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Cardiff Post 1

THE QUALITATIVE ELECTION STUDY OF BRITAIN 2015

Cardiff Post-election Focus Group 1 (full)conducted May 17th 2015

Transcribed Focus Groups Dataset

Version 1.0

Date of release: 17 February 2016

Principal InvestigatorDr. Edzia Carvalho, University of Dundee

International Co-InvestigatorDr. Kristi Winters, GESIS, Cologne

Research AssistantMarcel Gehrke, GESIS, Cologne

Funded by British Academy and Leverhulme Trust Small Grant SG142740

and supported by Carnegie Corporation of New York, GESIS-Leibniz Institute (Cologne) and University of Dundee

QESB Contacts

[email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

www.qesb.info

1

‘QESB’qualesb2015 @qualesb

Cardiff Post 1

READ ME

Transcribed Focus Groups Dataset Version 1.0

On copyright and attribution

Copyright of this transcript belongs to Dr. Edzia Carvalho and Dr. Kristi Winters. Individuals may re-use this document/publication free of charge in any format for research, private study or internal circulation within an organisation. You must re-use it accurately and not present it in a misleading context. You must acknowledge the author, the QES Britain project title, and the source document/publication.

Recommended citation: Carvalho, E. and K. Winters. 2015. 'The Qualitative Election Study of Britain 2015 Dataset', version 1.0. Funded by British Academy and Leverhulme Small Grant SG142740 and supported by GESIS, Carnegie Corporation, and University of Dundee. Available at: http://wintersresearch.wordpress.com

On the transcription

All participants’ names have been changed and any direct or indirect identifiers removed to protect their anonymity

The transcripts in Version 1.0 do not have enhanced data recovery including non-verbal communication. It includes the basic transcription of words said by participants. The participants have been identified through attribution by the moderator or other participants and by an initial attribution by the investigators. Subsequent versions of the dataset will verify attribution of participants by video identification.

The transcripts in this version also do not include extensive instructions given to participants at the beginning of the groups, introductions by participants, and exchanges between participants and moderators during exercises.

Initial Transcription by: Just Write Secretarial Services, Belfast, Northern Ireland. Contact: [email protected]

Reporting conventions used

We have used ** to indicate words, phrases or sentences which we could not hear.

Italic font indicates we have taken a guess at a word/name etc.

Words in parentheses {} indicate physical gestures or what can be heard on the tape but cannot be clearly articulated into specific words.

Removal of direct and indirect identifiers are set off with + word +

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Date of focus group: 17 May 2015

Location: University of Dundee, Dundee

Moderator 1: Dr. Kristi Winters

Moderator 2: Dr. Edzia Carvalho

Participants:

2015 Alias Sex Special Category Age group Supporter Party Strength Pre Group Post Group Constituency 2015 vote preferenceAaron M N 18-25 Y Labour 5 Colchester 1 Colchester 2 Harwich and North Essex Y, and party

Ralph M N 18-25 Y Labour 4 Colchester 1 Colchester 2 Harwich and North Essex Y, and party

Winnie F N 34-41 N NA NA Colchester 2 Colchester 2 Colchester Y, not which party

John M N 49-56 Y Labour 6 Colchester 2 Colchester 2 Harwich and North Essex Y, and party

Cathy F N 42-48 Y Tory 3 Colchester 2 Colchester 2 Harwich and North Essex Y, not which party

Megan F N 34-41 Y Labour 4 Colchester LD Colchester 2 Colchester Y, and party

Sabrina F N 57-64 Y Lib Dem 6 Colchester LD Colchester 2 Colchester Y, and party

David M Self-employed 57-64 Y Labour 5 Colchester LD Colchester 2 Y, and party

3Transcribed by: Just Write Secretarial Services, Belfast, Northern Ireland. Contact: [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

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ContentsVOTE CHOICE STORY..............................................................................................................................9

Sabrina.............................................................................................................................................10

Sabrina.............................................................................................................................................10

Sabrina.............................................................................................................................................10

Sabrina.............................................................................................................................................10

Karl..................................................................................................................................................10

Karl..................................................................................................................................................11

Karl..................................................................................................................................................11

Karl..................................................................................................................................................12

Winnie.............................................................................................................................................12

Megan.............................................................................................................................................12

John.................................................................................................................................................14

John.................................................................................................................................................14

Aaron...............................................................................................................................................14

Aaron...............................................................................................................................................15

Ralph................................................................................................................................................15

Cathy...............................................................................................................................................15

David................................................................................................................................................16

Karl..................................................................................................................................................17

Karl..................................................................................................................................................17

Karl..................................................................................................................................................17

David................................................................................................................................................17

Karl..................................................................................................................................................17

Megan.............................................................................................................................................17

Megan.............................................................................................................................................17

John.................................................................................................................................................18

Aaron...............................................................................................................................................18

Ralph................................................................................................................................................18

Sabrina.............................................................................................................................................18

Ralph................................................................................................................................................19

Cathy...............................................................................................................................................19



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Cathy...............................................................................................................................................19

Karl..................................................................................................................................................19

Winnie.............................................................................................................................................20

John.................................................................................................................................................20

Winnie.............................................................................................................................................20

Sabrina.............................................................................................................................................21

Karl..................................................................................................................................................21

Sabrina.............................................................................................................................................21

David................................................................................................................................................21

Unclear............................................................................................................................................21

David................................................................................................................................................21

Megan.............................................................................................................................................22

Megan.............................................................................................................................................22

Karl..................................................................................................................................................22

Cathy...............................................................................................................................................22

David................................................................................................................................................23

David................................................................................................................................................24

Cathy...............................................................................................................................................24

Cathy...............................................................................................................................................24

Cathy...............................................................................................................................................24

Ralph................................................................................................................................................25

Aaron...............................................................................................................................................25

John.................................................................................................................................................26

Megan.............................................................................................................................................26

David................................................................................................................................................26

John.................................................................................................................................................26

Megan.............................................................................................................................................26

David................................................................................................................................................26

Winnie.............................................................................................................................................26

Winnie.............................................................................................................................................27

Karl..................................................................................................................................................27

Sabrina.............................................................................................................................................27

Sabrina.............................................................................................................................................28

Cathy...............................................................................................................................................285

Transcribed by: Just Write Secretarial Services, Belfast, Northern Ireland. Contact: [email protected]


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David................................................................................................................................................29

Cathy...............................................................................................................................................29

Megan.............................................................................................................................................30

Cathy...............................................................................................................................................30

Karl..................................................................................................................................................30

Cathy...............................................................................................................................................31

David................................................................................................................................................31

Cathy...............................................................................................................................................31

Cathy...............................................................................................................................................31

Cathy...............................................................................................................................................31

Cathy...............................................................................................................................................31

Karl..................................................................................................................................................32

Cathy...............................................................................................................................................32

Karl..................................................................................................................................................32

Cathy...............................................................................................................................................32

David................................................................................................................................................32

Megan.............................................................................................................................................32

Megan.............................................................................................................................................32

Megan.............................................................................................................................................32

Megan.............................................................................................................................................33

Ralph................................................................................................................................................33

David................................................................................................................................................33

Ralph................................................................................................................................................33

Winnie.............................................................................................................................................33

Megan.............................................................................................................................................33

Winnie.............................................................................................................................................33

John.................................................................................................................................................33

Karl..................................................................................................................................................33

Cathy...............................................................................................................................................33

karl...................................................................................................................................................33

David................................................................................................................................................34

Karl..................................................................................................................................................34

John.................................................................................................................................................34

David................................................................................................................................................346



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Ralph................................................................................................................................................34

John.................................................................................................................................................34

David................................................................................................................................................34

Megan.............................................................................................................................................34

John.................................................................................................................................................34

Cathy...............................................................................................................................................34

Sabrina.............................................................................................................................................34

Karl..................................................................................................................................................35

Sabrina.............................................................................................................................................35

John.................................................................................................................................................35

Sabrina.............................................................................................................................................35

David................................................................................................................................................35

Sabrina.............................................................................................................................................35

Cathy...............................................................................................................................................35

Megan.............................................................................................................................................36

David................................................................................................................................................36

David................................................................................................................................................37

Megan.............................................................................................................................................37

David................................................................................................................................................37

