Hello, Hugo Rifkin here. Now, with local elections just days away, there's no better way to

understand what voters across the country are really thinking than through the Times Radio

Focus Group. Over the past few weeks, we've been hearing from some of the key voting blocks

shaping these elections, not just how they plan to vote, but also why.

So far, we've spoken to reform voters and wavering conservatives. And today in our final focus

group, we're hearing from people who all voted Labor in 2024, but are now undecided about whether

they'd stick with Kirstama or switch to the Greens. And the group was conducted, as ever, by

JL Partners, and I'm joined by its co-founder, Tom Lubbock. Thanks for being with us. So look, I always start this way, but it's important to start this way. Remind us once more what a focus group is and just as importantly what a focus group is not. It's like a biopsy of a particular kind of voter to kind of figure out what's going on under the skin. If you imagine like

opinion poll is a full body scan, we're looking at something very particular. We want to dig beneath

the surface, hear what their arguments are and how they might be persuaded one way or another.

In other words, if someone is getting in touch with us while listening to this going, none of these

people are anything like me. That's a them problem. They're not supposed to be. No, we selected them particularly to be in a particular kind of category. And how does this group that we're going to hear from then compare from the other group, compare to the other groups we've heard from? Is it particularly different in its background, its outlook, other than simply the fact that it's other than its politics?

So if you imagine Labor got 34% of the last election across the UK, they're polling about 19% now.

This group is somewhere in that gap between 19 and 34.

So the group that have dropped off and are wavering away from Labor.

Okay. So let's dive in.

You started off by asking this group whether they think the country is going in the right direction or the wrong direction. There's a lot of division happening in Birmingham. We've got this group who are going out, putting flags on Lampost. You know, they're badging it up as patriotism, but it isn't. It's actually to make people feel othered and unwelcome. I don't think there's been

any significant change in the last two governments, which has led to me feeling different about

the other two main parties. It's like they're melding together. Well, there is a widening

gaps between the societies. The politicians are using slogans like

immigration and all that for their own, I think, personal gain.

The rise of right-wing theory and politics and thought, followed by actions from society,

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