A selection of our recent appearances in the UK media.
The Times
28 April 2023
It baffles me, then, why the Labour Party bothers with its recent series of daft questions. “Do you think thieves should be punished?” or “Do you think adults convicted of sexually assaulting children should go to prison?” The gotcha is that Rishi Sunak supposedly does not. But a voter looking up from a gas bill or wondering how the same online shop that cost £70 six months ago is now £85 might frown or roll their eyes. Indeed, focus groups conducted in Derbyshire by the More in Common foundation felt the attack ads struck a “low blow”
Daily Mail
28 April 2023
Research by the non-profit organisation More in Common found that the cost of living crisis was the most important issue for voters.
This was followed by 'supporting the NHS', 'climate change and the environment', 'asylum seekers crossing the Channel' and 'the war in Ukraine'.
The Mirror
27 April 2023
Participants said Mr Sunak was a millionaire, his wife was a millionaire and that he's "got cash in all sorts of places".
Luke Tryl, UK director at More in Common, which conducted the research, said the focus group revealed the sense the PM was "just too rich to be in touch" with voters.
He said: "There's another group who say, 'oh he's so wealthy, he must be in politics for the right reasons, he can't be bought'. But more people are likely to say that, 'actually he just can't relate to my life'."
The Independent
26 April 2023
And the focus-group evidence is that undecided voters tend to see Sunak’s wealth as reflecting well on him, while paradoxically regarding Starmer as a member of the privileged elite. Luke Tryl of More in Common once reported a group that thought the Labour leader’s knighthood was the equivalent of a hereditary peerage.
Radio 4 Week in Westminster
22 April 2023
More in Common UK Director Luke Tryl discusses the two parties and the main priorities among voters in the lead-up to the May local council elections
The Spectator
19 April 2023
Op-ed by UK Director Luke Tryl: Poor taste,’ said Julie, ‘Really desperate,’ added Shawn. Mark thought it was ‘A low blow’ and Becky was simply ‘gobsmacked’. That was the verdict of our focus group participants in Erewash in Derbyshire last week when they were shown Labour’s controversial advert suggesting Rishi Sunak did not believe that those convicted of sexually assaulting children should go to prison.