News

The Guardian

3 November 2022

Voters in the historic “red wall” seat of Sedgefield in County Durham, where Tony Blair was once elected to parliament, are willing to give Rishi Sunak a chance to improve their prospects as the cost of living crisis deepens, since they say Keir Starmer is “not making a case for himself”. Members of a focus group convened by UK More in Common for the Guardian described Sunak as “the money man”, with a CV that proves he was the “best of a bad bunch” of Conservative leadership candidates.

The Times

30 October 2022

The Times

“There is a perception the police have vacated the field, particularly on burglary,” says Luke Tryl, UK Director of More In Common, who has been holding focus groups in red wall seats. “If Labour can present themselves as more concerned about public safety and crime it’d go a long way to winning this group back.”

The Independent

30 October 2022

The Independent

More in Common director Luke Tryl said: “Most of the public are baffled at the events of recent weeks, not just how things could go wrong so quickly, but how they could also end up with not one but two prime ministers that they didn’t vote for.” He added: “If Sunak is able to calm things down and point to better times ahead, calls for a general election might subside. But as things stand the prospect of a bleak winter, further spending cuts and yet more turmoil means the number of people demanding a vote is only set to grow.”

The Independent

30 October 2022

The Independent

What do voters make of Mr Sunak, personally? More in Common focus group sessions in red-wall seats in the North and Midlands – shared with The Independent this weekend – showed voters remain pretty sniffy about the man running the country.

Politico

27 October 2022

Politico

Other research confirms the public is getting restless. A focus group this week for the non-partisan “More in Common” campaign found seven out of eight participants wanted an election once the current economic crisis has died down — a significant increase on previous exercises. Luke Tryl, the U.K. director of More in Common, said most people want “a choice over who is in charge” — although he noted that the same people also often feel conflicted, being “exhausted with the constant politics of the past few years.”

The Times

23 October 2022

The Times

Luke Tryl, UK director of the think tank More in Common, says Johnson is “Marmite” among staunch Tories: “Those that love him, love him, and those that don’t, don’t, and it’s kind of fixed.” Tryl suggests turnout could be even lower this week. “There has been an overwhelming feeling of frustration and exhaustion [among members] because these people are supposed to be the pros and they’ve let them down. They say, ‘why should I bother lifting a finger to vote for them?’ They are naturally chaos-averse.”