies – usually either because they didn’t like the idea of a foreigner influencing our politics “with his great big platform and algorithms and stuff”, or because they worried about his broader agenda.
This was by no means universal, however: “Over the decades, governments have been bankrolled by some seriously bad people. Keir Starmer’s wardrobe was donated by someone, and his glasses. So no, I don’t have a problem;” “You’ve got such a stranglehold with Labour and the Conservatives. It’s like the Premier League. City got all this money so they could sign a load of players quickly and break into the top four. Reform are not going to do anything to challenge the status quo unless they get sizeable backing. It’s giving a chance to the underdog, giving them the tools.” Whether Reform UK should accept such a contribution was another question, however: “It’s a massive contradiction, getting money from another country. Because the whole point of Reform is reform.”
They should start talking sooner rather than later
Few had heard anything from the Conservatives since the election. Words to describe them included “quiet”, “sluggish”, “lethargic”, “flat” and “on the periphery”. The groups new little about “the new lady that’s in charge”, though some had heard she was fiercely anti-woke and took a firmer line on immigration.
Most acknowledged that the party needed to take time to retrench, and that anything the Tories said was likely to go down badly: “They need to regroup and change their strategy because the strategy they were on didn’t work. Labour did it after Gordon Brown lost, which is understandable;” “They caused most of the problems we have now. If they go in and give Labour crap, I’m thinking, well, we wouldn’t be in this situation if it hadn’t been for you;” “If they come in too early it will just look like sour grapes.” Some also thought they were deliberately “staying quiet and letting Labour damage themselves;” “watch the new party fail, then they’ll step in with all their promises.”
Even so, “they should start talking about it sooner rather than later;” “What’s done is done. They just need to move on and work out what people want.”
They promised there would be dips but there are no dips
Following her controversial remarks on sandwiches (not a “real food”) and her principled stance against moist bread, Kemi Badenoch has likened preparing the Tories for an election to planning to open a restaurant in four years’ time (“when it’s ready, you’ll see the menu”). We therefore had to ask our groups: if the Conservative Party were a restaurant, what kind of restaurant would it be? In answer to the same question before the election, participants mentioned a late and substandard meal from Deliveroo, conjuring the image of a forlorn Rishi Sunak on his moped in the rain. What are they like now?
“The Wimpy. You don’t really see them anymore;” “Jamie’s Italian. It was nice for a while but then it went bust;” “Miller & Carter. Posh but a bit rubbish. If you can’t afford it, tough. You get looked down on for having a gift card. There’s a posh area at the front where everyone aspires to sit but nine times out of ten you pay premium prices to get stuck at the back.”
How about Reform UK? “Probably the chippy. A bit rough and ready;” “Taco Bell. It’s quite new, so it’s got that appeal that you want to know more;” “Wetherspoon’s. Cheap and cheerful but misunderstood. Decent grub at a really good price, and still serves a good cheap pint. People think of it as being not acceptable or a bit crappy, but it’s secretly all right. It’s one people don’t like to talk about, but they go there a lot;” “Wetherspoon’s on a Saturday night. You want some food, but it’s getting a bit rough.”
And the Labour restaurant? “One of those burger carts you see at the fairground. It smells lovely, but when you eat it you’re sick as a dog;” “The local takeaway that tries to please everybody but actually pleases nobody;” “Harry Ramsden’s. You’ve had fish and chips, but it was eighty-five quid;” “A pop-up restaurant. They’re inexperienced and the service isn’t good enough yet;” “McDonald’s. You never know whether it’s going to come out hot. They promised there would be dips but there are no dips. They’ve all got badges but it’s chaotic. And the milkshake machine is broken.”