The swing voters who’ll decide the next election
The Story
The Times
3.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 25 April 2023
⏱️ 31 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Next week millions of voters will go to the polls as more than 8,000 council seats in England are contested in the local elections – the most significant gauge of public opinion before Rishi Sunak faces Keir Starmer at a general election. And behind the scenes, politicians and pollsters are desperately trying to figure out exactly who they need to win over, and how they can do it without losing their core supporters.
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Guests:
- Lara Spirit, Red Box reporter, The Times.
- Peter Kellner, former president of YouGov.
Links:
- Find out whether there are elections in your area: https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/i-am-a/voter/your-election-information
- New photo ID requirements to vote: https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/i-am-a/voter/voter-id/accepted-forms-photo-id
Clips: Sky News, GB News, The New Statesman, LBC, BBC News, Channel 4 News.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's that time in the electoral cycle. The local elections are upon us again. Next week, |
| 0:11.4 | on the 4th of May, millions of voters will go to the polls, as more than 8,000 council |
| 0:17.0 | seats across England are up for grabs. |
| 0:21.1 | These elections really, really matter and we've got to go out and we've got to win them. |
| 0:26.9 | I'm a conservative, I want to cut your taxes. Of course I do, right? That's what I want to deliver. |
| 0:31.0 | I wish I could do that tomorrow, quite frankly. |
| 0:41.2 | The result will be the most significant test of public opinion, before Rishisunak faces |
| 0:47.5 | Keir Starmer at a general election. In the run-up to the vote, both are going on a particular |
| 0:54.1 | kind of attack. He attended 21 sentencing council meetings that watered down |
| 1:03.0 | punishments. That's why they call him Sosfty. Soft on crime, soft on criminals. |
| 1:12.2 | Mr Speaker, I've prosecuted thousands upon thousands of sex offenders. He's just shown. |
| 1:24.5 | For both parties, their messaging is designed to appeal to a particular kind of voter. |
| 1:33.7 | Keir Starmer needs to appeal to a stevenage woman, apparently. |
| 1:37.3 | The stevenage woman who's like an archetypal hypothetical voter to reach Downing Street, |
| 1:42.0 | that's what he's been told. The critical ones are stevenage women and working to man. |
| 1:47.0 | Behind the scenes, politicians and pollsters are desperately trying to work out who exactly |
| 1:56.0 | they need to win over and how they can do it without alienating their core supporters. |
| 2:08.0 | You're listening to stories of our times from the Times and the Sunday Times. |
| 2:12.9 | I'm Manvina Rana, today from working to man to stevenage woman. |
| 2:18.6 | The swing voters will decide the next election. |
| 2:34.4 | I am Laura Spiritt and I'm the Times's red box reporter. |
| 2:37.7 | Laura, what are we expecting from the local elections that are coming up? |
... |
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