John.................................................................................................................................................37

David................................................................................................................................................37

John.................................................................................................................................................37

John.................................................................................................................................................38

Winnie.............................................................................................................................................38

David................................................................................................................................................38

Winnie.............................................................................................................................................38

Winnie.............................................................................................................................................38

Winnie.............................................................................................................................................39

Winnie.............................................................................................................................................39

Aaron...............................................................................................................................................39

David................................................................................................................................................39

David................................................................................................................................................39

Sabrina.............................................................................................................................................39

David................................................................................................................................................397



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Sabrina.............................................................................................................................................40

Ralph................................................................................................................................................40

John.................................................................................................................................................40

David................................................................................................................................................40

David................................................................................................................................................40

Aaron...............................................................................................................................................41

Cathy...............................................................................................................................................41

Karl..................................................................................................................................................41

Cathy...............................................................................................................................................41

Karl..................................................................................................................................................41

Cathy...............................................................................................................................................41

Karl..................................................................................................................................................41

Winnie.............................................................................................................................................41

Karl..................................................................................................................................................41

Cathy...............................................................................................................................................41

Karl..................................................................................................................................................41

Megan.............................................................................................................................................42

David................................................................................................................................................42

Karl..................................................................................................................................................43



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Transcript

VOTE CHOICE STORY

I2: So thank you for coming back. It has been a really interesting election, especially for us from the sidelines, and we want to know what kind of an election it was for you. What were your experiences of your vote, of the outcome, of everything that has happened since the outcome and, you know, what do you see for the next four or five years? What do you see happening, what concerns you have, what hopes you have and so on. Before we start talking about these things I just need to double check and make sure that you know that the consent form that you signed in the pre election focus group covers you for this one as well. That's why you're not signing anything more saying you give consent, because that's covered, but if you have any questions about the data that we have collected from you, what we are going to do with it, the publications that are coming out of it, anything in the media that's coming out of it, please feel free to get in touch with us. We are on social media; so we are on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook. So if you want to find us just type Qualitative Election Study of Britain in Google and you'll find us and then you can just follow us and keep up with what's coming out of the study that way. So while Kristi settles in let me start by asking you the question that we are really, really interested in. Tell us what your voting day or your election day was like. Give us that story. When did you vote? When did you make up your mind to vote? How did you vote? How did you feel when you were voting? Was there a last minute wobble or were you like "I'm sure; that's exactly how I'm going to vote!" Then we need to find out about the results and what did you feel about the results.

I: And can I say also we know that whilst I, because I'm a very passionate partisan so when I go to the US, and 1994 and the Republicans just swept, I was despondent and very angry, and then when Obama won I was very elated, and we understand that sometimes people have emotional attachments to the outcome, so if you were very happy and you're worried about your happiness impinging on somebody else you can always talk to us and describe it. If you're upset and frustrated and you're again impinging, worried about offending someone, you can talk to us. So we really want to hear the full range but we



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also don’t want people to feel embarrassed or feel like if they express one way or the other they're going to make someone else feel bad. So we just want to again state that the full range of opinions is appreciated and you can always direct you eye contact at us and we won't take it personally, or your elation, we won't, you know... So yes, just to say that.

I2: Sabrina, would you mind starting?

Sabrina: A description of the day?

I2: Yes. So tell us the story of your voting day. When did you vote and how did you vote and then the election results and so on.

Sabrina: I was working all day so I didn't vote until evening. I hadn’t made up my mind. There was a last minute wobble towards the Greens and then I thought no, 04:40 is staying. And I met him at the polling station and I was all happy and thinking "this is going well." Then I went home and watched... again, watching the news the election thing, and went to bed, having watched Paddy Ashdown saying he'd eat his hat if the exit poll was right. It woke up about four in the morning to find that Simon Hughes had just lost his seat and then went to cable and I thought "Oh God, this is not going well!" And I didn’t feel very happy and I couldn’t go back to sleep.

I2: You said that you had a last minute wobble

Sabrina: I did, yes.

I2: What was the wobble about? So what were you thinking?

Sabrina: Well, I would really like to vote Green but just I was just going to stick with the Lib Dems. If I'd been in Brighton I would have voted Green because... but I didn’t see that there was any point. I just didn't... so I stuck with my old voting.

I: Thank you so much, thank you. Karl?

Karl: Well yes, so I woke up and thought "here we go..." So obviously you know the amount of literature we've had before. Basically yeah, went down pretty much first thing, got it over and done with, because it's pretty quite where mum and dad vote. I went down with my brother. I did have a bit of a



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wobble. I was pretty sure when I went in there, and the last vote, who I was going to vote for. I did have a bit of a wobble. When I actually seen the paper I was kind of feeling a bit guilty about my vote and I was like "shall I, shan't I?" But I did go with it, I went it just because it was a change. I'd like to see something different happening in Colchester apart from houses and I'd like to see more infrastructure with the roads and schools etc. and I just think there's a little bit of change needed. So yes, I did have a little bit of a wobble with my normal, who I'd normally go by. I felt quite guilty about it. I think he needed to retire anyway, maybe put his feet up a little bit. But I still feel a little bit... the jury's still out on that; I'm not sure if I made the right decision or not. But I think so. On the day I went with my heart, I went with my mind, I went with it, and yes, I was a little bit disappointed with the outcome and, to be honest with you, I stayed away from the media for the rest of the day. Got myself busy. I didn't have much to do that day. I remember it very well. I thought "here we go," that's when I woke up and thought I've got a long day here, no TV or anything, it's going to be like just, you know... So yes, I got busy for the rest of the day and pretty much avoided the rest of the media. Then part of the night, it was about 1 o'clock in the morning before I went to bed, I decided to switch on the news to see what the story was, and I was like "Oh, here we go!" And I turned the thing off pretty much straightaway and went to bed! I knew the outcome, I thought "oh, let's wake up the next day and deal with this, make a plan." But yeah, a little bit disappointed.

I: Just for the tape, for people who use the transcripts and don’t go back to the pre, your wobble was between?

Karl: Oh, I was going to vote Bob and root for UKip locally, but I went kind of... sorry, I ended up changing my mind and it was actually between Labour and... the other lot, but yes, I went with who I thought I was going to vote for all along, and a lot of my friends... to be honest, a lot of it has to do with talking to my friends as well over the past few weeks and getting their views, and it was a whole amalgamation of information that kind of persuaded me to go with what I went for.

I: Which was Labour?

Karl: No. 11



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I: UKip! You don't have to whisper!

Karl: Normally I would vote either Labour or Lib Dems but I went... I kind of put them both and said "well, we need a full change; let's see what the other guy can do." I voted Farage. I was disappointed with the outcome but...

I2: Thank you.

Winnie: I actually only decided in the morning of voting day and I went for Labour in the end. I said all the way along I've not really knowing who to vote for. I didn't think anybody particularly stood out. We said in the last focus group that all the campaigns seemed very safe. Nobody was really trying to stand out, or that's the way it felt. And I don’t really have any real allegiance to a particular party so I was pretty much unsure. So it was only in the morning that I actually thought that I'm going to vote for Labour, and I was probably already leaning that way anyway, it was just Ed Miliband, I just couldn't... Then I just thought "well, what could they do locally?" And again, it was the whole I think we needed a bit of change. So that was kind of what made my decision, so I wanted a bit of change locally and I decided that I'd do that for local and general. I didn’t actually vote until about 7 o'clock in the evening, but that was due to family commitments and everything in childcare. So it was about 7 in the evening. As I was walking out the door I actually had the Labour person walking towards me saying "have you been to vote yet?" "I'm just going now." "Oh okay, I won’t keep you." In some way it didn’t really feel particularly exited but I felt that I had made the right decision. By the time I got in there I was quite confident that that was who I definitely wanted to vote for. So I didn’t have any sort of wobbles. And yeah, the rest of evening I kept going into the news and back again. I sat up to 10 o'clock just to see the main bit. Then by the morning sort of thought "Oh well..." Yeah, I just felt "oh well" about it all, really.

I2: Thank you. Megan?

