On the steps outside Birmingham Town Hall, lift engineers Tom Norton, Kevin Haynes and Mohammed Iqbal sat eating packed lunches a couple of hundred yards from where the Conservative Party conference was taking place.
“What was that about?” demanded 44-year-old Haynes of prime minister Liz Truss’s now aborted attempt to abolish the top rate of tax. “Sticking two fingers up at ordinary people to help the rich. Call a general election and let’s see what people think about it.”
