‘I’m thinking about switching’: Shropshire voters weigh scandal No. 10 | By-election

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With only a week to go before voters head to the polls in North Shropshire by election, the Downing Street Christmas Party scandal has raised some last-minute doubts.

“Boris has let us down, haven’t we,” said Wendy Young, 72, who has long voted with her husband for the Conservative Party in the general election. “I’m not sure who to vote for now, but I’m considering a change.”

On the other hand, her husband, 75-year-old Diane Young, was not affected by the issue and said it didn’t affect how we voted at all. “My opinion is that it happened 12 months ago; forget it. Drinking coffee at Oswestry Festival Square on Thursday morning, there are a lot of things we need to solve now in terms of Covid and that has to be the priority,” he said, as he sipped coffee at Oswestry Festival Square Thursday morning. The ministers knew anything about it. It was happening behind the scenes.”

Diane and Wendy Young having coffee in Festival Square. Photography: Andrew Fox/The Guardian

The pair were a model for splitting opinion across the city as voters weighed the significance of the scandal that swept the Conservative Party. Reports of a series of staff parties over the holidays last year prompted an investigation by the Cabinet Secretary, and Boris Johnson faces calls to resign if he is found to have misled MPs about the gatherings.

Last week, the prime minister joined the North Shropshire campaign trail in the run-up to the by-election, which was spurred by the resignation of Owen Patterson following Johnson’s disastrous attempt to save him from punishment for a serious breach of lobbying rules.

An Oswestry resident who asked not to be identified said she and her husband voted for the Conservative Party for the first time in the last general election, but are considering returning to the Labor Party after reading the news this week. “We didn’t see our family last Christmas because we weren’t allowed in, right?” She said.

“It just feels like one rule for them,” Julie Owen says. Photography: Andrew Fox/The Guardian

Many were still holding back anger when they talked about the sacrifices they and their family members had made to follow the rules. “I spent Christmas alone last year. It seems like one rule for them,” said 49-year-old Julie Owen. “I think people are losing faith in conservatives. And any new Covid rules that are introduced, I think people will ignore.”

“I’m not surprised, and I wasn’t really shocked, we expected that kind of thing. I can totally understand why people are angry,” said Alex Dempster, 35, adding that he probably won’t vote in the next election because he doesn’t feel it’s going to happen any A difference in the historically safe Conservative Party seat.

North Shropshire past election results

“People are freaking out about what they had to go through at the time. I know someone who had to watch their father’s funeral via video. It seemed like they were ignoring the rules and having fun,” said Mike Koppock, 60, a former independent city councilman who runs a local gift shop. themselves while everyone else was going through hell.”

He plans to vote for the Greens, which he expects will be the surprise election success, but doubts whether anything will be enough to stop a Conservative victory in a constituency that has brought back a Tory MP since its creation.

“I think a lot of people who normally vote Conservatives wouldn’t even bother going out to vote,” he said. “But it’s a shame we don’t have a single opposition candidate, because the vote would be very divided.”

The Liberal Democrats are expected to be the main contenders in the by-election, with some bookmakers placing them as the favorites to win after the backlash at the Christmas party, and the Liberal Democrats feeling more confident with each passing day.

“There is no doubt that the past 48 hours have indeed frustrated the Conservative vote,” said Jack Haines, a Liberal Democrat advocate. “It’s certainly very close to calling it. What will be key is the ire of deeply conservative voters, these real blue voters who probably will never change their vote, but certainly might stay home and not vote.”

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