Megan: I don't want to relive it! [laughter] I booked the Thursday and the Friday off from work, knowing that I was going to be very involved and either celebrating or commiserating on Friday. I voted about 7:30, went with my daughter, we were both really, really excited by that. It was a sunny day, it had



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a good feel to it, we went up and voted. There was never any question as I was clear about who I was going to vote for, and I voted early because then I was going to campaign. I went to Wivenhoe to support the Labour candidate there. And that was a really good day, we had a lot of very, very positive response, and even though in my head I know that Wivenhoe is not representative of all of Colchester, certainly not the country, it felt really positive. So I definitely had a skewed view of what was going on, because there was generally a relatively good turnout in Wivenhoe and it's generally slightly more left leaning. However it did get... It was very, very close actually so perhaps, again, not as left leaning as I think it always is. So I campaigned all day, got home quite late, was absolutely exhausted. I was going to go down to support the local candidate but decided I was going to watch it on the television. When the first three results came out, obviously they were three Labour women, and for me it was just like "this is fantastic!" And I'm ignoring those exit polls, something has gone very wrong somewhere, and then I watched the whole sorry affair, the lot of it, every minute of it, and really it was... it was just awful! I mean, there were some highlights. As somebody who works in probation, you know, we are politically so entwined with what goes on, and there have been some real key players that have put the absolute code wash [??] on our service. So I was happy to see them go. I was happy to see Bob Russell go, I was happy to see Simon Hughes go and when Esther McVeigh went I was doing a little dance. I'm not saying that there weren’t some little highlights from it, there were. I stopped watching after Nigel Farage lost Thanet, because that was a beautiful moment for me, and then I went out, tried to compose myself, because really I was distraught and I cried and I cried and I cried, and I kept thinking "it's because you haven’t slept." I came back and watched Miliband's resignation speech, cried some more, you know, had some conversations with people that I work with, we realise what this outcome means for our service, for the criminal justice system, cried some more, and yes, basically I've felt thoroughly distraught since. But also some excitement about the reaction that's come from it. I don’t know anyone that voted in the way the country voted, and that's what, for me, is really interesting. I don’t know any, and I know you weed out people as you go through life, you tend to be with people that think like you, I don’t know any Conservative voters, or if I do they're certainly not open ones to me. So that's



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been the really the interesting thing. But the reaction, the rise immediately in groups of people who wanted to go on the anti austerity march, that's being very positive, the rise in membership in the Labour Party nationally. Locally, it's been brilliant, we have had a gathering of the Labour Party and lots of new members, lots of young women, which for me, is also again very exciting. So mixed. This five years is going to be difficult, very difficult. I'm facing redundancy, which is now confirmed, as a result of this.

I2: All right, thank you. John?

John: Well, I never had any wobble, because I was always going to vote Labour, as I've done for my life. So the morning was, as usual, a blur of getting into a very small polling station, meeting nobody, kids in the back of the car, thinking "I've got to get them to school." So I didn’t really think about that. A full on day, so settled down, as I usually do, with a few ciders ready to watch the results come in, and I knew when that exit poll came in, I thought "that’s right, all that we were hoping for!" I don't know whether I'm a pessimist or a genius but I just knew I was right, [laughter] and for some reason I did as I always do, I was like last 15:15 sod it! It just felt like the eighties all over again, even more so than it has done for the last five years. You know, I felt like that five years ago but now it's just kicking in I think "Oh God, not again!" And I know I ignored... that's why I didn't catch your email for the first one. I thought, "I'm just going to ignore everything, I'm just going to relax and forget about it." But yes, it was quite brief, really. I just saw it and as soon as the exit polls came in I just thought "here we go... It used to be Margaret Thatcher."

I2: Thank you, thanks John.

John: And for the weekend I just kept myself busy.

I2: Aaron.

Aaron: So I mentioned I'm still registered in my university, which is Becks Sidcup, which is like a complete Conservative safe seat by 25,000. I looked at what they got last year. And then the next one down is UKip, 10,000, they're very popular, and then Labour. So then they came in quite fast. So Labour is who I'd vote for normally, and I had a wedding that day as well so I didn’t even travel down from Colchester to Sidcup to vote for who I would have, Labour



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obviously. So I didn’t even vote because, one, it wouldn't have made any difference to who got the seat, and two, I had to go to a wedding quite early. So I did that, went to my cousin’s wedding all day and then in the evening I watched the vote on the theatre at Donmar Warehouse and then changed and watched the votes come in, and I suppose when we saw the exit poll I was surprised, because I felt quite confident or optimistic about, I don’t know, either a Labour and SNP coalition or something, but then I think realised I'm actually surrounded by what I believe in and all my friends all kind of like minded and actually don’t really hang out with any people that sort of have a more right wing or something way of thinking. So I suppose I was... everything I read sort of was... so I suppose a surprise but actually not a surprise, it's just the way, just who I hang out with and what I read is all... you know, that's that.

I2: Thank you.

Aaron: Sad, I was very sad ??

Ralph: I voted at 10 am, and it was fine, I knew who I was going to vote for all along and I was getting confident that it was going to be like 34%, because I had been following those polls closely, Labour, and we were going to have like some sort of "oh who are they going to pick? Who's going to pick who to get over the post?" So that whole day was quite exciting, so I was really following everything, watching it, all the media, and then we started to watch all the seats come in and stayed up until 2-ish and watched the guy say he was going to eat his hat. I really thought those exit polls were wrong but, you know, I'm quite sad about it. I'm disappointed, yes, for lots of reasons, including the arts which is where I am. But I guess you're going to have to also face the challenge of it. I think that's the only really way you can look at it so that's what I must do.

I2: Thank you. Cathy.

Cathy: Well, my kids were all really fired up by the election this year so I took my youngest down to the polling station at about 7:30, 8 o'clock, when it opened. I think she was expecting it to be a lot, a lot more to it, as we were like the only people in there. There wasn’t even a curtain around our booth, which she was most distraught about. But I knew who I was going to vote for. I'm a



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lifelong Conservative so I knew I'd vote for a Conservative so I didn’t have a wobble or anything like that. I came to work and carried on as normal and then watched some of the coverage in the evening, and was slightly surprised by the initial exit poll, thought it would be a closer run thing. So I probably watched more of it than I would have done normally, because I was then exited by the exit poll so I watched a few of the seats go, you know, the big players sort of fold, if you like, went to bed and didn’t give it another thought and woke up and obviously the exit polls were shown to be correct and I was fairly delighted, really pleased with myself.

I2: Thank you. David?

David: Unlike you I wasn’t very delighted. No, I very clearly knew that I was voting for Labour because I actually understood what their policies were, also because I always voted Labour. But I was just gob smacked really because there's so much going on in the country and there are so many people being affected by what the Tories are offering that I sometimes wonder why they're not, you know... the people who are against them actually voted for them because they're... I think it's to do with my perception of what people are happy to vote for. I don’t think they see the bigger picture. I think they only see almost like just a small element, whether it be something like bedroom tax, where it's a new thing. Oh, you know this is a good enough reason not to vote for something. So I was just really disappointed. I don’t relish the next five years, to be honest, but at the same time, as I said to you earlier, you know, Cameron has now got his dream come true, which is to, you know, he has policies which he now has to implement and in fact his majority government means he is not able to share or delegate to do this stuff out. So he's got to get on with it and sort of prove his worth. But, as I said to you there, I'm just gob smacked that, you know, looked at that map and suddenly all of it's blue, and I'm really surprised.

I2: Thank you. Now, I must say there has been a mixed response in the room and many of you were disappointed and some of you were delighted, so thank you very much for being open with us and telling us about your day, telling us how you felt, because this is really important for our research. So thank you for being honest and open with us.



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I: Especially because we do find a "shy Tory" syndrome, and obviously we've got one conservative voter against a sea of Labour voters, and also a UKip voters against a sea of non UKip voters. We've actually had a big problem getting people who voted for these parties so in some ways... we appreciate everyone’s contributions but yours are very rare and so we really appreciate hearing your thoughts on things too. So really for the Tory shy UKip we hope that you're not shy, you're talking.

Karl: I was going to go Labour but...

I: Yeah, it sounded like you were doing a change...

Karl: Yeah, I was on the fence, just for the change of it all.

I: We are finding that in Scotland too. There is a lot of people who voted to send a message to the main parties, so I want to kind of...

Karl: It's a case of been there, been there, not been there, let’s have a go.

