It's freezing cold, it's almost Christmas and the cost-of-living crisis is rumbling on. So it's understandable many voters in Stretford are seemingly indifferent to Thursday's by-election.
'I'm not bothered about all that mate,' one man says as he walks by the entrance to Stretford Mall. In two hours spent outside the shopping centre on Tuesday morning it's a response we hear dozens of times.
Triggered by the resignation of Labour's Kate Green, after she accepted Andy Burnham's offer to become deputy mayor of Greater Manchester, the by-election will see nine candidates go to the polls to become Stretford and Urmston's new MP. The front-runner is Labour's Andrew Western, the current Trafford council leader.
