We’ve been to Bury, which is represented in Parliament by Labour MP Christian Wakeford, who defected from the Conservatives in January, and Tory MP James Daly – who won the seat from Labour in 2019 by just 105 votes.
Barbara Platt says she voted for the Conservatives and believes “Boris has gone through a lot” adding: “I think he should stay.”
She says “I totally disagree with it [the no confidence vote].”
Hair Salon owner Lizelle Bramhalls says she voted Conservative and thinks Boris has been a “good prime minister” because “he’s helped businesses like ourselves through the pandemic with the furlough scheme”.
Caterer Aayan Ghani says he’s “a Labour man” and feels ”the problems that have been happening at Downing Street have not been rectified… [Partygate is] unforgivable… so yes we need a new prime minister”.
While bus Driver Niall Higson also voted Conservative and says: “Who can we replace Boris with? There’s nobody there to replace Boris with.”
He adds: “I don’t like what he’s done during Covid [referring to Partygate]” but still believes “it’s better the devil you know”.
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Former Tory chief whip Andrew Mitchell has declared he will vote against Boris Johnson in tonight’s confidence vote – adding that even if the PM survived the ballot, he will still be damaged.
Mitchell tells BBC Radio 4’s The World at One that while he hasn’t put in a letter to 1922 Committee chairman Sir Graham Brady, he will vote against the PM later.
He warns: “I very much fear if [Johnson] does win tonight it will be a Pyrrhic victory [one that comes at great cost].
“He needs to look himself in the mirror and ask himself what is in the best interests of our country and of our party.”
Mitchell says that after a visit he made to a beacon-lighting event in his Sutton Coldfield constituency for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations, it was clear the public had turned against the prime minister.
Using a sports analogy, he says: “As I walked through the crowd it was very clear that the prime minister has not only lost the [support of the] dressing room – he has also lost quite a lot of people in the stands.”