David: Conservative next time.

Karl: mmm, my daughter would never forgive me.

TO WHICH POLICIES WILL YOU PAY ATTENTION?I2: Some of you already mentioned things that you are going to be paying attention to in the next five years, but we really want to ask this question and find out from everyone what are the issues or the politics, the policies that you might be looking out for, keeping any eye out for in the next year, two years, three years, five years?

Megan: Human rights.

I: Let's start with Megan, and for people to choose the top five.

I2: If you have more than five, give us your top five. Do you want to start, Megan?

Megan: If I start then I won’t stop. I mean, obviously human rights, and that affects so many things coming from that. The privatisation agenda for me is absolutely terrifying because public services are now going to... it's been



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happening anyway and there's been a resistance to it, but privatisation in the services that I work in does not mean better service. So that’s a huge one for me. Equalities generally, that widening gap between rich and poor which we've seen happening. Things likes zero hour contracts not been stopped, things like... but this is not necessarily a policy that they have but certainly what Labour were going to do was put some restrictions on the likes of Murdoch and the media, you know, having such a stronghold in this country, and for me, that's really, really concerning. With the welfare staff, workers rights generally 25:07 [laughter] trade unions, that's a major one, a major one.

I: And if someone says something you don’t agree with you can always put your hand up for the camera and go [laughter]

John: I've not looked at it like that. There is one overriding concern, then there's everything else which is lumped up. I was trying to think of a term, I'd use the term humanity because I don’t think, I never felt that the Tories were a caring humane party and that's worries me. All of what you said I worry about because I think there will be such a divided society and it will be terribly disadvantaged. But my overriding concern is Europe because, as far as I'm concerned, it's madness, absolute madness to allow... and I'm not confident in my fellow citizens to reach the right decision. [laughter] So we need the Labour dictator, I think.

I2: Aaron.

Aaron: My concerns are because I work in the theatre, I suppose, the big one is the cuts to the arts or whatever it is he doesn’t promise to do. So I suppose that's the biggest one that affects me, but of course everything else that we've had from the others as well.

I2: Thank you. Ralph?

Ralph: Yes, the same, I would agree, the theatre and arts. And also university and education, NHS. Europe is a massive one. I think it's stupid to pull out, because like we can't go back in or anything. Yes it's weird to see the privatisation of so many things, including the universities, which someone told me was a business. It's not a business, it's a charity, you know?



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Sabrina: Yes, it is a business now.

Ralph: Yes, it's a business now, and it's so sad to see that. So it's all about costs.

I: So Cathy, what we've heard from other Conservative people who've participated in our groups is a concern about the economy and managing the economy and keeping it going, and I was wondering if that's something that... I don't want to lead you but I want to provide some cover.

Cathy: Yes, I would be looking at the austerity measures. I think we do have a huge commitment to repay the debt that we have accrued and I think there is only one way to do it and it is cuts. And I'm not a typical Conservative voter, I'm a single parent of children, you know, I'm self supporting, I work full time, but I do tap into the benefit system, so therefore a lot of people would say well there, you're voting for the wrong party, because obviously there will be welfare cuts. However, I'm also part of the society that have accrued these debts in the first place so I feel a responsibility to pay some of them back, or be part of paying them back. So I'm hoping that fairly severe cuts across the board will be beneficial in the longer term.

I: So you're looking for the long game, playing the long game in terms of economic health

Cathy: Yes, definitely, because I've got young children and I want their future to be one that we don’t have huge bills, don’t have debt around our necks, as a country.

I: Thank you.

Karl: Whereas on the other flip side of that, if you've got children of a certain age that's fine to look into the very sort of future, future, you know, ten, fifteen years etc. My daughter is going to uni next year and it's like scary sort of stuff for her. She's hoping to get into Oxford. She's putting the work in and she's hoping to get a grace into Oxford, and you know, l was more worried, when I seen the results, for her future than my future, because I can adjust. I have lived through certain things where I can adjust to the times and situation and the climate. She's seventeen, going to uni next year, and it's the time



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where we needed that change, I think for the future, for education. To get the future politicians in, for instance, they're going to pay how much a year to try to not to be a politician, and it's going to cost them how many years and how much in debt are they going to be before they actually start to do anything? My daughter, whenever she does eventually start work after she's done with Uni, she's going to be loaded with debt before she starts, huge amounts of debt, and I'm going to be picking up some of that over the next few years, which I'm not obviously looking forward to. So I'm going to have to work that little bit harder for her, she's going to have to work that little bit harder and everyone's going to have to pull that bit more together because of the cuts and where they're taking from. I agree with some of the cuts with the benefits situations but I think they've done it slightly wrong. But the education, I am quite worried about that education, sort of thing, the future of it, the future of our youngsters as well. But how near, like, I mean, the future is now, the future is now, it's obviously not just fifteen, twenty years as well, the future is our kids now and what they can do. And so, you know, I kind of feel for kids, for the youth of today, you know, teenagers of today. I think they got a bit of a rough ride, really, compared to what I had, you know. Possibly what will come in the future, it may take fifteen years, it will go back to how it used to be. But yes, I'm a bit worried about the education system, more than anything.

Winnie: Obviously I agree with everything that everybody has said with regards to the NHS and education. I'm thinking more locally in the next five years. The big thing that's going on at the moment, especially with parents, is the free school transport.

John: Oh yes.

Winnie: It's a massive thing, isn't it? And there was a meeting at Chelmsford on Tuesday and the local council voted against us. So that’s a bit of a blow and you think oh... So that’s something I will certainly be interested in and keeping an eye on over the next five years, because my son is only six at the moment but in five years time this is going to really affect him. So, for me, that's one of the big things I will be looking at. As I say, I agree with all the other things that everybody has already brought up, so why mention them again?



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I2: Thank You. We have Sabrina and David, and do you want to tell us about issues that you are looking at?

Sabrina: Everything! Europe, I just dread having a referendum because I think everybody's got the wrong idea, because of the media, mainly. I've got a son that lives in Germany and works there. Education, I just said this morning that if any school doesn’t meet up to the standards their going to make it an academy. You know, it's more privatisation. That's enforced. I mean, that's not we want to be an academy, you're going to be one. I think that's no choice. Where is the democracy in that? The police. My daughter is in the police force. She's forced... well, she can't be forced but all her colleagues that are leaving are being replaced by non police... what do you call it, civic, every time somebody leaves, and I think people who come from the civic, they just don’t have that training and that background in police and they don’t really care in the same way. And the arts. I lost my first job when Thatcher got in in ’79 because she took all the funding away from what I was doing at the time. Tories don’t like the arts. They just think it should be funded by themselves, and arts goes down the hill, it really does. So everything, basically. Bit depressed, just hoping that everybody will... there'll be a big backlash and maybe...

Karl: A revolution 33:46

Sabrina: Yeah. Not in England anyway; in Scotland

David: It started here

Unclear: It will be televised.

I2: David, do you want to add anything?

David: I concur with a lot of things that people said, but I think Europe is quite important. I mean, things like the arts, very important to me because that's the field that I work in. Education, the national health, general austerity, paying off those debts, certainly that has to be done but at the expense of what? I feel very sorry for you because you've lost your jobs. Your cards are laid out, aren’t they? So yes, everything. Put it like this, there's nothing particularly positive



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that's come out of this that I can say "ah, that's great; I'm really pleased that they're going to do that," because there just isn’t .

Megan: It's just interesting, the kind of dialogue we all got in to about this deficit, because people say deficit, deficit, deficit, and when you say what does that actually mean to you, what has that deficit meant to you as an individual in your pocket, because my understanding is that's what governments do. Governments borrow and the deficit goes up and down. It's not something that was particular to this country; all governments do it. So I just don’t understand what that means, I don't understand when people say we must pay off this deficit because it's really important. I wouldn't know if the deficit was up here or down there, personally. I understand that it's there but I also understand that that's what our governments do. They borrow, they invest, but that's economy, that's capitalism

I2: Is that something that you will be looking at, I mean, this idea of what's happened with the deficit, in the next five years?

Megan: Absolutely not at all, because for me, what's actually what's important is investment into public services, because when the normal working person has more money in their pocket through job security, through secure wages, that’s when our economy gets going through investment, not through austerity. I absolutely do not think austerity works.

