Red and blue wall voters would give next PM decade to fix broken public services

Red and Blue Wall voters are prepared to give the next government as much as two terms to fix the UK’s broken public services in a significant boost to Labour, focus groups have shown.

In a snapshot of the public’s views on crime, health and education, voters in both industrial heartlands and leafy home counties’ seats were willing to allow the incoming government a substantial honeymoon period in order to get critical public services back on track.

i was given exclusive access to sit in on two focus groups conducted by the political strategy outfit Public First, which gave a unique insight into how ordinary voters view the state of frontline services.

Both groups, one of working class voters in the marginal red wall constituency of Ashfield, and the another of middle income workers in a blue wall marginal in Surrey, were united in the belief that whichever party wins power will need a significant amount of time to improve public services.

Kaine, a project manager from near Ashfield, said: “It’ll be definitely a couple of terms. But then, at the same time, if I haven’t seen any changes in the first term, if I’ve not seen any positive steps, then I’d rethink it.

“You don’t expect it overnight but you also expect something is possible.”

Nigel Farage campaigning in Ashfield, where Tory defector Lee Anderson is standing to be re-elected as the MP (Photo: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire)

The comments were echoed by Sheryl, 42, an accounts payable manager from Hucknall, who insisted that the issues facing the country could not be solved instantly.

“It’s gonna take a lot of time and I’d rather it took time and it slowly got better rather than a quick ‘Oh look we’ve suddenly done this’. It doesn’t work like that. It’s never a quick fix. It’s going to be a long road and I don’t know how the hell it’s gonna happen, but I’m hoping whoever comes in puts the right things in place.”

Working class voters in the marginal red wall constituency of Ashfield discuss Britain’s public services

The view was shared by voters in Surrey, with Sue, a retiree from Farnham, saying: “I’d like to think within a year we would see a difference. Not fixed. I don’t think anything could be fixed in that time, but I just like to think you’d say they’re heading in the right direction.”

Mark, a recently retired businessman, agreed, adding: “Well, we haven’t got a money tree. It’s the same cake. The cake is still as big, it’s just going to have the portions divided differently. That’s all that’s really going to happen. So someone will be a winner and someone will be a loser.”

The comments will be warmly welcomed by Sir Keir Starmer and his senior Labour team, who has repeatedly insisted that his plans to rebuild the country would take two terms of government, promising voters last week a “decade of renewal”.

Labour’s efforts to improve public services are likely to be severely hamstrung if it wins the election, however, as the party has given itself a tight spending envelope, with economists predicting a Labour government will have to usher in around £18bn in cuts under its current spending plans.

A key difference between the two groups, however, was the reception to Labour’s proposal to lean on the private sector to help clear the NHS backlog.

Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting has promised to use private providers to treat patients more quickly, but the policy was met with cool apprehension from voters in Ashfield.

Ollie, 35, a heating engineer from near Ashfield, was dead set against the idea of using the private sector.

Middle income workers in a blue wall marginal seat in Surrey discuss Britain’s public services

“I don’t think I don’t think going private is the right way. I think it’s just the road to privatising the NHS. I don’t think that’s what we should be doing,” he said.

Lianna, a 45-year-old who works in sales for a bakery, added: “That’s the road to privatisation, if we started to do that. One of my friends had an endoscopy, something routine, and she went to a private hospital in Nottingham, from the NHS. And I was just so shocked. She had a whole room for a day and I’m thinking what a waste of money you know, because the NHS paid for that.”

But the policy was firmly supported in Surrey. Dean, a personal trainer from near Guildford, said: “I think it’s a good idea.”

Sue added: “In an ideal world, the NHS could do it all, but if it fills the gap now, maybe in the future it can all go back to NHS. But at the moment I think to get rid of the lists I think they have to do that.”

Despite the distinctly different areas, both groups listed the same problems facing their everyday lives – warning low level crime and antisocial behaviour have worsened and both groups urged the next government to establish more youth clubs to get kids off the street.

Ollie highlighted the rise in youth crime, and suggested it needed to be tackled by increasing police presence but also providing children with more sport. “Kids just need more to do, I dont know if it’s youth clubs or getting them into sport or gyms,” he said.

It was shared by Sue in Farnham, who said: “There’s an underlying boredom. These kids dont know what to do. And it’s concerning.”

Difficulties gaining access to NHS dentists and troubles seeing the same GP were also listed as serious concerns across both areas.

Ed Dorrell, partner at Public First, which organised and moderated the focus groups for the i, said: “We’ve been hearing in our focus groups for quite some time just how broken normal voters think the country is. They live the consequences of the cost of living crisis combined with broken public services every day. They understand – through their lived experience – the scale of the challenge the new government will face trying to stick the country back together.

“It was interesting that they were willing to give a new Labour government the gift of time – and they were clear, unprompted, that they don’t want quick fixes. This is perhaps why the group in Ashfield were so suspicious of plans to shorten waiting lists by using the private doctors and hospitals.

“However, any in-coming government should be aware that while at the moment voters seem keen to give them a really decent honeymoon, that may well not be true a year or two into a new parliamentary term if there have not been any tangible improvements.”