20 November 2022
“There are very few public figures who are widely seen as unifying and trusted,” said Luke Tryl, the United Kingdom director at the research group More in Common. “It’s generally just people like David Attenborough.” On the eve of the European Championship last year, Tryl said, polling put Southgate in a similar bracket.
20 November 2022
Luke Tryl, UK director of the More in Common think tank, has been running focus groups on the cost of living crisis. “A common complaint . . . is that it seems like the rich are always looked after and those on benefits are always looked after,” he says. “But those who are working on a modest wage aren’t and they’re always the ones expected to pick up the bill. They think they go out, work hard, but it’s never enough and they don’t understand why they’re having to tell their kids they can’t have the same Rice Krispies they used to have and are going own-brand instead. These voters just don’t think the settlement is fair for them any more.”
18 November 2022
Instead, Labour will concentrate relentlessly on the issue of who got us into this mess. And who can blame them? The Times’s focus grouping by Luke Tryl suggests voters, too, are reproachful, looking backward in rage at the Tories because forwards is too depressing.
18 November 2022
More in Common UK Director Luke Tryl speaks to Evan Davis on what the impact of the recent budget will be on public attitudes
18 November 2022
But members of a focus group from the 40,000-strong town in Greater Manchester, organised by More in Common for the Guardian, believe Sunak and Hunt have left “working people to foot this bill”. They added that the government had even shunned the middle class. “I voted Tory at the last election, but would I do it again? I’m not sure,” said Tracy, a 52-year-old team sales manager.
17 November 2022
"They’ve spent so long telling us that it’s all going to be terrible, that maybe when it happens it won’t be so bad”.
That was what Reena, a 64-year-old charity worker from Glasgow, told me about what she expected from today’s autumn statement. But given the events of the past two months, it’s fair to say that the other participants, from across the UK, in that particular focus group didn’t share her optimism. Even if they desperately hoped she was right.