I2: I'm just going to say thank you, because obviously there is a slight, you know, we don’t want Cathy to feel like she is the only... [laughter] The way this is working is this is a time you're free so I've put you in the time you're free and as it's turned out Cathy is the...

Karl: A friend was going to play Tory if he came along but he couldn't make it, unfortunately.

I2: So again, thank you very much. Obviously there are lots of people in the room that are looking at very similar things and some people in the room that are looking at slightly different things, and everything is valid, because we're not here to tell you you're right or you're wrong, you shouldn't be looking at this or you should be looking at that, or the way you're looking at the world is wrong.



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Cathy: I think we're all looking at the same things, we're just looking at it from different points.

I2: Perspectives, probably.

I: And also we want to hear from Lib Dem voters, how they feel like their party did. We want to hear from Labour voters. I understand this mourning, when you're party does not do well you actually have a period of mourning, and that sort of loss, especially if you had it particularly affect your life, you see the immediate impact in ways. So this is actually, in terms of the data, again very important, and the Labour party, hopefully they should be interested in this and they should be looking at what people were saying and how they were reacting, and for the Conservatives too, what policies and things people are looking for and expecting them to perform on. Lib Dems will probably want to use this to see how they can... UKip people might want to look at what were people voting for. Was it an anti establishment vote for change, was it for a referendum? So all of this again is really important to understand, because there's so much going on in this election; there is so much going on.

I2: And a lot of people are trying to understand what happened. So everything that you tell us is brilliant, because that will help us try and understand what happened. So great. Do you want to take on the Scotland question?

I: Yes. So one of the things that we are trying to get a feel for in different parts of the country is... so while UKip got over four million votes they only did manage one seat, but the SNP had this whole sort of wave of... now 56 seats coming down, and we're trying to get people's impressions of one, how they perceive that and two, what they think why the people of Scotland, what that might have meant, why people might have been voting for the SNP in this way. So we have their opinions on what they think people think of them and what they think of themselves, so we're just now moving through Wales and England as well. So just to get some impressions on your reaction to the SNP performance and what you think was driving that in Scotland.

David: It's interesting, because I have a friend who I've known for ages who lived in London. He's partner is Scottish and they actually moved to Scotland, and when they were talking about devolution I couldn’t understand why



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anyone would be bothered to separate themselves from England, from the UK, and he said "you just don’t get it." I said "why is that?" And he said "because you're not in Scotland." And it's almost like if you're in Scotland you get it, whereas if you're in England you're that much further removed that you don’t get what... I mean, even I don’t get it to this day, but obviously, because he's living there, he just sees that there is a massive need for Scotland to be independent in many ways. But I don’t get it, but he does because he lives there. So I can’t make any more comments on that, but I can see that, you know, if SNP gets as much of Scotland as they did then it's in their favour. Again, it’s like, you know, what do they want from us, at the end of the day? It's almost like us choosing to have a referendum on Europe, we're pulling out of that. It's almost like what do they think they'll benefit by doing that.

I: So in terms of the election, do you think there was still a discussion on the referendum or do you...?

David: I think so, yes.

I: It’s not like we are going to comment so... Cathy, how about you? Any thoughts? It's okay not to have an opinion too.

Cathy: I just thought it was probably down to disenchanted Labour voters wanting change, and then the SNP were there, you know, the next choice. I just think they didn’t have a wide choice to go for. I think the Scottish Labour voters defected to the SNP, and I think it's just as simple as that, I think voters have lost the faith and this is the next best thing. So they're hoping to get what it is they want from this new lease of empowered SNP. So we'll see.

I2: When you say they lost faith, do you mean they lost faith in the Labour Party?

Cathy: I think they lost faith in... I feel I have all these eyes going.... [laughter]

I2: We're here to protect you.

Cathy: I just think that there was something wrong in the Labour campaign across the country, what it was, I don't know. But particularly in Scotland where they were faced with this very strong alternative option, that a lot of people decided to you know... Nicola Sturgeon was so driven throughout her



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campaign I think she just got those people that were maybe wobbling, like a few people said you know “I had a bit of a wobble,” and I think she just grabbed those people by the throat and pulled them through, you know, and I think that's probably why they've got this raft of seats, and it will be interesting what happens next.

I: Thank you.

Ralph: Yes, I'm not sure either. I suppose only that Scotland is already pretty left wing and SNP is more left wing than Labour. But I don’t think it's a good thing. I think it's a bit of a down stating thing for Labour, and I think it sort of feels like a... very much exciting, exciting for now. "Oh let's move away from England!" In the long term it seems absolutely devastating. England subsidises Scotland in lots of ways so it seems like very much a fashion, I think. I really wonder what will happen in five years, if that will all switch back again or of it'll be separate.

I2: Thank you. Aaron?

Aaron: I find it quite confusing, and leading up to voting 42:30 in Scotland, when people were doing that, I was asking lots of people because I was confused about it, and the head of acting, who's Scottish and obviously worked in the arts a long time and has a very liberal views, I was talking to him for a long time and he was saying, I think, like you, a strong yes campaign, because he felt like something in our government, now something had to shift dramatically in order... because at the moment it seems sort of a bit samey, sterile, or something, that something big needed to happen and if that were to be Scotland becoming independent then we could effect this bigger change and make the government more sort of, I don’t know, widespread and sort of an overall, I don’t know how to describe that, a more of a people's view, like a voice, as opposed to a very narrow sort of a margin of these people that are representing our country. So I find it confusing, and I don’t think, in terms of Labour losing seats, obviously I think that's sad but I think part of it is a simple thing of people... Nicola Sturgeon is a fantastic public speaker and very driven and very focused, and still I think people, for some reason, are very shallow, find Ed Miliband a bit silly and he falls over, and I think all those things, I think people sort of find that bit... that means something to people, maybe, I don’t



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know. That sounds like I'm undermining the vote in Scotland. I don’t know; I find it confusing.

I2: John

John: Yes, I don’t think it is a vote for independence, because that was last year. I think it was disillusionment with Labour and a protest vote. I also wonder whether it was they feel safe to vote for the SNP now because the referendum was largely... it didn't go to independence, now apparently we're not going to have another vote unless... they're part of the union for the next lifetime apparently so they felt safe to vote SNP. And I think that might be what it's more about, why a lot of voters migrated to SNP. It's disillusionment, protest and also, I think, we're in the United Kingdom now for my life, I can vote for it now because they're more left wing.

I2: Thank you.

Megan: I think I would pretty much agree with that; it was a combination of things. I don’t think it would have been the same outcome if it had still been Alex Salmond, I have to say. I think Nicola Sturgeon herself played a huge part in it and her message was so well delivered and was very, very clear, which the Labour party’s wasn’t and they should have been far more... They should have had a much clearer message about austerity and I think there's been a lot of confusion in the Labour party’s own message. But I think you're right, I think that was a vote that was done in the safety of knowing that there wasn’t going to be another referendum. So there's a big amount of protest there...

David: Isn't she thinking about changing...

John: That's what I thought [over talking]

Megan: ...and I think that, I would hope that the Labour Party will come back there but it is now very dependent on the media I think and how they... what messages, they've just got to have a much, much clearer message. We were vague, right to the very end, I think.

David: We was had! [Laughter]

I: How about you? Any thoughts?



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Winnie: I'm a bit confused by it all. I have said all along I don’t pretend to know a lot about politics. I think if I lived in Scotland I probably would have voted for her as a member, Joe Public that doesn’t know a lot about politics, because she was such a good candidate. I think she was brilliant. And I also wasn't aware that they weren’t going to have a referendum, so I agree with what you say, that it probably is a safety vote. I really don’t know.

I: That's okay; we don't want you to manufacture an opinion.

