News

Politico

25 January 2023

Politico

Opinion polls confirm the British public do not exactly view Starmer and Reeves as the most exciting politicians in Westminster. Luke Tryl, director of the consultancy More in Common, which regularly conducts focus groups around the country, says there is “no sign” yet of Labour’s populist tilt cutting through. 

“This stuff always takes so much more time than Westminster thinks to actually reach the public,” he said, adding that Labour would need to be disciplined in repeating its attack lines to reach ordinary voters. But those who had been “more hostile” to Starmer were becoming “more neutral,” particularly in the Red Wall of former Labour strongholds, he noted.

The Guardian

25 January 2023

The Guardian

Luke Tryl, the UK director of More in Common, said: “Struggling with high energy and food bills, convinced the NHS was on its knees and unable to point to any signs of ‘levelling up’, the most worrying thing for the government was how little this group in Stoke felt they had to show for voting Tory. And while they agreed that the prime minister seemed to be doing better than his predecessors, they still didn’t think they were seeing enough of him to know if he was up to the task of sorting out the country’s many challenges.”

Dazed

23 January 2023

Dazed

There is research to suggest that Gen Z genuinely are the most progressive generation. 77 per cent of all young voters went for progressive parties in the 2019 election. Nearly half of young Brits believe systemic racism is a major problem facing the UK. When it comes to trans rights, research from the More in Common think tank found that 62 per cent of Gen Z agreed with the statement “trans men are men, trans women are women”.

The Times

22 January 2023

The Times

Luke Tryl is the UK director of the More in Common think tank, and has been running focus groups on the cost of living crisis. “There is a feeling that we’re all in it together, which leads people to think striking is fair game — do what you need to do to get ahead,” he said.

There is a catch, though. “It wanes when you get to higher salaries. People get really angry when they hear about nurses struggling. But with railway workers, they say, ‘Don’t drivers get paid loads?’” More people are opposed to the RMT strikes (49 per cent) than support them (43 per cent).

Conservative Home

21 January 2023

Conservative Home

Over the past three years, More in Common has identified seven distinct segments of the UK population. The Tories’ 2019 electoral coalition was made up of four of them – two of which are reasonably reliably Conservative, and two on the fringes who will determine if the party stays in power after 2024. The divergent views of these two swing segments helps shed light on the precarious balancing act the Conservatives face on ‘woke’ issues.

Financial Times

18 January 2023

Financial Times

I think it’s far too cynical to see this as about the government seeking dividing lines, not least because, as More in Common’s polling makes clear, most people do not care all that much (This also accords with what I’m told about the government’s own focus groups and polling.)