Lack of faith in politics is a running theme among voters the Guardian interviewed – but some believe Nigel Farage’s party could be worth a try
Crossing Gwent Square on a cold, crisp day in Cwmbran, married couple Maxine and David Griffin have more in common than with each other than they did a year ago.Maxine, 52, who works in a cafe, had previously voted Conservative, while her husband, 55, a postman and union rep had always voted“I used to vote Conservative, but obviously they were so terrible that I wasn’t going to vote for them any more, and Labour, I wouldn’t vote for Labour anyway,” Maxine said.
Olivia Jones, 32, a paramedic who lives in Cwmbran, engages with politics mostly on social media, particularly Instagram. “Lots of friends of mine repost reels of different things about the Reform party,” she said, explaining she would consider voting for them. Stevenson said he liked Farage and viewed him as an honest person and was attracted by the party’s perceived harder line on immigration.
The frustration with 25 years of Labour controlling the Senedd is palpable among many of the voters the Guardian interviewed.Marilyn Bevan, 65, a carer from Abertillery, has previously voted Labour and never Conservative, said: “Labour doesn’t do anything for where I live.”“They’re taking the winter fuel allowance off the pensioners, I’ll be a pensioner next month. The government now they give to the rich and penalise working-class people.
“They know they can get away with it,” Bevan said. “Our concerns are ignored. Older people like myself, we’re nonexistent, once you’re over a certain age.”Malcolm Pearson, 78, who lives in Malpas, a suburb of Newport, voted Labour his whole life but was now considering voting Reform in 2026. Reform is pushing the interpretation of its most recent poll to its limits. Opinium asked 2,116 adults in the UK which party they would vote for if there were a general election tomorrow. It then broke those down into country-specific figures, which show that just 86 of that weighted sample were people in Wales.
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