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.
Joe is ‘not sure’ politicians care about people like him
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.”
Shannon Donnelly
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.”
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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
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.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
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
Source Agencies
