The reality of Dudley life and why one man fears 'we're going backwards to a harsher time'

The general election campaign is entering its final phase and Dudley voters are on the frontline in the battle for seats in Parliament. Both the Dudley and Halesowen constituencies are ‘must-win’ seats if Labour is to claim a sizeable majority and Stourbridge is also being hotly-contested.

During the campaign the Local Democracy Reporting Service has been out and about asking voters from differing backgrounds for their views. In the Old Priory pub in Dudley, the NHS is a priority for customer Nick Floyd, a 56-year-old carpenter.

He said: “The NHS is brilliant but it is underfunded, you can’t expect nurses and doctors to work 12 hours a day and at your GP you can’t get in. “The government says they are spending money on it but where is it?”

Read more: After Rishi Sunak calls general election who holds Dudley Borough seats

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Pub manager, Carl Hodgetts, has crime on his mind, he said: “The main thing is policing, you are scared to walk around the streets round here. “People like us, old school, know how safe it was – now you are scared to go anywhere.

“For most folks who stand at the bar and put the world to rights it’s mainly crime and immigration. “I have a lot of mates who can’t get on council lists and you’ve got refugees and asylum seekers put in hotels.”

In the bar at Stourbridge Golf Club the chat is about tax whether politicians are being honest. Kevin Barron, aged 64, said: “For the government to try and make the UK better they are going to have to raise taxes but rather than saying they are going to do it, they are going to do it stealthily.”

Trevor Woodhouse, aged 78, also believes higher taxes are on the way and wants to be told about it. He said: “If they just stood up and said you are going to have this huge bill because that is definitely what’s going to happen.”

Younger voters in the form of A-level politics students at Dudley Sixth are hungry for more detail on issues rather than personalities. Student Millie said: “It has definitely got too presidential and that showed in the first TV debate with Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak.

“The way they are doing the election and how personal it feels, I don’t think many people like it. “We are voting for the party, not necessarily the leader – the leader can change at any point.”

Classmate Erika says the focus on the leaders means candidates are not doing enough to show voters who they are. Erika said: “A lot of people are looking on social media and deciding on the party and not voting on the MP, it doesn’t matter what party they are in if they are not going to make the right changes for your constituency.”

Disabled people in Sedgley told us they feel marginalised because their issues have been kicked into the long grass. Ken McClymont, aged 63, said: “The main two parties have virtually failed to mention disability or caring, it is worse than disappointing, they seem to ignore us.”

“We are almost a quarter of the population, would they ignore senior citizens? They wouldn’t dare – they protect pensions. “We are going backwards to a harsher time and I can’t see any way of it ending under any government.”

Voting takes place on July 4 with results expected for Dudley, Halesowen and Stourbridge at around 4am on July 5.

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