On the streets of the UK’s most marginal Westminster constituency, the political mood on Tuesday largely reflected the weather: grim, grey and prone to occasional furious downpours.
As Liz Truss was being officially invited to be the country’s next prime minister at Balmoral, anger poured forth from people in Bury North – which voted Conservative by just 105 votes in 2019 – about the growing cost of living crisis.
Tales of trebling electric bills, parents who couldn’t afford school uniforms, extended families having to pool resources, business owners fearing closure and students concerned about diminished futures all came thick and fast here in this Greater Manchester town.
And, pertinently, few people appeared to believe the new PM was the right person to deal with such a monumental emergency.
“I wouldn’t trust her as far I could throw her,” said Jeannette Roberts, a retired care worker sat outside Katsouri’s Deli. “Everything she’s said [this summer] was designed to please the people she was speaking to. Well, that’s not my style. I believe in saying it how it is. And I like leaders who do that, too.”
The 72-year-old – admittedly a life-long Labour voter – was worried about both her future and that of her eight great-grandchildren. In the short term, she and her husband had already discussed selling their bungalow this winter so they could move into rented accommodation and put the sale money aside for energy bills. In the long-term, she feared her offspring may be condemned to live in an “ungovernable” country.
“We seem to have been going from one crisis to another for years,” she said. “You’re not telling me she [Truss] is the person to put that right. She’s a disaster waiting to happen.”
That things would get worse before they get better was a fear widely shared here, even amid early suggestions that Truss’s government would subsidise household energy bills and recoup the money later.
“I work out that my [business] electricity is going to treble over winter,” said market trader Arshid Kayani. “We’re only just getting by as it is. How can we cope with that? There are already so many businesses closed in the market here because of the pandemic. I think this will see more off now.”
Was he worried? Yes, but also no – because he was convinced the squeeze would get so bad that help must come.
“It doesn’t matter who’s in charge, Labour or Tory, there has to be some help,” said the father of four and owner of the MT Mobiles and Game Exchange stall. “Every person in the country would end up hurting if they do nothing.”
As a floating voter, he said he was not overly keen on Truss but at least preferred her to the alternative of Rishi Sunak.
The former chancellor came to Bury Market last October and caused something of a stir – when he had said it was great to be in the “world famous” Burnley market.
“To me, that’s funny but it makes you think,” said 41-year-old Kayani. “It’s a mistake but it gives that feeling he just sort of thinks all northern towns are the same.”
A pause. “We had security here all morning before,” he continued. “The sense was you don’t approach him. That’s not right, is it? He’s a public servant at the end of the day. If you can’t speak to him, how can he understand your issues?”
The cost of living crisis was a concern for young people here too.
“My family – my mum, grandma, uncles – they’re all talking about it and sort of saying, ‘who needs money this week?’” said 16-year-old Jack Wilde. “And then they’re all clubbing in to help whoever needs it most that week. I’m getting a part-time job so I can help too.”
It wasn’t, he said, exactly how he imagined his college days playing out.
“You think they’ll be carefree,” he said. “You don’t really want to be thinking about your twenties and worrying how you’ll ever afford to move out or go to uni or anything like that.”
Although still too young to vote, he called for a general election following Truss’s coronation.
”How can you be prime minister when no one has voted for you?” he asked, perhaps not unreasonably (although plenty of others in Bury were horrified at thought of the potential instability caused by a snap election).
Either way, as if spiralling prices weren’t enough to be dealing with, a whole other slate of issues were also raised as concerns here. NHS failings, social care inadequacies and the decline of the high street were all mentioned as worrying people. So too – in a town with a large college student presence – were transgender rights.
“She has literally no idea about the issue,” said Harry Weatherby, also 16. “But she’s still happy to say things that are hurtful anyway. It’s completely close-minded and I just think it reflects badly on her, not just on that issue but on her empathy in general.”
One other subject cropped up too: Boris Johnson, of course.
As the UK’s tightest electoral seat at the 2019 general election, some felt victorious Tory MP James Daly had only managed to swipe this Bury North seat from Labour because people, ultimately, liked Johnson. “They’ll miss him,” said market trader Ansar Farooq at his Gosling’s Sweets stall. “I think he did a lot of good in a bad situation [with the pandemic and energy crisis]. I think he was still popular. I liked him. He’d have still got my vote.”
Would Truss? “We’ll see,” the 54-year-old father of three replied.
In fact, this “we’ll see” attitude may be the one bright spot for the former foreign secretary.
Despite all their concerns, the people of Bury – and probably the UK as a whole – appear nothing if not willing to give a chance to political leaders.
Would Jennifer Roach – walking through the high street to meet her daughter – vote for Truss in a 2024 election?
“If she can bring down food prices, sort out energy bills, get more help for people with disabilities and help get Bury back on its feet, then yes, I’d vote for her,” replied the 72-year-old retired kitchen porter.
And if she couldn’t do all that? “Then I probably wouldn’t,” she said.