Winnie: Yeah, I'm confused by it. I must say, I agree with what you say, I think people liked Nicola Sturgeon and voted for her because she was so good, and before you made comments about the referendum I thought "well, it can't be about the independence thing because they've already voted against that." So is that something she is going to push for and do people know that? I really don’t know; I'm really confused about that one

Karl: Yeah, quite mixed emotions with me, really. I'm kind of a little bit confused about it all, because I've got the English media and the Scottish media, because I've got family up in Scotland so I'm kind of getting two views. So I'm getting bombarded with every angle, with every aspect of it all, and it's kind of like after a while you get bombarded with so much information you tend to shut down on it. So when talking to any of my family up in Scotland about the SNP and that situation, especially after they voted no and all that, I kind of closed off a bit from it. So every time I hear the word SNP and Nicola... well, Alex Salmond and then Nicola Sturgeon, it was like "see you later!" It's like I don’t understand that. It kind of doesn’t affect me so much so I'm not going to get involved with it, sort of thing, because I'm getting too much information from conflicting angles, from all different angles and it's like I put a barrier up against it. If it doesn’t affect sort of my immediate family, especially my daughter or whatever with what she's doing then... It's a selfish way to think about it but it's every man for himself in this country, isn’t it. No, with this Scottish National Party thing the jury's out, really. I don't know what to think of the situation.

I: Fair enough. We just want your honest opinion, and that's appreciated.

Sabrina: I'm really confused about... I don't understand Scotland. [laughter]



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I2: Can we quote you? We probably could.

Sabrina: In Ireland they sort of get along, all different parties, and some, a few different factors, although not all of them. Sinn Fein don't 49:48 why do you bother standing? I have a Welsh connection and I don’t understand why they are never quite as specific in voting Plaid Cymru. Maybe if they'd got a Nicola Sturgeon in Wales they might do. But I find the whole thing strange. Well, the Scottish lot just let the Tories in by losing all the labour candidates. So, sad.

I: Well I guess now that you've all given your opinion I'm not going to interfere. I do, well at least with the people that we've spoken to in our groups, Cathy nailed it, they felt very much like there was almost two Labour campaigns that needed to be run, one north of border, north of Berwick Upon Tweed, because they feel more left wing and they know that the Labour Party in England is being pulled in the centre and they just got sort of fed up with having a centres party and so they felt that the SNP was an alternative, and they felt they were competent because they'd been in parliament and hadn’t messed things up, the NHS was running, education was running, and so yes, it was very much an anti establishment vote. We had people with three generations of Labour, "my grandparents voted Labour, my parents voted Labour but this time I'm voting SNP." They want Labour to go away and have a think and reconstitute itself and come back, because they didn’t expect this to be a dominant SNP thing forever and ever and ever. They fully expected that at some point Labour is going to come back and fight for those seats. But I think from our group there was no overwhelming... we have individuals who voted yes but there was no over groundswell of "we want another independence referendum." They want to see a material change, like pulling out of the EU would be a material change to them. If they were forced to pull out of the EU then they would want another referendum, but that has been decided and they really want to move forward and they felt like what was being represented was not Scottish interest, their local council, their local constituency from Labour, but the SNP did and would and so that's why you saw thirty point swings. I mean it almost broke the "swingometre" on the BBC, up to 40%, and it was very much "we want someone who we feel is actually going to represent us in Westminster and until Labour actually starts doing that..."



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Cathy: I think I agree with you, what you said about we might not have had the same result had Alex Salmond still been in charge. I mean, I really do think that Nicola Sturgeon is completely... I mean, the Labour Party want to get hold of her really and get her to 52:32 [Laughter] But you've got a very sort of English in Ed Miliband, I know he's not the leader anymore, but there was no relative crossover between him and the Scottish voters. Just what did he have that was transferrable, you know, that was of interest to those voters?

I: And when people talked about Nicola, I mean obviously if they were Labour or Conservatives they didn’t quite have the same affection, but if they were just sort of wobbling or not sure what way they were going to go, we got terms for her like affectionate and caring and strong and passionate and for Scotland. They want to go and hug her, and who wants to hug a politician? Yes, I think that there was some of that but there was also a feeling of representation. But you're right, I think her face was a different face for the SNP.

David: She always wears pink

I: Yes, or pastels.

I2: I've seen her wear a green dress.

Cathy: She has to remind everybody that she's a woman.

I2: I want her wardrobe.

I: So I'd just like to let you know, since many people talked about being confused and since you've already expressed your opinions, one of the things we were hoping to do with this qualitative research is also get a little bit of communication, because maybe the distance, you don’t hear from real people and they don’t hear from real people. What they think is that you all think that they are anti English, because that's what they see in the media coming back at them in terms of what they are voting for. Obviously then they're wrapped into that media perception as well, which is a little bit "no we're going to show them!" But they're showing Murdoch. Yes, we feel like, we're hoping to open up a little bit of communication by reporting on research, through the research findings.



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I2: So it's actually wonderful that a lot of you said that you that you were confused, because that is not what gets portrayed in the media. So you have very clear opinions on the media. You don’t have people are confused about Scottish voters, which is a good thing

I: And back and forth too, because then they won’t feel like it’s such a negative thing on them.

Megan: You can tell them I would move to Scotland, given half a chance.

I2: But I think a lot of England wants to move to Scotland.

I2: So if you remember, we asked you in the pre election focus group, we told you that we were working with the Electoral Commission, and so we may have asked you if anybody had registered for the first time with the new electoral registration system. So I don’t know if you remember that, but that's just foreground to the question. So we are still working with the Electoral Commission, and what would like to know is how the election was run?

I: I think you mentioned no curtain

Cathy: No curtain on the booth.

WAS THE ELECTION FAIR?I2: That's exactly... so we can touch upon if it was a problem and why you think it was an issue. So that's the kind of things that they want to know. So obviously they're not talking about proportional representation, because they can't do anything about proportional representation, but about the process of the election, postal vote, postal ballot, how the counts were run. When you went into the voting, into the polling booth, how the entire process from the time you stepped in until the time you stepped out, if there was anything that made you think what's going on here, or am I going to change that, or maybe this thing needs a little bit of tweaking. Now is your time to vent, because we're basically going to tell them these are the things that came out.

Karl: The pen! The pen! 56:00 - 56:16 [laughter and over talking] and I thought "no, I'm using my own" and pulled my own out. Thank you very much, you ain't getting that ink off!



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I: Voting in pen, it's weird how often this comes up. We got it in three out of the five focus groups. People will say "Why have they got it in pencil? That just doesn't seem safe to me."

I2: Cathy, you mentioned about the lack of a curtain

Cathy: Yes. I voted in a very sort of, you know, in a village hall in a very sort of sleepy little community, so when I was in there, there wasn’t anybody else in there but the little booths were a little rack of four and they were really close, obviously they were just attached to one another so they were really close together, but because they was no curtain on them I would be concerned the person next to me would be able to look. Absolutely, so you were a bit sort of like... and there was nobody else in there but I still had my arm around my paper just because I didn’t feel... and we were the only people in it so people like behind the desk were also... I was sort of thinking can they see me, can they see what I'm doing?

David: Why would that concern you though?

Cathy: I don’t know. It’s just because we have that very British way of not wanting to tell people who we vote for, generally

Cathy: You see, on the contrary, because I voted in Wivenhoe and it was in a school and I think there was something like one booth and there was somebody already there waiting. At this bench there was a kid’s exercise bench, and I just sat down, I didn’t really care. I mean, I just don’t understand why...

I2: We had someone who had folders and they also expressed the sort of, someone could just lean over the folder. So I think it's more about the experience ...

Cathy: I don’t know, I just always wanted it to be just like a little private thing that only I can see. You know, I'm happy to talk it. I'm happy to come to groups and talk about my voting preferences but when I'm actually in the booth I just want it to be my own personal thing and I don’t want anybody going "Oh really? Don't you think he's not done very much for the community?" And I



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don't want to get into it when I'm in there. I just want to do it, fold my paper up and put it in the thing.

I2: It’s your moment you just want it to yourself.

Cathy: Yes

Karl: It's like when I'm putting my pin number in the cash machine [laughter]

Cathy: You know when people are behind you in the supermarket and you're putting your pin number in and they stand literally right behind you, and you're like "back off, I'm doing my pin!" I hate it. It's just the thought of somebody looking over your shoulder all the time.

Lots of laughter

I2: It's also a secret ballot and you want it to be secret, unless you divulge it.

Karl: Umbrella, that's what you need.

Cathy: I think I need a full disguise. I'll take my own curtain with me next time.

David: Just wear a moustache. [laughter]

I: Anyone else have reflections on the day?

Megan: There was a few things, because I was out campaigning so we got a bit of feedback. So there are definite problems with the postal vote, which is really concerning.

