Now, with the local election just a week away, there's no better way to understand what voters

across the country are really thinking than with the Times Radio Focus Group. Each week, we hear

from one of the key voting demographics shaping these elections and try to understand not just

how they're voting, but also why. Last week, we heard from former conservative voters now drifting towards reform. This week, we've got a broader mix, people who voted for different parties in the past, but who all also now say they're planning to vote reform. The focus group was conducted, as ever by JL Partners, and I'm joined by its co-founder, James Johnson. Hello, James. Good morning. How are you? I'm good.

And look, before we begin, happy birthday, James, because we've had a message in from Ray and we've had a message from Ray and Carol, your parents, wishing you a lovely day. Oh, thank you very much. Thank you very much for my mom and dad. And thank you, Hugo. Well, and thank you, Ray and Carol. Look, so James, for a first-time listeners here, What is and isn't a focus group?

So a focus group?

So, a focus group is a collection of people.

It's not intended to be representative.

It's a smaller group, usually eight to ten people.

I think we spoke to nine people in this group.

And it's intended to really get under the surface of what we see in the polls.

And this was particularly important for this exercise, because we've heard a lot about reform voters.

These are voters that are considering voting reform.

And this really was intended to get under the surface of why they say their voting reform,

how sticky that vote is, any hesitations they might have,

and really how they're thinking

ahead of these key local elections next week. Right. Well, let's begin as we usually do with the

question. How did the group think the government is doing? They're acting like a bunch of

clowns. I'm quite disappointed. I thought they would perhaps be a different type of government

than the Conservatives were. But I think Starmar has turned

out to be an extremely weak leader. I think we're a bit of a laughing stalk just now in the world.

I can't really see the difference between the Tories and Labour, that I just feel like they're all the

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