It's grim all over: voters' sorry verdict on politics

Asked to sum up Britain in one word, the voters in four focus groups held across the country last week were brutal.

- Rachel Sylvester

In Lincolnshire, people summed the nation up as “a shambles”, “depressing”, “chaotic”, “fragile” and “desperate”. In the West of England the participants described the UK as “expensive”, “gross”, “divided”, “fractured” and “rapidly going downhill”.

Ahead of this week’s local and mayoral elections, the public mood is grim. There is an overwhelming sense of disappointment with the state of the country. Keir Starmer was mistrusted and few people knew that Kemi Badenoch was the Tory leader.

Polling by More in Common shows three of the four mayoral races are on a knife edge. Both Labour and the Conservatives are struggling to hold on to their 2024 voters, with many turning to Reform, the Liberal Democrats or the Greens.