I2: What kind of problems?

Megan: People hadn't received them

I2: We've heard this as well

Megan: The actual fundamental ones hadn't received their postal votes. Proxy voting was also a problem. So one my neighbours, who my husband was meant to be voting on her behalf, her things didn’t arrive. They tried to get through to the electoral support in the morning, they said we'll get back to you, so she didn’t get to vote. And I'm aware that that happened across the country, there were issues about not all candidates being on the ballot papers, and in terms



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of my own personal experience of going with my daughter, it's the second time that she's voted, she was only able to vote in the locals last time so this is the first general election, she went "oh, how patronising are they?" And I think it's not very welcoming to go in... it's not a very welcoming place, particularly, and I think we want to get, you know... I think young people's experience is really important.

I2: So when she said they were patronising, it was the staff?

Megan: The people at the polling stations, yes

Ralph: Yes, I had patronising. Someone told me off for not having my polling card, even though I know I didn’t need it.

David: It says categorically you don't need it.

Ralph: She told me off! [laughter]

Winnie: I didn’t take my card either. They said "Well, can you tell me what number they gave you? So through the 60:38" [laughter] She was a bit stroppy with me.

Megan: It's not very welcoming, is it?

Winnie: And it was actually two halls. It was in Wivenhoe, it's two school halls that you go to, and there was one vote there and I thought "Oh, I don't know which one to go to," so I went over to one and I gave them my vote and "Oh, oh, I don’t know, I'm not sure. I think you're at that one." [Laughter] So one text the other one and somebody was on the phone and not really paying attention, and eventually I gave them the vote again, "No, you're definitely over at that one!" So I wandered back over there and I said "I've been told I'm here." Oh? Oh well, if you go in the road will be on the right" It was just really they couldn't be bothered. I suppose it was about half seven at night and they couldn’t be bothered. They'd been in there all day and just had enough.

John: So Little 61:30 polling station, they only had two A4 pages...

Karl: You know, I had the same problem with turning up, but it wasn’t in York, it was in Central Colchester. It wasn’t a really busy polling station, I don't think, 3 or 4, no curtains.



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Cathy: Did you mind about the no curtains?

karl: No. But on the way in a woman sat outside, and as I walked in she was like "have you got your...?" as if I'm going to show her it for ID or something. I was like "I'm going to vote," and she was like "have you got your polling card?" "No, I don’t need it." She goes "how are you going to vote?" And I was like "well, they've got my address. I'll tell them my name and address, like last time," and she's like, "oh, is it really?" So she seemed quite confused about it. But once I was inside it was very quick, it was very in, out, boom. I done everything probably in about 30 seconds. I did a little bit of dithering when I got in there. I was like "oh shall I, shan’t I? Then I went for it and it was very, very quick. There was hardly anyone in there. It was very, very swift so I was quite happy about that. But yes, they want to sort out their 63:35

David: Were you just given the one piece of paper?

Karl: Two, a green and a white

John: Because we had 3. We had parish and district and general.

David: They don’t explain what that involves, because basically there's 14 names and you can vote for 13

Ralph: I asked her to explain it.

John: I thought two of them were Tory!

David: It's the people who don't get voted for that actually lose their seats. So yes, it is quite confusing. They don’t explain to you at the time; you have to ask, don’t you?

I: And they didn’t have anything up as a sample ballot, an instruction when you walk in to say this is what...

Megan: No

I: They publish the ballots in the newspapers.

John: But I think that's life, because, like you say, they went through the ins and outs of everything with me. I was the only one there for the next hour, you know. I guess if you're living out in Colchester they're like, streaming in.



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Cathy: I think they're just pleased to see someone in there. [laughter]

Sabrina: I don't find them very friendly at all when you go in, because I don't know, I find it oooh going in. You're a bit nervous. I know that's a bit silly, isn’t it, but you're doing something serious, and I look at them and they say rows A to L, or whatever, and I have a sudden where do I... and I look at both and I don't know which one to go to, and they think you're completely mad. Suddenly you make up your mind, yes I do remember that, yeah; that's it.

Karl: It did feel quite spotlighted when you walked in, or when you turned up there and there was a couple of people sitting outside, and as soon as you turn up, because it's quite quiet, everyone is like "who's he? Oh, he's probably coming to vote."

Sabrina: I done telling as well last night, and it's very interesting doing the telling. You know, the ones you try and work out as they walk up to you, "bet they don't want to give me the number," because some people don’t. For some reason they think we are some sort of spy you.

John: Sorry, I don't know, what's... because it doesn't happen where I am.

Sabrina: Well, each political party are going to have a teller. You take down the numbers and you'll have a runner coming from central party, wherever they are, and they will write down all the numbers and see whoever from their party has not turned up yet from that area and they give them a phone call. I went to vote, I got home and I got a phone call from the desk saying have you been yet? "Yes, I have just been," because they knew, because I didn’t go until about 7:30, 8 o'clock. They were worrying I wasn’t going to turn up, because they knew the vote was going to be close, or they hoped the vote was going to be close.

David: But sometimes people actually ask you who you're you going to vote for. You have to tell them to fuck off really! [laughter]

Sabrina: No, they're not supposed to do that.

Cathy: That's the exit polls, that's how they do exit polls, they ask you on the way out how you voted.



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I: They give you a sheet though and then they let you put it into the box. I think in the US they do an oral interview but here you kind of get a fake ballot and then you put it into the box and they return it. It's just some places, some bellwether districts, so that they can get a sense of the swings, and they take those during the course of the day, and then the exit poll, I know the guys who did the exit poll, they use that to calculate how it was last time, what they think the swing is going to be, based on the polls, and then how it's actually looking at the turnout, and that's how they estimate generally.

I2: It's quite complicated

I: Yes, probability, all kinds of stuff.

I2: I don’t understand it.

I: I don’t understand it either. It's beyond me, and I know regression. The final question is... we don’t want to talk about in and out of Europe, we know that the referendum is probably coming up, but we want to get more money for that in the future so we're not going to do the work for them. Instead what we're going to do is get your impressions on having referenda, I prefer referenda instead of referendums, in general, because Britain has had a few referendums/referenda but you're not the sort of country that every couple of years you're being asked to vote on something, whereas in the last, well, basically since I left you've had... and that was in 2010, you've had the AV referendum and then you had the Scottish Independence referendum and now there's going to be the EU referendum. So do you like having the options to have these debates or are you worried about who turns out and the quality of the debate, or do you think "look, we hired you to do a job, go and do it. Don’t bother us by asking all the time." So where do people fall in? Yes, you're looking a bit like you have an answer for this already, Megan.

Megan: It's just what you said earlier, I don’t actually trust. I trust myself to vote because I know that I look into things, but I think a lot of people actually make their decisions on what's on front of The Sun, and that is not a good enough... And so, that’s a lot of trust to put into people. But I actually think we know what a party’s position is on something before we vote for them. We vote for them and that's the position that we voted for, so I think we should



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place the trust. It's really risky to ask the public to make such big decisions about things that are going to have such a huge impact, because most of us won't understand it.

David: I think the public need to be made very clear what the benefits are of being in the EU, because I don’t think people do. They probably have very naive understandings of what the EU is there for and the way the we benefit from it, and vice versa, but even I'm a little confused about the implications of not being in, for example, and what repercussions that would have on the economy and the country.

I2: I was just going to ask you, in general would you say that the public should be made aware of what’s happening on any referendum?

David: Well, the thing is, certainly on the EU they need to know categorically what the consequences are of not being in it, or being in it, but I don’t know... Yes, but it should be independent information, it shouldn't be coming from the Tories, for example.

Megan: That's the problem, there's going to be different perspectives on whether or not that's a good or bad thing.

David: There are facts, aren’t there?

I2: John?

John: I think, whoever said it, if you voted for a particular party then you've got to trust that party.

David: So what do I do then, because I didn’t vote for them?

John: Well, it's tough, really. [over talking] In general you've got to say, the whole point about it is your giving responsibility to other people, you're electing another government, and I didn’t vote for a Tory Government, but I have to say if that's the decision the country, fine. The trouble with referenda, all types, and I can think of two potential pretentious ones, which is Europe, and if somebody, dare I say it, "oh, let's have a referendum about bringing back hanging," or something like that. So people make decisions emotionally. I'm a European, I would vote to stay in Europe, but I don’t understand all the



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implications of in or out, I would be making that decision emotionally and I don’t think during a referendum campaign people have got the ability or time to absorb all the information they need to know about what's going to be best, and that’s what we employ politicians to do and I think it is quite apt, sorry I'm going on a bit. It seems to be it's quite a middle class liberal thing where everybody, every individual, "we know best." Like the MMR jabs. It was very "oh no we're not going to have Tarpin have a combined jab because one doctor has said it causes autism. We don’t believe the authorities and we're clever enough to make our own decision," and they're wrong! And it's the same sort of thing, you've got to allow... you elect politicians, you have to allow them to do their job.

I2: Would there be any conditions under which you would say that's why we need a referendum.

John: I don’t think so, because if there was something coming up that would require, somebody would say require a referendum, like Europe, then you would elect the party that represent your view in the immediate run up to that.

I2: Thank you. Has anybody else any comments on...

Winnie: I'm very, very on the fence with this one. I think politicians have got their own agenda and so from that... as I said, I didn’t vote Tory so I think that I should have a say in whether we stay in Europe or not and that should be my... not my choice but I should have a say in that. So I would like all the information. As I said, I think a lot of people will just read what they see in front of The Sun and so then I think you'll get a lot of people that didn’t vote come and vote for that because, to them, it's just are we in or are we out. They won’t see the bigger picture. They think they're just voting for the in or the out, that’s all they're answering. They might say "well, I think that we should be out of Europe," and that’s what they're going to cross, they're not going to look at everything else that would go with that. And so I definitely want all the information provided in simple terms, which doesn’t lean one way or the other.

David: Available where?



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Winnie: I don't know.

I: What you're saying it sounds like that people should... so what some people in the groups are saying is on big constitutional issues it is important to ask the population on something like pulling out of Europe.

Winnie: And also that the information is available.

I: Yes. Some people also think that a government should make decisions but that's also... and your concern of course is the information, the quality of the information, is a concern for you in an upcoming referendum

Winnie: Because I think a lot of people who didn’t vote in the general election might suddenly jump on that band wagon and vote, not having all the information. So that would be my concern also.

I2: You think it's a risk, basically; having a referendum is a risk and you're not sure which way it's going to go.

Winnie: I'm really on the fence; I don’t know.

I2: Thank you. Any other...

Aaron: I don’t have a concrete answer. I suppose it depends on who you voted for initially and who's in power in government. So I feel if it's something that I don’t agree with the Tories then maybe then I would want to try and get my opinion in there somehow within that five year slot. Having said that, it would depend on what it is. I just don’t think, I don’t have a concrete answer to this one because there's just so many variables on what it could be. If it were a Labour party running the country then maybe I would feel more like yeah, just let them do their job and that nothing that big is going to change from what they said in their manifesto. So I just don’t have a clear answer.

David: Can I ask for some clarification? The Conservatives really want England out of the EU, don't they?

I: Some do.

David: That's the majority view, is it not?

Sabrina: Oh, I don't know.39



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I: The city versus, I think.

I2: It's a hard one, actually.

David: So that being the case, if it goes to referendum and everybody says oh, a majority say we want in, they have to negotiate, well they don’t have to negotiate, we just stay in, full stop. And so if there's some dispute between wanting in or out you still have a problem, because you say the city versus...

I: Well, we don’t want to talk about the EU referendum per se, it's just the idea of going to the people for a referendum, because again, we don’t have wording on a potential EU referendum, we don’t have a timetable for a potential, there's some talk that it might be moved up. We don’t know what kind of campaigns. There might be a yes/no campaign, just like there was in Scotland, and that was not partisan. It ended up being on interests, Unions versus Independents rather than partisanship. So we don’t really know how that's going to work out. So it's more about the concept of coming to the people and saying "right, you guys make this decision." That's sort of what...

Sabrina: I think a referendum is quite scary, because at least who you vote for in an election they can be out in five years, but we vote on Europe or the Scots voted on independence, you know, it's permanent, or fairly permanent. I mean, that's quite scary, especially when half the people are floating voters and sort of make up their mind at the last minute. I mean, that's something really, you know, you don’t want to put it down to that.

Ralph: And I can't help feel that it's a political thing, and seeing them all convinced it's the last two sort of Tory governments, I can't help feeling like they know, you give it to the public, you're more than likely to go to the right side of centre. For some reason that isn't right.

John: But by ignorance people spend more time deciding which Sky pack they would have than deciding yes or no to stay in Europe, and I think I'm not far wrong.

David: Because you're a genius!



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I2: Anymore opinions on referenda, in general? So not in or out, just in general, whether they're a good thing or a bad thing, whether you're happy to see them or not.

David: It's a democratic thing, isn’t it, so they can’t be bad.

Aaron: I think that just it’s been said a lot of times, but the clarity of exactly what it is you're voting on. You don’t have to be really, really 78:41 if it is the real clarity of what it is then either side if it were yes voters [??]

Cathy: Yes, I think I have to agree with what John said, that if you give the power to the people to do it then the people are going to be so easily swayed by their friends or one part of it, and it's just putting that into the great British sort of domain. I think you have to put your faith in the party that you've voted for to do the right thing.

Karl: I think there needs to be some unbiased information, but where can you get unbiased information?

Cathy: Well, this is it

Karl: Where can you get that? If I want to sit on the fence and I'm not sure about whether, you know... where can I find out...

Cathy: Where can you find the facts?

Karl: ...the true facts, the true facts without a spiel that someone wants to feed you, and so and so wants to feed you this because... I want what's the down sides and the good sides. What's the pros and cons, pros and cons of being in and pros and cons of being out? Then I might make my mind up. But you can't get that information, it's very hard to locate, you know, so you do get bombarded with...

Winnie: 79:48 [laughter]

Karl: I think there should be some sort of information pack. If it does go 80:00 I think it should be some sort of unbiased information pack, good or bad. But it's going to be nigh on impossible because there's always going to be someone who's going to be for or against. So whoever is producing that information is going to be swayed to...



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Cathy: It's going to be commissioned by somebody, isn't it? It's risky, basically.

Karl: Yeah.

I: Well, this has been so great and we thank you all. It was really appreciated and really fascinating. Such great data, we're really happy that you have been this honest and open with us; again, we're really grateful. Just looking ahead, we are looking at maybe doing some stuff on the devolution elections and local elections and we'll see if there's a way to get back in terms of the Colchester area. Otherwise if there is a new referendum we'll probably want to have another study and if we're successful we'd like to keep your emails on file and invite you back, and if not, we go all the way out to 2020, if there's no earlier election and we're successful we would love to have you back, some of you for the third time. So I think we'd like to give you a round of applause today. Really, thank you.

Megan: What sort of stuff might you put out?

I2: We already have some stuff out. So we have Kristi's website, which is Winter'sresearch.wordpress.com. Now that's a mouthful so if you type Qualitative Election Study of Britain in Google it will come up. As I said, we are also on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

I: And on the election night we had videos on all of the leader assessments that we culminated from Wales, England and Scotland. It kind of gave a preview of what people were saying, and we've done some blogs for the LSE and... I think that's it. So we're starting to get a few things out, so you can watch that.

David: So what would you put on Twitter, for example?

I2: Links to the videos, links to the blogs

I: There will be a process of things that will be coming out for the next five years, so it won’t be like the newspaper. There other thing too is that if you have indicated in your consent form that you wanted to be kept in contact, when we have something, not like a blog because that's just 150 words, it might not be worth it, but when we do this report for the Electoral Commission we'll probably send you guys, well, we will send out to everybody who



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participated to help create that report, a link to the publication, because it should be available as a PDF for free. But that will take, obviously, a little time to prepare.

Karl: It seems like lot of work.

I: Yes. It only just starts...the next focus group is the last one but that doesn't mean our work ends. The next phase of work just starts.

I2: But thank you. You guys make it worthwhile to do this kind of stuff, because just the richness of your experiences that you convey to us are brilliant. This is why we do it.

I: So thanks for that.



wintersresearch.files.wordpress.com · web viewvote choice storyi2: so thank you for coming back....

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